Summary or replies re Membership and Proof of ID
Thanks to all who replied to my question on membership.

Conway Borough Council
We have only had one proof of membership since inception of Conwy in 1996
and don't think there are more problems than there were previously in the
old Clwyd part of Conwy, who had 2 (Gwynedd always only had one). We don't
have a reduced membership - either you're a member or not.
It was recently raised about the need for a guarantor signature for under 18
year olds, but since I have had cause to use this signature to deal with a
behavioural problem very recently and on previous occasions, I am not in
favour of scrapping it. However our limit is up to their 16th birthday.

Manchester
Here in Manchetser we currently ask for 2 proofs of address. Like you we are
looking at our library membership policy/joining procedures and as such i
would be grateful if you would post a summary of replies to this enquiry,
many thanks in advance.

Northumberland
Currently asks for 1 proof of address (although this may change to ID in
the near future)   Don't really have any significant trouble with
absconders.

You might like to have a look at a recent dissertation by one of our
Mastsers students Hanah Jones:
{HYPERLINK "http://dagda.shef.ac.uk/dissertations/2000-01/jones.pdf"}
Libraries, social inclusion of those unable to meet library membership
requirements: an investigation of library policy with regard to membership
and social inclusion.
Its on the Web full text through our CPLIS website
http://panizzi.shef.ac.uk/cplis/publications.htm
See p.66 for data on stock losses.

Stretford
We abolished proof of address & guarantors for under 18s about two years
ago. Initially there was some surprise expressed & one or two parents were
not happy at not knowing their child had joined the library. However many
have been delighted at being able to take books out immediately, especially
children whose parents would probably never come near the library & who
wanted material for homework.
Although we have no actual data, at the moment, the shelves are certainly
not empty & we don't seem to have increased the number of messages on Talis
saying "books not returned". Goodwill, if nothing else has certainly
increased.

Central Library - not sure which authority this reply is from.
We recently changed from two proofs of ID to one, for social inclusion
reasons, as a significant number of people find it difficult to come up with
one proof, let alone two. This is especially true of some Asian women,
asylum seekers, travellers and other 'hard to reach' groups. Our second
proof is the fact that we post the card to the address given to us. On the
day they join, they can only borrow up to 4 books (no CDs, DVDs or videos)
and they can use our IT. Once they receive their ticket (posted out same
day/first thing next day), they can borrow up to 15 items (all books, or up
to 4 CDs and 2 DVDs/videos). It's not uncommon for tickets to be returned as
undeliverable, so it obviously pays not to let people take too much out on
their initial visit. We used to get a lot of dodgy joiners and also lose a
lot of A/V stock, but it's too early to say exactly what the outcome of the
change has been. Some people join purely to use the IT that day (you have to
be a library member to use the computers, brought in after a lot of abuse,
both of the system and of staff), but that doesn't mean that they would give
a false ID necessarily.
Our issues have definitely increased over the past year, but this cannot be
just attributed to membership policies: we have done a lot with e.g. fiction
stock, events linked with library stock; marketing the service to specific
groups etc.
As for scrapping guarantor signatures, we are aware that not all the
signatures are genuine, but we usually give the benefit of the doubt, as
some of the kids joining would not be able to join otherwise. We only ask
for it for under 16s, 16 and over are deemed adults as far as we are
concerned. A note of caution: a significant number of our defaulters are
under 16, so we would be wary of scrapping the guarantor system completely.

Gillingham
We're just in the process of changing our policy to say we require only
one proof of ID consisting of something official, under 6 months old, with
current address on it.  Up to now we've required two, one with a signature.
For about a year we've had a provisional ticket, where we've said we'll join
people who have brought only one ID - they are allowed to take three items
rather than the normal 12.  I don't know what impact this has had on library
use but will try to find out and let you know.



-----Original Message-----
From: Sue Helm [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 04 June 2003 12:40
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Library Membership Policies

Sue Helm
Management Support & Staff Development Librarian
Dudley Library
St. James's Road
Dudley
West Midlands
DY1 1HR
Tel: 01384 815572
Fax: 01384 815543