THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 12, 1994 TAG: 9408100111
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
There's a problem at the new Chesapeake Central Library. It's too darn successful.
Right after the Fourth of July holiday, the Cedar Road library has been experiencing record usage.
There's a pile of books that need to go back on the shelves, but the library has only so many staff members and volunteers, and they can't keep up with the deluge of books.
Additional library volunteers are needed.
``On July Fourth, we had three full carts of books that needed to be reshelved,'' said Central Library manager Chuck Anderson. ``Then on July 5, we set a record. During a three-hour period, 600 books were checked out and for the entire day 4,690 books were checked out. That's the best we've ever done. We're setting records, and July was the largest circulation month this library has ever experienced. This is unprecedented.''
Anderson said for the entire 1993 summer, the public borrowed a total of about 6,000 books. So far, almost 9,000 books have been borrowed.
``People are very happy with the new library,'' Anderson said. ``We're now averaging about 3,000 books a day with the equivalent number of books coming back. Most Sunday afternoons, our parking lot is full, and there's usually about 125 people waiting in our foyer to get in when we open in the afternoon.''
Because of the deluge, there's a seven-day delay from the time a book is returned and until it gets placed back on the shelf. Only best-sellers and new books, which are identified by a special mark, and videos and compact discs are reshelved on the same day.
So if you're looking for a book on the Civil War, a Sherlock Holmes mystery or a primer on Mid-Eastern cooking and the computerized card catalog indicates it was checked in a few days ago, you still may not find it back on the shelves.
In fact, it may be at least a week before you ever see it.
Your book is probably sitting in one of 56 full book carts, stacked on one of two eight-foot long tables or piled 5 feet high in a 12-foot-square space in the circulation holding room behind the main circulation desk.
``We put about 3,000 books back a day,'' Anderson said. ``We must have about 14-15,000 books that still need to be shelved.''
He said children's books are lagging about five days behind and adult books about seven days.
To alleviate this severe circulation problem, the library is asking for volunteers to help reshelve books. Anderson said they just don't have the personnel to handle it.
``Volunteers can work at anytime during our normal operating hours,'' he said. ``We'll give them some brief training and have them shelve books. They'll start with fiction books, and then we'll have a staff member assist them until they're familiar with the non-fiction system.''
People who aren't physically able to stand or bend when shelving books can sit while pre-sorting books onto book carts.
Anderson said many times the circulation rush has been so great that the special book renewal phone lines average about 150 calls a day. A few times he's seen people leave circulation lines in a huff.
``It's great news and very rewarding to see people using the library,'' he said. ``But it's frustrating, too. We'd love to get these books back on the shelves as soon as possible and have shorter circulation lines. We don't want to turn anyone off. We ask people to be patient or help us.''
Unfortunately, the circulation problem will not get better.
``Traditionally, summer is our slowest time of the year,'' Anderson said. ``It's going to get worse. It will pick up in the fall when people are in school and need the library for research, book reports and other school work and projects.''
Anderson said the busy times ahead build up from September through November and then again from January until April.
``Our staff said we're never going to catch up,'' he said. ``We can if we get help.'' MEMO: HELP NEEDED
The Chesapeake Central Library, 298 Cedar Road, needs help in
reshelving a backlog of returned books.
Hours can be flexible, and volunteers can work at any time during
normal library business hours: 9 a.m.-9 p.m., Monday to Thursday; 9
a.m.-5 p.m., Friday and Saturday; and 1-5 p.m., Sunday.
To volunteer your services, contact Anderson at 547-6461 or Joyce
Wrestler at 547-6578.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
Chesapeake Central Library on Cedar Road needs volunteers to put
books back on the shelves.
by CNB