Common Loan Rules
several months ago, there were extensive conversations about due dates and resetting due dates. Because the loan period has to follow the rules of the loaning library (according to both ILLINET and SHARE policy), many find that multiple due dates are confusing for their patrons.
Some member library staff indicated an interest in having common loan periods. As a result, the SHARE Circulation and Resource Sharing Committee conducted a survey to measure interest in providing common loan rules. 189 member library staff participated in that survey, and of those, 136 were interested in providing common loan rules. 102 respondents were interested in a common loan period for all material types. 52 member library staff indicated that they circulate all materials with the same loan period, while 90 use different loan periods for different material types. Based on the survey, the most common loan period, regardless of material type, is 14 days.
Traci Edwards, SHARE Manager for Administrative Services, pulled some information from Polaris about loan periods, as well. At this time, 159 public libraries and 134 school libraries loan their books for 14 days. 52 public libraries and 35 school libraries loan their books for 21 days. 6 public libraries and 8 school libraries loan their books for 28 days. While there are other loan periods for books (ranging from 3 days to 999 days), these are the most common periods.
107 public libraries and 64 school libraries loan their DVD’s for 7 days. 67 public libraries and 123 school libraries loan DVD’s for 14 days. As is true of book loan periods, DVD loan periods vary, ranging from 1 day to 30 days, though 7 and 14 days are the most common.
Where are we going with this information? That’s up to all of you. Setting loan rules falls under the jurisdiction of each individual library, and should be based on your members’ interests and needs, and your library’s policies and practices that fit your community. While we recognize that one size does not--and never will--fit all, we have heard some interest in banding together libraries who are interested in common loan rules, determining the best loan periods for the group, and making the appropriate changes in Polaris, thus reducing the number of loan periods a patron has to deal with. If your library is interested in being a part of a common loan rule group, please contact Chris Dawdy (cdawdy@illinoisheartland.org or 618-656-3216 ex 443).
Dates to take note of
Monday, December 14, 9:30 to 12:30—Searching & Matching, Marion Carnegie Library
Monday, December 14, 1:30 to 3:30—Barcoding in Polaris, Marion Carnegie Library
Tuesday, December 15, 9:00 to 12:00—SHARE Reports (includes Simply Reports), IHLS Edwardsville
Wednesday, December 16, 9:00 to 12:00—Searching & Matching, IHLS Edwardsville
Wednesday, December 16, 1:00 to 3:00—Barcoding in Polaris, IHLS Edwardsville
Wednesday, December 16, 1:00 to 2:00—SHARE Chat—Circulation & Resource Sharing, https://webjunctionillinois.adobeconnect.com/sharechat
Wednesday, December 23, 1:00 to 2:00—SHARE Chat—Cataloging, Barcoding, Serials & Record Sets, https://webjunctionillinois.adobeconnect.com/sharechat
Thursday, December 24—Christmas Eve, IHLS closed
Friday, December 25—Christmas Day, IHLS closed
Thursday, December 31—New Year’s Eve, IHLS closed
Friday, January 1—New Year’s Day, IHLS closed
Be sure to sign up for events of interest to you on L2!