Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
8 <br />An additional concern is safety and limiting risk for staff retrieving book carts and <br />customers using the book drop. The entrance into the parking deck is heavily <br />used and the location that cars would stop to put the books in the book drop is <br />directly behind handicapped parking at the Office Building and in the exit lane <br />from the building parking in front of the Office Building and the Library. <br />During the investigative process of a possible `drive-by' book drop at the parking <br />deck entrance, staff completed a `test run' of collecting, emptying and processing <br />possible items for operational procedures. During this exercise staff timed this <br />process including the following steps: <br />1) Travel to and from the site to collect and empty the book drop at 1 pm. <br />2) Emptied the current indoor book drop, using the interval times above <br />(which had not been emptied for 1 '/2 hours) <br />3) Complete the check in procedures for each item returned <br />(See Attachment C) <br />This exercise was timed at 1 hour and 40 minutes to complete. <br />By changing/increasing the workload with a much larger additional book drop, the <br />library can anticipate decreased levels of service such as: <br />Circulation Department <br />• Longer periods of time for books to be .shelved -possible day or two <br />especially on weekends. <br />• Longer lines for check-out, with wait times differing based on level of traffic <br />• Increased loss of materials due to inclement weather. <br />• Decreased ability to check-out items in a prompt manner as items will not <br />have been returned internally or not fully processed. <br />• Outside materials will have to be processed in the Circulation staff work <br />room, which will require an additional sensitizer. <br />• Holiday hours for the book-drop -library would be closed during holidays <br />causing material damage and loss. Historically, when the book drop was <br />full at the Whiffed Building, books and materials would be laid on top or <br />around the book drop. <br />Information /Children's Departments <br />• Less coverage at the Reference and Children's Desks, as those staff <br />members participate in processing book drop. <br />• Reduced programming from Children's, Young Adult and Adult <br />Cataloguing <br />• Reduced timeliness of magazines and newspapers being processed and <br />placed on shelves <br />• Delayed cataloguing of all materials -books, DVDs, books on cd, etc. <br />• Delayed opening of shipments of materials <br />6 <br />