Effective Friday, Salt Lake County Library patrons will be able to renew books and other materials by telephone.
But the new policy, announced Monday during a meeting of the Salt Lake County Library Board at the Magna Library, will be restricted to materials eligible for renewal. And books, books on tape and compact disks may not be renewed if someone else has requested them or if the person requesting renewal has a fine of $5 or more against them that has not been paid.The renewal will be granted only once and will be three weeks for books and one additional week for audiovisual items, said Eileen B. Longsworth, library director. In the past, books could be renewed three times.
She told the board that library officials weren't planning to generate any press releases about the new policy. But the board asked that a sign be placed by the checkout counter in each library, informing library users of the new service. After the meeting Monday, Longsworth said library staff members are concerned with a changing workload.
"We already have a very heavy level of business for staff. Answering more telephone calls can impact that, and we want to provide the best possible service to the public. So we are trying to start this (new procedure) off slowly so that we can continue to adjust our work schedules to provide the best possible service" to the public, Longsworth said.
She said the library decided on the new procedure to accommodate a tremendous amount of requests. It should save individuals and families time and money on transportation costs to the library. The new procedure also comes at a time of many construction projects around the valley, making travel difficult at times, particularly during the winter, she said.
"People are busier, and an overdue fine can add up fast. For a book on tape, (the fine) is $1 a day," Longsworth said, explaining that it's best for library patrons to have their library card with them before making a call. But she said library personnel will endeavor to assist those who don't have their card immediately available.
The $1-a-day fine also applies to videos and CD-ROMs. A 15-cents-a-day fine is charged for overdue books, but that charge is not made for Sundays and holidays. The latter decision sparked a protest from at least one citizen who complained in correspondence received by library board members.
The telephone number to call to renew library materials is 943-4636. Calls may be made during normal operating hours: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Calls made to a local county library may be transferred to the above number.
Will the new procedure result in less revenue to the county library system? Longsworth was asked.
"It might. But we are not anticipating a significant loss in overdue fines, but that's certainly a possibility. We are anticipating instead that people will be happy with the service and will use it more . . . ," Longsworth said.
Earlier this year the library system instituted computer-generated calls, reminding patrons of overdue books and other materials, fines and availability of materials they have requested. Calls made by "Paul" during September alone totaled 22,733, resulting in a huge drop (from 59,371 in March to 11,402 in September) in the number of notices the library had to send out by mail.
That service, which began in late May, has resulted in lower postage costs but also faster notification to those who use the library.
"Before, a book would be two weeks overdue before (a patron) got any notice. The computer now calls you when something is three days overdue," Longsworth pointed out.
But postage is still a big item in the county library budget.
"We have had to double our postage request for next year. We are estimating that we will need almost $100,000 next year," Longsworth said.