Shorter loan period part of new library policy

Keep an eye on those library book due dates. The Gibson Memorial Library Board of Trustees approved changes to the circulation policy Monday, including length of checkout and how to renew.

In recent years, the library has had issues with materials not being returned after extended checkout time. For a regular patron, the longest a book could be away from the library, including renewals, was nine weeks. A Friend of the Library could have the material for 12 weeks.

“I ran it by much of our staff, and the consensus has been that our checkout periods are too long,” Gibson Memorial Library Director Danielle Dickinson Thaden said.

This has been especially noticeable in September, as library staff have had to send out numerous overdue notices to people from the summer reading program.

“Now we’re to the very overdue stage, and I feel like by that point they’re maybe spilled on or hidden in a closet somewhere,” Dickinson Thaden said.

While regular book checkouts will stay at three weeks, new materials will have a shorter two-week period. A book is considered new during its first six months at the library. New material will have a sticker reminding patrons the book is new.

Patrons will now be limited to one renewal. Rather than automatically renewing like in the past, patrons will receive a text asking if they would like to renew their material.

“I like that they have to let you know if they want to renew it,” Board President Ann Coulter said. “It brings it to their attention instead of waiting and then being really overdue, and that’s not a good thing.”

While the full policy can be found on the library’s website, new circulation periods for regular patrons is as follow:

- Print materials (books, periodicals), audiobooks (CD) and video games: three weeks

- New materials (excluding DVDs and TV series): two weeks

- Art prints: one month

- DVDs: 10 days

- TV series: 14 days

- All patrons are limited to 30 total items checked out on a single card

- Households are limited to a total of one video game, one hotspot and five DVDs, which includes up to one TV series, at all times

In other library news...

A new emergency procedures policy has been approved with updated information and protocols added for situations like armed intruders.

Registrations for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library are rolling in. Dickinson Thaden said about 30 kids had been signed up to receive their first book in October, with another 20 already entered into the system for November. Children under the age of five can be registered either at the library or online at imaginationlibrary.com/check-availability/.