Library Woes

[medawyn]

There is another family at our local library who shares our last name, who also puts lots of books on hold, who also has young children, and who might possibly even homeschool.  No more grab and go from the holds shelf!

[Miss Tick]

I hope they are as conscientious as you......Temporary change of name? Large, red plastic divider between your holds?

[Junie]

A hassle yes, but better than another woman with the same last name giving birth to a baby girl in the same hospital room on the same day that dd13 was born.  That was scary.

I get it.  My married name is common in our area and I sometimes have to deal with things like this.  I would talk to the librarian and brainstorm a way to make your holds easy to differentiate.

My maiden name was super un-common in the area where I grew up because my father was raised in a different part of the country.  According to the phone book (remember those? 😉 ) there were only four people in our county with our last name: my father, my step-mother, my sister, and me.

[happi duck]

Patrons have access to the shelf?  I've never seen that!  We always need to ask a clerk.  I'd feel funny having other patrons looking at my holds!

Hopefully, there won't be too many mixups!

[Targhee]

5 minutes ago, happi duck said:

Patrons have access to the shelf?  I've never seen that!  We always need to ask a clerk.  I'd feel funny having other patrons looking at my holds!

Hopefully, there won't be too many mixups!

In the three libraries we lived by previously I could grab my own holds. In our current small town library they are behind the circulation desk.

[dirty ethel rackham]

Our library does the last 4 digits of our library card and our initials.  This offers some privacy protection as well as reducing mix ups.  I'd be really irritated of my name was on all of my holds.  Nobody in my town needs to know what I am checking out.  (It's a big town, but most of the homeschoolers who also checked out books by the basket full would have recognized my name.  

[mumto2]

I have used both systems.  One library tried the Open shelf method but I think they decided the shelf wasn’t large enough and the back room area was easier for all.  Ours were by initial and card number and it was a pain......I also had similar initials /numbers with types of books.  The positive was I frequently went home and put the other persons books on hold and because of the sudden frequency in not being able to renew an older book I am positive they were studying my stack too.😂

I would ask a librarian and run a test (don’t trust this former library volunteer) but the computer hold system should be set in a manner that only the card that reserved the books can check them out unless the librarians do an override on the books while checking them out.  Depending on the patron overriding is no big deal and may not be mentioned after the patrons are known to staff.  Our policy was to never override media........if lost people refuse to pay for it if they did not request it.......we had a husband/wife battle over lost dvd’s that was not pretty.

   The hold’s are very programmed to the number you reserve them in getting scanned more than once along their path to you if they move branches etc.   I would in a totally friendly way make them aware of the similar names and interests.  I would also helpfully sort my books between the individual cards as I was preparing to check them out reminding the kids in a loud enough voice to be heard that we are being careful because we don’t want to accidentally check out the other families books a few times.

[medawyn]

Yes, patrons have access to the hold shelves, which is usually super convenient for the times I need to dash in and grab books.  All holds are shelved spine up, so it’s difficult to read other’s book titles.  Tags are sticking out with last name and last four digits of our library account number.

 I’m glad I paid attention, because my stack of mostly picture books is usually pretty distinct.  Now I know! If it becomes a problem, I’ll definitely chat with the librarians; in the meantime I’ll just be sure to double check my stack.

[marbel]

But even if you grabbed the wrong bunch of books, you still have to check them out, right?  And the library system would stop you from checking out someone else's books, right?

Our library also has holds out on a shelf, with a piece of paper with partial last name and partial card #, so we get our own. Then we go check them out (self-check or with a person at the circ. desk).  The books can't be checked out except by the person they are reserved for. 

[Beth S]

33 minutes ago, marbel said:

But even if you grabbed the wrong bunch of books, you still have to check them out, right?  And the library system would stop you from checking out someone else's books, right?

 

Agreeing with this.  We have self-serve grabbing, but it all still has to be checked out by the employee.

[Tanaqui]

Quote

But even if you grabbed the wrong bunch of books, you still have to check them out, right?  And the library system would stop you from checking out someone else's books, right?

 

Not the NYPL. Here it's sorted by last four digits of the library card number, plus the first few letters of the patron's last name. I have absolutely walked home with the wrong books before (not to mention checked out books on one kid's card instead of the other, etc.)

[marbel]

5 minutes ago, Tanaqui said:

 

Not the NYPL. Here it's sorted by last four digits of the library card number, plus the first few letters of the patron's last name. I have absolutely walked home with the wrong books before (not to mention checked out books on one kid's card instead of the other, etc.)

So they are essentially checked out to the patron before being placed on the shelf for the patron to pick up?  Or something like that? You don't have to go through the process of checking out the books with your card?  Huh.

Not to be all "my library's way is better" but it seems odd to me that there would not be measures put in place to prevent someone from walking out with another patron's reserved books. For one thing, and maybe I just don't get how it works, if you walked out with someone else's books and then decided you really liked one and decided not to return it, the person who had reserved it would be charged for it, right?   Because it would be assumed they had taken it?

(If I am being dense, just tell me kindly; I just don't get it. It shouldn't be important to me to understand this, but...)

[Tanaqui]

27 minutes ago, marbel said:

So they are essentially checked out to the patron before being placed on the shelf for the patron to pick up?  Or something like that? You don't have to go through the process of checking out the books with your card?  Huh.

Not to be all "my library's way is better" but it seems odd to me that there would not be measures put in place to prevent someone from walking out with another patron's reserved books. For one thing, and maybe I just don't get how it works, if you walked out with someone else's books and then decided you really liked one and decided not to return it, the person who had reserved it would be charged for it, right?   Because it would be assumed they had taken it?

(If I am being dense, just tell me kindly; I just don't get it. It shouldn't be important to me to understand this, but...)

 

No. It's just put on the shelf with a paper around it. When I check it out, on whichever card, it's like I pulled it off of any shelf in the library rather than the hold shelf. It's not checked out at all until it's, well, checked out, but really anybody can check out any book on the reserved shelf. They just generally don't unless it's by accident - I mean, why would you want to take another person's on hold book?

Edited October 11, 2019 by Tanaqui

[mumto2]

58 minutes ago, Tanaqui said:

 

No. It's just put on the shelf with a paper around it. When I check it out, on whichever card, it's like I pulled it off of any shelf in the library rather than the hold shelf. It's not checked out at all until it's, well, checked out, but really anybody can check out any book on the reserved shelf. They just generally don't unless it's by accident - I mean, why would you want to take another person's on hold book?

Are you sure someone isn’t overriding the system because they recognize you and someone in your family did request the book?  I can’t believe they don’t have some sort of control.  This isn’t a my library is better just a how can this work?

Experience tells me people really want the latest in a series and honestly can hassle the librarian if they just see the book being processed.  I suspect someone who is 150th in line might be really tempted to just claim a hold for someone else thinking they will read it quick.  They would constantly have complaints.

So.......at one point I was on a library board as well as a volunteer.  The current software was purchased during that time, major upgrade.  It does a whole lot regarding purchasing which books, quantities, which branches get the latest editions.......... it totally monitors inventory.  Supposedly reduced costs greatly.......no clue if it really did!😂

The obvious function is check outs but the hold’s system is streamlined too imo. It was pretty impossible to ignore the systems messages regarding books that need to be pulled for hold’s,  believe that flashed at the bottom of everyone’s screen until someone took care of it!  As soon as you scan the book you turn the message off and the system tells you what to do with it next.  Tag it for your branch and it’s already assigned to the patron before you place it on any shelf,  or tag it for a different branch which requires another scan by you to check it out to that branch and another set of scans at the receiving library.  I was under the impression that our software was pretty standard now and am almost positive that my current library is using the same basic package. 

Edited October 11, 2019 by mumto2

[Tanaqui]

I am 100% certain that if the librarian had recognized me she would not have thought I was taking out the particular book I'm thinking of that first made me aware of this problem. And, indeed, when I returned it all they said is "Oh, that happens, that's why you have to double check the name and not just the digits".

[marbel]

1 hour ago, Tanaqui said:

 

No. It's just put on the shelf with a paper around it. When I check it out, on whichever card, it's like I pulled it off of any shelf in the library rather than the hold shelf. It's not checked out at all until it's, well, checked out, but really anybody can check out any book on the reserved shelf. They just generally don't unless it's by accident - I mean, why would you want to take another person's on hold book?

Thanks, I get it now. 

I can think of lots of reasons someone would want to take another person's on hold book. Some new books have might long queues. I've waited months for some high-demand books. It could be tempting to just grab it if I saw it on the holds shelf under someone else's name. I wouldn't do that anyway, but even if someone did, the checkout system would stop them from actually checking the book out.  

[scholastica]

Our library lets you use any name you want  for confidentiality, and will not let anyone other than the person it’s being held for check it out. Every item, not just the title, in our library has a unique barcode and that specific barcode is scanned to the hold for the patron. No-one else can check it out.

[ElizabethB]

12 hours ago, Arctic Mama said:

You’re making me glad to have a weird name 😆

My parents used to get photos fairly often at a large Costco, back in the days of film and drop off film services.  They have a fairly unique last name, but there were so many names to look through that it was a pain every time.  My dad hit upon the idea of writing a new last name on his photo drop off bag, Q_RealLastName.  He noticed that there were almost never any photos in the Q box.  Every time they picked up photos after that, he would come home and rave about he 5 minutes he saved by having a new last name starting with Q.  (You picked up and paid with your other purchases, and the developed photos were sorted in bins by letter.)

He told a few friends and relatives who complained about finding their photos and they soon because QLastname as well, LOL.  He didn't tell random people, though, he still wanted to be able to find his photos in less than 5 minutes.

Edited October 12, 2019 by ElizabethB