When our members were asked if joining SHARE was worth the massive amount of effort, here is what just a few had to say:
Yes! My students are borrowing and reading more than ever. They are so excited by all the books they have access to now. Since we don't have a public library in our town, I am glad that I can give them a taste of all the things libraries can do for them, so they will be motivated to seek them out after graduation.
Was it worth it? YES!!! It was overwhelming and tedious to barcode everything but now that it's done, it's great. We're still learning but last week we had a new patron who applied for a card and the look on her face when we said Oh, you moved here from Granite City, it was the icing on the cake. (for the record, she didn't have any fines or overdues). Everyday we're learning something new.
It was worth every angry and bad word I wanted to say. Our Home school patrons love to go online and order their own books. Our non-Residents has increased because we now offer E-books. We get books in faster that we have ordered. There are still times that it goes down and I get frustrated but overall I am very glad that Johnston City Public Library joined.
Yes, it was worth it, especially given the grant, which provided the much needed extra help without extra cost to the library. I know our school library budget isn't as slim as other school library budgets, but we still have to really watch every dollar and cannot afford to buy everything our students and teachers want and need. Being part of IHLS helps us to stretch our budgets. Our high school students used the system primarily for books that they needed for their research projects; these types of nonfiction books can be expensive, so we cannot afford to buy them all. And it also felt good to lend books out to other libraries that would have otherwise just sat on our shelves. I confess that having to transition two libraries during one summer break seemed a little overwhelming at first, but it went smoothly, and I appreciated all the help from Illinois Heartland!
Oh my. One if the most satisfying aspects of it, is that Selmaville's collection is valid based on the items requested. When I weeded the collection last summer, I made some hasty decisions that have paid off. Libraries are requesting classic books like those by Jesse Stuart and 50 year old biographies. The collection does seem more manageable. I am able to get newly purchased items into circulation much more quickly. The only fall-out seems to be the decision we made about $25.00 for lost book. I will work through that though.
Yes! I have been working toward getting automated for 8 years. With the reorganizing of the library systems and funding I was finally able to jump on board and get our small library automated. The grant offered help to barcode all of our items, which was a Godsend! One piece of evidence I can share is that in years past, using a manual circulation setup, I would have between 50-150 missing books at the end of the year to try to reclaim or get reimbursement. Today, with one school day left, and fingers crossed for more returns to come tomorrow, I only have 20.
Absolutely worth it!! We've put books in kids’ hands who normally wouldn't read by inter library loan!
Yes, and I was the one encouraging Gilman and Hoopeston to go for it!!
Yes! Wish we had joined sooner.
Yes!
We are still busy scanning, matching, and bar coding so I am not able to say for sure. I am thinking it will be totally worth it when everything is finished!
We're just in the early scanning and barcoding process, but in my opinion, it'll be way worth it. Remember, Sesser has never had a scanning system. I'm afraid scanning the Juvenile and Easy Reader books may injure me, though. LOL
Iroquois West is in the anticipation stage. We're sure it will be when we get there.