Behind the Scenes: Book Donations

Posted by Alana T.

We receive a steady supply of book and movie donations from our patrons.  What happens with all those items?  There are many possibilities.

First, all donations, whether individual books or large collections (shown at left is a donation of 60s & 70s sci-fi) are surveyed by our Cataloging staff.  They, in conjunction with advice from Circulation staff, make the decision which items will be added to the collection.  We regularly add books (especially romance), DVDs and music CDs from donations.  In fact, about 95% of our music collection is based on donated CDs!  Cataloging also uses donated books in excellent condition to replace worn items the library owns.  This is the common fate of many hard-back bestsellers we receive.

Second, the donations go down to the ELF (Edwardsville Library Friends) room - which is just about as magical as it sounds.  Imagine a dark, little room with packed shelves and stacks of books towering over your head - that's the ELF room and one of my favorite places in the library The ELFs sort through all the donations in the room, separating items by category, genre and/or author (whatever is appropriate to their needs), and whether an item will be sold in Carnegie's, a special book sale, or through an online bookseller, or the bargain bins.

Items to be sold in Carnegie's (our library book store and cafe) and the book sale are organized by genre and put out for sale.  These are updated weekly.  Paperbacks sell for $.25 and hardbacks $.50.  What a bargain!  The book store is open for business whenever the library is open, but the yearly book sale is held in the summer during one of the Municipal Band Concerts.  The ELFs check prices for donations and items that will fetch a higher price elsewhere are sent to an on-line bookseller.  These books (often textbooks or specialty topics) are sent off monthly and the ELFs receive a check in the mail.

Sadly, we also receive books that have had long and difficult lives.  Perhaps they are stained, or very worn, or (the worst!) a little moldy.  For these items the only place to go is the recycling bin.  We remove their covers and away they go.  Sigh.

What YOU need to know about damaged library books...

Posted by Alana T.

Library books have an interesting life.  They travel more than most books, visit people, have adventures.  They are read a lot.  They see heavy use and sometimes, hard knocks.  Then, the books come back home to the library and need tender care to bring them back into useable condition.

One of my jobs here at the library is book repair.  I see all kinds of unhappy books: torn pages, split spines, damaged covers and stressed bindings.  Most of these conditions are part of the normal life of a library book, as is repair.  I use a specific set of archival tools to bring the books back to lending condition:  flexible glues and various tapes.  Every week, about 25 library books are repaired and returned to circulation.  Most repairs are undetectable and extend the useable life of book by many years. 

We appreciate it when our patrons inform us about normal wear and tear as a book ages.  Occasionally, a patron will return a book with a home repair.  The most common is a 'temporary' repair with clear Scotch-type or packing tapes.  Although we applaud the urge to be kind to library books, a home repair almost always leads to withdrawl of the book.  Why?  It may seem like a temporary repair is a good idea, but household glues and tapes leave residues on a book that can't be removed.  Our special glues won't adhere and we can't repair the book.  Home repairs are also weak repairs and usually cause additional damage.

Every once in a while, someone will return a book with a duct-tape repair.  Amazing, but true.  I guess the line of thought is that if tape is good, duct tape is better!  Actually, it's the worst.  Duct tape leaves behind a thick residue.  If we leave the duct tape on, the residue oozes out from the edges and onto other books. Last, but not least, duct tape covers the informational stickers we add to the spine.

Every so often, books are returned with chew damage.  I assume that dogs are the culprits, but who knows.  If we can repair the binding, we will.  If the book is still functional, as is the one shown above, we will place it back in circulation.

Moisture damage causes many problems and we don't even attempt repairs - these are withdrawn immediately.  The obvious problems are warped pages and bindings which can never be fixed.  The not so obvious damage is caused by mold and mildew.  Sometimes the slightest bit of water along the top of book will cause a bloom of mildew to appear within hours.  Even if there is no other damage visible, mold and mildew will spread rapidly from book to book on the shelves.

It is important to realize that if a book is damaged beyond normal expectations, it may need to be replaced, and if so, we will inform the patron.

The discussion above pertains to Edwardsville Public Library procedures and policies only.  If another library's book is returned to us by a patron in a damaged state, we will return it to the owning library.  It is up to the owning library to determine whether or not to charge a patron for damage.  Sometimes we receive an item from another library and it has been damaged in transit.  We make a note of this, so the next patron will not be responsible for the damage, and we may suggest returning the item to the owning library and requesting another copy of the item.

Thoughts on Christian Fiction and Cataloging Books

Posted by Alana T. and Gwen B.

Gwen B., our Head of Technical Services, has been a big fan and heavy reader of Amish Fiction - until recently.  We sat down a while ago and had a conversation about the genre, how it has changed and what she thinks about it now.  Our first post covered Gwen's thoughts on the genre.  Our second post moved to the differences between Amish and Christian Fiction.  In this final post, we talk about issues related to cataloging books from different genres, including Christian Fiction.

Alana:  We have patrons come to the desk and ask where to find particular genres. These days, we get a lot of questions from people looking for our Christian Fiction section.

Gwen: They do!  A lot of them do. People are often looking for something clean and pretty and inspirational.  (See Part 1 of this interview for more in this topic)  But the genre is so diverse that you're not necessarily going to get that if you are pointed to a Christian Fiction section. For example, those guys who wrote the Left Behind series (Tim LaHaye & Jerry Jenkins)- they write separately now.  One of them wrote a book about a man on death row and his relationship with the chaplain.  The book was a back and forth dealing with good and evil and it was a dirty thing, but it was real.  It wasn't nice and pretty, but it was Christian Fiction. I can see a lot of people not wanting to read a hard story like that.

Alana: It’s the same with other genres.  Within Mystery, you have the cozy stories with a grandmother and her cat and at the other extreme there are those that are really bloody and gory and dark.  The genre is quite diverse and many patrons don’t like certain aspects of some of the stories.

Gwen: We have a patron who doesn't like mysteries combined with romance.  She says “I don't need all that." And we have patrons who complain about sex scenes- what does that have to do with Mystery? 

Alana: Mystery is a fairly well defined genre – at least, most people feel they have a handle on what a mystery is. How do you deal with that in when cataloging a book?

Gwen:  Mystery is one of the genres where we put stickers on the books and they are shelved in their own section.  I have definitions for all the genres for which we use stickers.  I try to stay true to that.  With mysteries there has to be a dead body and an actual detective or someone seeking to solve the death.

Alana: Where did you get your definitions?

Gwen: Some from Deanne (our former director), some from Wikipedia.

Alana: What about catalogers?  Do you ask them for help?

Gwen: Oh no.  All that can be decided by each individual library and so catalogers have very different opinions.  It's like the Dewey Decimal numbers.  They are a suggestion, but when cataloging a book, you can do what you want.

Alana: People don't think about the Dewey Decimal System that way.  They think if you have a cookbook about cookies, the book is always going to have a particular call number (e.g. 641.8654).

Gwen: No, the Dewey number is a suggestion.  Catalogers can move a book around.

Alana: I didn’t think about that much, but now that we are part of such a large library consortium, it’s obvious when searching for a book.  If you look up a book in the online catalog, you can see the call numbers at all the owning libraries. There's quite a spread in Dewey numbers out there.

Gwen: There are a lot of options that libraries can use. For example, medical books.  A library might want them in a self help area versus a technical one.  It depends on how people are using the books in that library.  Usually, I think about where a book is going to circulate best in the library.  Where are people actually going to be looking for it.  Sometimes, a staff member will come to me with a book and say it doesn't belong in a particular section – it fits better with another subject.  I'm happy to give it a new Dewey number and move it somewhere else. 

Alana: I think that’s important because patrons still find a lot of books browsing on the shelves.

Gwen: They do.  And that makes it difficult if they are looking for something like Christian Fiction and those books are mixed in with general fiction. Even though Mystery has it’s own section, there are books we struggle with – where to put them. Sometimes it’s just not clear.

Alana: There are some authors who write different types of books – mysteries and thrillers – and those books are shelved in different places.  Often patrons don’t like that, it can be confusing.  And I know we struggle with defining fantasy.  I've come to you with many books and said, “You know, this isn't fantasy”.

Gwen: I know, then I send you to Amanda!

Alana: Yeah, and she and I will go around and around about it. She and I have different opinions on what constitutes a fantasy story.

Gwen: But see that!  That happens with all the genres.  We can only have so many sections on the shelves, we only have so much room.  We try to do the best we can to help patrons find the books they want.  It all goes back to where people will find a book and check it out.  

The Life of a Library Book: Withdrawl

Withdrawn and donated items waiting to go to Carnegie's

Posted by Deanne H.

In order to keep a library collection that excites, educates, and enriches our community, our library must sometimes withdraw an item from our collection.  An older book, CD, cassette, or DVD, must sometimes leave in order to make room for something new.   

Our staff very carefully analyzes each withdrawal.  We look at the year it was purchased, how many times it has been checked out by a library patron, how many additional copies (if any) we own of the title, the item’s physical condition, and if it is non-fiction – what other titles we have on that topic.  If we decide that it can be withdrawn, the item goes to our Technical Services department for withdrawal from our library catalog.   

Then it goes to Carnegie’s Books and Café.  Carnegie’s, run by our Library Friends, sells our withdrawn books, CDs, etc. along with donated items from our community.  Be certain to ‘check this out’ on your next visit to the Library.  You’ll find great buys – paperbacks are $.25 each, hardbacks are $.50 each.

Life of a Library Book: On the Shelf

Posted by Lorraine L.

Books have interesting lives in the library.  Some sit in one spot for a long time, others move around from place, and a few go on journeys across the building.   Keeping track of books while they are in the library is very important.  Each book has an address (the call number on it's spine) and that tells us where the book is supposed to live in the library.  When someone requests a book or comes in looking for a book, the library staff need to know exactly where to go to find it. We are constantly shelf reading (looking for books out of place) and straightening the shelves.  In addition, we add new books weekly and withdraw older titles to make room for new ones. Occasionally, we move entire sections to new places to make more efficient use of the shelf space we have.  We try very hard to keep track of books so that you can find what you need.

The Life of a Library Book: Circulation, Part 2

books on the move to another library

Posted by Judy T.

Sometimes an item a patron wants is not owned by any of the libraries whose holdings show up in our online catalog.  What happens then?  We regularly get items from all over the country.  In fact, we typically receive about 500 items per year from libraries all over Illinois and the rest of the country.   We participate in WorldCat Resource Sharing, which is an interlibrary loan system used by libraries around the world.  There are a variety of ways patrons can request an item—by calling us or coming into the Library and talking to a staff member or by requesting the item directly through WorldCat.  To do this, go to our website and click on the “Search with WorldCat” icon toward the bottom of the page.  Search for the item, and if it is not available locally, click on “Request This Item.”  Users will be prompted to provide their name, address, library card number, and phone number or e-mail.  In order for us to process the request, the patron must have an Edwardsville library card. 

The request then goes to a review file.  We process requests in the review file daily as well as any paper request forms that have been submitted.  We can tell what libraries own an item, and we choose five libraries as potential lenders.  We submit our request electronically, and it works its way down the list of libraries.  Each library has up to four days to either send us the item or say no, in which case the request moves to the next library.  Since this timeframe is built into the system and because the items come from further away, we tell patrons to typically allow at least two weeks for the item to arrive.

We do not charge for this service, and other libraries in Illinois don’t typically charge to loan items, although there can be charges for photocopies.  Many out-of-state libraries also loan to us for free, but sometimes there are fees.  In that case, we always check with our patron to see if they are willing to pay the charges before agreeing to the loan. 

Our message to our library patrons is:  Don’t give up if you don’t see the item you want in our catalog.  We have lots of other places to try.  Just ask us!

The Life of a Library Book: Circulation, Part 1

Posted by Alana T.

Circulation of library books is the part of their lives with which library patrons are most familiar.  You come into the library, browse the shelves, find something that appeals to you, and check it out at the circulation desk.  Or perhaps, you've ordered an item, it's arrived here at the EPL, and you've checked it out.  You take your prize home, enjoy it for a while, perhaps renew for a few more weeks, and then return it.  The cycle begins again with another patron.

Of course, there are parts of the story that patrons don't see and perhaps don't even know about.  The details of circulating books are many, and when you take into account how many of our library items are "out there" in the community, the state, and even through the country, it is mind boggling  to consider the journeys books take during their lives.

At any point in time, about 25% of our collection circulating.  For an example of the EPL's circulation statistics, consider the following data for June:
Total # of items held by the library     115,316
# book check outs                             15,981
# audiobooks check outs                      1197
# DVDs check outs                              4186
Total # item check outs                      23,106
     (we have other types of items circulating besides the ones listed above)

We rely on our software system to keep track of requests, due dates, loan rules, and myriad other circulation details throughout the entire consortium of IL Heartland libraries.  Each library has, and sometimes specific books have, different rules that govern where and how items circulate.

If you've requested an item through our online catalog, and it's coming from another library, your item will take a multi-day journey.  The next Life of a Library Book post will describe the typical journey of a book from it's home library to you. 

The Life of a Library Book: Cataloging/Processing

New books ready for check-out.

Posted by Amanda E.

After a book has been purchased and unpacked it gets cataloged! Gwen and I find or create a MARC (MAchine Readable Cataloging) record describing it as accurately as possible.  MARC records are essential to libraries, because all the information about an item needs to be accessible with a computer and, eventually, the library's card catalog.  MARC records contain a lot of information: description of the item, subject headings, & call #.  Sometimes, it is easy to find a MARC record, other times it is more difficult.

After the book is cataloged, it is processed.  It will be covered and protected so that it will last as long as possible while being checked out by as many people as possible.  Stickers and stamps will be placed on the book that identify it as belonging to The Edwardsville Public Library.  Each item receives a unique bar-code which is digitally attached to the appropriate MARC record in the catalog.  Finally, a spine label is joined to the item, which tells everyone where it belongs on the shelves.

The average time to catalog and process an item is four days.  Bestselling authors are sent to us early and cataloged and processed to be available for checkout on the same day the item is in bookstores.  Sometimes, for a variety of reasons, the entire process can take as long as a week.  We do our best to minimize the time so that you can have library books as soon as possible.