Dispensing With the DVD Circulation DILEMMA

HEADNOTE

The Mediabank dispensers we bought have virtually eliminated disc theft, and they reliably handle the entire circulation cycle for 8,000 to 10,000 DVDs per month with very little staff involvement.

Richmond Public Library (RPL) is a four-branch

suburban library with the highest per capita circulation of any comparable library in Canada. Circulation growth has consistently outpaced the growth in our budgetary resources, so productivity improvements such as self-checkout and self-pickup of holds have been essential to keep pace with that growth. Having achieved a 93% selfcheckout rate, we've already picked circulation's low-hanging fruit and are now having to get on the stepladder for additional gains.

While DVDs naturally fit into RPL's emphasis on popular material, circulating them using the standard model proved problematic: Long hold queues built up, DVDs idled on the hold shelves, and the circulation staff was kept very busy routing, labeling, reshelving, and dealing with snags. Thieves quickly found that they could help themselves to the self-pickup holds, and a $40,000 starter collection largely evaporated within a year.