Meet the Circulation Section
The
Appleton Public Library circulation desk is the public part of the library's
circulation section. The
behind-the-scenes section is actually about three times as large as the visible
circulation desk area and has roughly 30 full-, part-time, and weekend staff
members who are responsible for keeping track of the library's collection.
Some of
the circulation staff work at the circulation desk, where they check out, renew
materials, negotiate fines, retrieve reserves, register patrons, and answer
questions. They also prepare materials
from other libraries for checkout, collect materials from the shelves that are
wanted at other libraries, maintain the new books shelves, notify people that
the materials they've reserved are available, and monitor gate security.
When
materials are late, overdues are sent, shelves and replacement prices are
checked, and bills are prepared. When
materials are returned, they are sorted and reshelved. After that, circulation staff inventory
materials, help weed the collection, and scan the shelves to keep the
collection in order. They also prepare
magazines and newspapers for public use, clean up library materials lying
around at the end of the day, and shift the collection when necessary.
About
45,000 people use the Appleton Public Library each month, checking out on a
monthly average 72,000 items. Each
month about 2,000 patrons will receive items they had reserved. About that same number of patrons at other
libraries in the area will receive APL's materials, too, because APL is the
resource library for the Outagamie Waupaca Library System. APL will register more than 8,000 new patrons
this year, maintaining a database of 65,000 patrons. Staff at the circulation desk answered more than 1,000 questions
last month. They also keep track of all
these statistics!
Since APL's circulation section manages patrons' reserves and checks out all materials, they know that patrons' favorite novelists are John Grisham, Maeve Binchy, Nora Roberts, John le Carre, Barbara Kingsolver, Patricia Cornwell, Robert Parker, Robin Cook, and Barbara Taylor Bradford. Titles with the most reserves right now include The Testament by Grisham and The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw.
Back to the APL Home Page
last modified 5/15/1999Appleton Public Library
225 N. Oneida St.
Appleton, Wisconsin 54911
http://www.apl.org