To any interested parties:
We have followed with interest the sorry saga of staff slide
borrowing.
We too have problems with this, but have come up with a few
strategies to cope. These include
1 Changing the colour of the staff borrowing cards every so often.
We once "swiped" over the top of them with felt tip pens (a different
colour for each term), but then found we didn't have time to check
that every single card had been done, so now they're printed by our
Repro Dept on different coloured card.
2 Wanding out bar-coded boxed sets (on our Voyager System)
and emphasing the need to return as a set or renew (on labels on
the boxes, which also record no of slides and date due,
handwritten in). A separate handwritten list records numbers of
slides issued and returned under the name of each member of staff
3 Not allowing out more than 2 large boxes (=100 slides) at a time
4 Setting a return date of 2 weeks for our own staff, or 3 days for
reciprocal borrowers/students. Reciprocal borrowers, like
students, also have to record each slide individually by its
classification code on pre-printed forms.
It's also a good idea to to get staff to request any slides they need
out via us, rather than informally amongst themselves. This way
the "culprits" can be talked to, and the slides less likely to go
missing. The fact that slides are becoming increasingly costly and
difficult to replace provides both motivation and justification for extra
care, which even the most hardened offender can appreciate. A
missing label on the offender's card may seem draconian but
sometimes works.
All this, of course, depends on us being a relatively small
institution where personal contact with borrowers is possible.
Hope this is helpful
Valerie Hawkins
Library Assistant
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Valerie Hawkins
Library Assistant - Slides
Art & Design Library
Edinburgh College of Art
Tel: (0131) 221 6034
Email: [log in to unmask]
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