Monday, March 28, 2011

McMillan Videos: Commons Area & Philosophy



Cheryl's note: some of the videos here are blurry at times--I blame my inadequate filming skills and the occasional thumbprint accross the lens...

Ellen's notes:

Philosophy – to provide a social gathering place for residents (noise level much higher than normal library – 60 to 80 YAs gather most afternoons), level the playing field (free movies so no barrier due to wealth), Ronald B. McCabe, Director of McMillan Memorial Library, author of Civic Librarianship: Renewing the Social Mission of the Public Library  (2001).

Entrance into commons area
Lots of chairs for lounging, even booths (very popular with YAs, very tall backs)
Magazines & newspapers shelved here
All AV shelved in this section
Recycled rubber floor – easy to clean, especially coffee

McMillan Videos: Coffee Shop


Ellen's Notes:

Coffee shop (hospitality service)
Had outside vendors first, but none could make enough profit to continue (they make about $1500 or $15,000 per year)
Now use staff – they stay in general area, but also check-in, pull items to fill holds
Sell Madison coffee & baked goods (decent pricing), ice cream bars, Slurpees
Back wall "art" consists of framed flyers from previous Library Pograms.

McMillan Videos: Magazines


Ellen's notes:

Magazines -- Grouped by subject (sports, food, craft, YA, finance, …)               
All issues are kept in one place, discard after 1-2 years

McMillan Videos: Newspaper Display



Newspapers take up very little room in this display, but are easy to access. It does look rather messy though.

McMillan Videos: No Butt-Brush DVD & CD Areas in Commons :)


Ellen's notes:

All AV shelved in this section
Prefer all units be 4-6 feet apart to prevent “butt brush” (not to block access)
Don’t ever use lowest shelves and not too high
Much smaller collection – newer DVDs, didn’t notice non-fiction DVDs
CDs on same shelves as rest with dividers to hold in place – very spacious looking

(Butt-Brush happens when shelving units are too close and patrons brush or come close to brushing against each other when in the same aisle.  This makes them feel uncomfortable, and they will spend less time browsing and have a less enjoyable experience at library)

McMillan Videos: Security camera at service desk


Ellen's notes:

Circulation desk at far end (too far from door as it was the only place for returning items)
Took care of address changes (done every 18 months), lost cards, fines, DVDs

2 self-check stations – took care of 75% of check-outs (30% of their circs are AV)
Trained people to use these – correct address then go to self-check
Kept screen clean and simple to use – vary voice so staff know problem
One voice for address change, one for fines, one for lost card, …

Holds shelves – 100,000 items come in from system libraries and 100,000 items go to system libraries
Used red DVD boxes for ALL DVDs from other libraries (had too many thefts) –
Pick up DVDs from circ desk (did not notice any cds though)
Very similar to our holds system
ILL – about 600 per year –
most items filled within system (Madison part of their system – South Central)
agreement with Madison – they have popular, Madison purchases specialized fiction & non-fiction
holds ratio – about 10 local holds for own copy
do keep some copies just local (walk in copy) – always makes sure also have copy to loan
Have $1/week rentals

McMillan Videos: Downstairs Main Lobby & Theatre


Ellen's notes:

Main lobby – lots of youth artwork on walls (very similar to display at Rahr West)
Wonderful Theater – seated 260 in theater seats, state of art sound system, blue-ray player
Offers free movies – variety, did check youth for parents when R movies played, use new copy only
Offers free concerts – some big names – overflow in lobby area
Offer free refreshments for intermission            

McMillan Videos: All-Purpose Meeting Room


Ellen's Notes:

Large room currently being used for more youth artwork – variable seating arrangements

McMillan Videos: Signage



Nice clear Directional Signage. 

Made rather inexpensively so that changes can be made without busting the bank.

McMillan Videos: Laptop Area


Some computer work areas were left empty so patrons could hook up their own laptops.

McMillan Videos: NEW Fiction



Ellen's Notes:

New fiction divided into genres (Mys, Sus, Crime, Romance, Christian, Science Fiction, …)
Labels on spines – handwritten yellow dots with 1/10 so they could de-new after 1 year
Once de-newed, shelved by Fiction, Mys, SF, Christian, Classics (back corner on non-fiction side)

McMillan Videos: NEW Non-Fiction (part one)


Ellen's notes:

New non-fiction divided into categories (cooking, family, pets; ) and then by author
Once de-newed, then just back into dewey order...

McMillan Videos: NEW Non-Fiction (part two)


Ellen's notes:

New non-fiction divided into categories (cooking, family, pets, self-help, etc. ) and then by author
Once de-newed, then just back into dewey order.  Dates are on location stickers so it's easy to see what should be de-newed.

McMillan Videos: Christian Fiction


The Christian Fiction Section.  Wonder if they have people ask for a more general Religious Fiction section?

McMillan Videos: Fantasy


Fantasy section...camera did not focus well so you really can't see the labels....but you get the idea.

McMillan Videos: Science Fiction



Science Fiction also has it's own area (sep. from Fantasy)

McMillan Videos: Graphic Novels


Graphic Novels have their own section in regular collection.  Volume numbers are noted on spine labels.

(sorry for blurryness!)

McMillan Videos: Classics


Ellen's notes:

All signage can be seen from elevator – large, clear

Classics have been pulled out and their circ. has increased...

McMillan Videos: Signage for Collections

Ellen's notes:

All signage can be seen from elevator – large, clear
New fiction divided into genres (Mys, Sus, Crime, Romance, Christian, Science Fiction, …)
Labels on spines – handwritten yellow dots with 1/10 so they could de-new after 1 year
Once de-newed, shelved by Fiction, Mys, SF, Christian, Classics (back corner on non-fiction side)
New non-fiction divided into categories (cooking, family, pets; ) and then by author
Once de-newed, then just back into dewey order
Genealogy along corner walls with a computer set aside for genealogy work

McMillan Videos: Job Center



Had a small shelving unit just for Job search books across from 3 or 4 computers set aside for job searching and resume building.

McMillan Videos: Reference Area



Reference collection is SMALL.

Youth Service Desk and Adult Reference Service Desk are located just inside main (top) floor entrance.

No reference materials held behind desk.

McMillan Videos: Computers


Notes from Ellen:

Computersno time limits – some on tall stations, medium stations
some similar to ours, with a few empty stations for laptops
About 10-12 computers with fabric dividers (all occupied, fairly private)
3-4 job computers, 1 genealogy computer across walkway
Didn’t notice any catalog computers????

McMillan Videos: Youth Area & Some Final Notes


Notes from Ellen:

Youth Area has not been redone since the mid 1970's.

Some final notes....

Staff – director, assistant director
No departments – everyone worked everywhere
7 librarians on staff (one leaving soon)
2 FTEs library associates
? library aides – most sorting, pulling holds
15-16 shelvers who also did nearly all check-in – only 10 hours/week to prevent carpal tunnel
Madison does all cataloging, just copy OCLC records there

Collection – about 110,000 items
Kept small and new – don’t store anything
Need enough new books to fill shelves for each category in new area
Not a resource library – Madison is
               
RFID
Not interested here as not all would be tagged (i.e. magazines would cost too much)
Would require re-training for public (items tagged and those not) for self-check
Circulation around 500,000 – think that’s too small for this idea – no need for check-in sorters, …