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Hello all as promised here is a round up of the comments received Generally as you will see below many of stopped large scale stock circulation, and have replaced them with smaller more specialised or themed collections which are easier to mange. The main reason for stopping large scale circulation is the amount of time and work involved in accomplishing it. Free requests were also mentioned as a positive move. Thanks to all those who responded. Rochdale We started small with a few featured collections that could do the rounds with a bit of a fuss at each location and that worked quite well. We've scaled that up quite a bit but still target specific areas and/or collections rather than wholesale moves so that incoming stock refreshes the local collection rather than just provides same old same old. That way we can justify buying "unusual" stock for small branch libraries - even if it doesn't get issued (though it often is: this is a useful way of doing real market resource at a branch level) it does make it obvious that there's something new in the library, something that a pile of new cookery books or romances can't often do. We've also stopped charging for reservations for items in stock. This has doubled the number of reservations (and online reservations have gone up fourfold) and has a definite positive impact on our issue figures, particularly in branches. Whereas in the past customers would have turned and sadly walked away when we said: "we could reserve it for you for 30p" they're happily placing reservations. Don't ask us about the impact on our income targets, though! (We've got away with it so far as part of the corporate transformation agenda). Leeds The clearest evidence I have is that it reduces complaints. In Leeds we have circulated stock extensively for 25 years and have often wondered whether we had much tangible evidence of the benefits. During 2006-7 due to amongst other things a restructure very little was circulated as a result when we did Plus the few comments on stock exchanges which we get every year multiplied - particularly on the mobiles as you'd expect but also amongst most of our smallest branches Automated circulation didn't work well for us technically when we tried it in a pilot, but we have a manual circulation programme, and also a return anywhere (dynamic stock) policy which is popular with customers and moves large numbers of books around We concentrate more on circulating mostly adult stock between small service points, or within genres eg large print , across service points of all sizes we don't generally circulate (apart from return anywhere) most younger children's stock, and only do limited and focussed circulation of children's non fiction We have done our best to find data to prove an increase in issues due to circulation, but consistent evidence of improved issues has proved elusive and circulation in itself has not stopped relative decline in book borrowing, particularly at small service points as opposed to large ones We feel that stock circulation is however welcomed by regular users, particularly in smaller service points, and there can be a positive public relations factor in an obvious change of stock We certainly have evidence from PLUS survey comments that stock circulation is wanted by customers, more so in smaller libraries, so there must be an element of keeping existing customers happy and thus retaining their library use We also feel that is essential to move on items of all categories where we'd only expect limited use at any single site, thus getting better value for money during the course of the material's life - or where appropriate enabling a better informed and more timely discard/ booksale decision to be made Windsor & Maidenhead * We only circulate LP and SPW, literally because we have such small amount of stock in those areas * Stopped circulating both ANF and AF 3 years ago because of the amount of time and effort taken up both by formal and informal processes, and I wasn't convinced of the benefit. * Its had no impact that I can quantify on issues - I have some small branches which are still increasing issues year on year, and the ones which are suffering seem in line with my 2 bigger branches which were not part of the circ process and are therefore my "control" libraries. * I suppose the thing we offer our libraries which probably is stock circulation to a certain extent, is as an extra to regular new books - we offer "special collections" of themed stock housed at the central library, and bookable by branches for set periods of time. This has worked well as all are booked out all the time so no space issue centrally and the staff are choosing to have the stock and make more of an effort promoting it. Which I know they should be doing anyway but this seems to work for us. Reading We used to circulate a great deal of our stock -possibly too much as - and it was very staff intensive both in the branches (where books were moved on and added) and at the central library (where they were sent in for librarians to reallocate at the end of their cycles) Three years ago we changed LMS systems and initially stock circulation was not possible. It is again now, but we have put very little stock into circulation, largely because it was so time consuming. Stock that is not issuing is picked up by the librarians in the course of their normal stock work and reallocated. Our issues do not seem to have suffered at all (and indeed fiction rose 11% last year compared with the year before), although other initiatives such as short loan best seller collections, no doubt account for some of this. And finally, I am not sure which authority sent this comment in but it does give an alternative perspective Whilst I agree that this practice is a pain, I can say that whenever we've suspended our circulation in small libraries, the issues have nosedived as the stock goes stale very quickly. As I'm writing in a personal capacity (from a large rural authority directly to the north of you) I can't quote statistics but I do think that there's really no option but to grit your teeth and carry on. Peter Hebdon Senior Librarian, Fiction & Reader Development Wallsend Library Ferndale Road Wallsend NE28 7NB Tel: 0191 200 6968 Fax: 0191 200 6967 Email: [log in to unmask] Unless otherwise stated, opinions, conclusions and other information expressed in this message are personal and not those of North Tyneside Council Unless otherwise stated, opinions, conclusions and other information expressed in this message are personal, and not those of North Tyneside Council. This email has been scanned for viruses and inappropriate content by Clearswift MIMEsweeper service. North Tyneside Council does not guarantee this email to be free of any viruses. It is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure that this message and any attachments are virus free.