Applying Tech Trek 2.0 to real life

Over the last year or two I have been compiling a list of items in OCLC that have "Charleston County Library" listed next to them - but that CCPL does not own. I've been putting my findings into a spreadsheet on my hard drive, but this week's Tech Trek quest has inspired me to try to create a file in an online application. It was surprisingly easy to upload, and took less than a minute to do so in spite of the size of the file.

I will continue to add to this file as we reject requests to lend items that we no longer own. I am also comparing our collection decade by decade with the catalog as I have time - working on 1921-1930 at this time.

If you're interested, take a look - over 2,400 items listed.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pMy4FPsw9OU7HQSKtjqnmLA&hl=en

What we lend to other libraries

We are very grateful for anything that other libraries are willing to lend to us. We try to express this gratitude by sharing as many of our resources as possible with other libraries.

In 2004, we began lending our audiovisual materials to other libraries. In previous years we had had a difficult time borrowing music CDs, books on tape, and movies via interlibrary loan. But once we began sharing our collection with others, we started filling a greater proportion of our media requests.

There are a few things that we do not lend:

• Reference books - because we need them here. If we don't let our patrons take them out, we won't send them to another library system.
• South Carolina History Room items - same reason. We will be happy to check for a specific name or page number and make copies of the relevant pages, if that will help.
• Microfilm - our holdings are limited and difficult to replace. Again, if you have a specific citation, we can make copies.
• New books - We like to give our patrons a fair shot at the newest materials. Once books move off of the new book shelf (usually six months or so) we are happy to lend.

Lending begets lending, so we try to be as generous as possible with our collection.

Statistics day

At the end of the month, all of the library's departments scurry around collecting numbers and statistics to quantify what we do - and interlibrary loan is no different.

At CCPL, we are fortunate enough to have Clio (http://www.cliosoftware.com), an Access-based program that compiles our requests and helps us turn them into statistical reports. It is much easier for us than counting a large pile of forms or entries in a notebook. The Access platform enables us to generate all kinds of statistics, including average delivery time (9.8 days for 2007).

So how did we do this month? We had 836 requests, counting requests for renewals. We were able to fill 573 of them (69 percent), including 23 items that CCPL already owned. We have 105 requests still outstanding, which means no library has shipped the items as of today. If all of those requests are filled, we will reach 678 requests filled (81 percent).

On the lending side, we received 312 requests to borrow or renew items, of which we filled 156 (50 percent). Our most common reason for not lending an item is that we do not own it (despite what OCLC may say about our holdings).

Over the last three years, our total requests on both borrowing and lending sides have increased close to 10 percent each year. We are busy, busy, busy and we like it!