Waco purges in-active users annually; in-active being no items
checked-out within the past 36 months.
Those who owe fines/fees on their account are not deleted even if their
last use may have been more than 36 months ago, but I would not consider
them to be active since they have not checked-out an item in at least 36
months.
We are preparing to do our annual purge later this month - completing
the annual state library report in March is a good reminder for you to
do this. Our system analyst provided these numbers to me on our active
cardholders and when was their last check-out date.
Last check-out within the ..."
Past 30 days 13.02%
Past 90 days 21.21%
Past 6 months 29.91%
Past 12 months 49.19%
Past two years 69.25%
Past three years 85.90%
More than 3 years 100.00%
The "more than 3 year" group (those who last used their card 37-48
months ago) has about 6,000 cardholders whose records will be the one's
that are to be deleted. If at some point any of these persons does come
back and still has their card we re-use the same card/card number and go
through the regular new card issuing process.
Our system prompts staff to verify address/phone/e-mail for cardholders
every 2 1/2 years.
Cardholders owing fines/fees are not deleted even though last check-out
may have been more than 36 months ago and are not included in the
numbers above.
James
James A. Karney, Director
Waco-McLennan County Library
1717 Austin Ave. ~ Waco, Texas 76701
254-750-5946 ~ Fax 254-750-5940
[email protected]
www.wacomclennancountylibrary.com
________________________________
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Laurie Mahaffey
Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2010 3:13 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [ctls-l] Another question for CTLS members
From: Barbara D. Hathaway [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2010 12:34 PM
Subject: RE: Another question for CTLS members
1. I'm curious if there is a "best practices" nation-wide for public
libraries, and whether it varies by the size of the library or rural vs.
suburban vs. urban (which likely correlates to size) as to what they
consider "active" patrons-that's my first question. And then second,
what is a typical percentage for "active" borrowers? In looking over my
own stats for the past 3 years (since we moved to the Galleria and our
growth exploded), if I look at people who've checked out an item within
the last year, it's 56% of registered borrowers; within past 2 yrs, 77%;
within past 3 yrs, 81%.
Those numbers (for past 2 and 3 years) seem high to me, so I wondered
what an average or typical percent of active borrowers might be
nation-wide or state-wide, so I can tell if we're under- or
over-performing or somewhere in the range of typical for our size. Any
guidance anyone can give me on this is very much appreciated, and please
feel free to share my question as widely as you like.
2. We are a relatively new library (opened in late 2005), and I'd like
to get a feel for whether we are typical in the percentage of our
patrons who are "active", as well as how to define that term. This
relates somewhat to yesterday's question about purging inactive
borrowers (thanks to all of you who replied, by the way!):
a. How do you define "active borrowers" ? If we are supposed to
purge inactive borrowers after 3 years, do you consider anyone who has
checked something out within the past 3 years an "active" borrower? If
not, what do you use-within the past year? Within past 2 years?
b. What percentage of your registered borrowers are "active" under
whatever definition you use?
Thanks for all your help, everyone!
Barbara
Barbara Hathaway
Library Director
Bee Cave Public Library
4000 Galleria Parkway
Bee Cave, TX 78738-6370
512.767.6620 Library
512.767.6624 Direct Line
512.767.6629 Fax
http://pl.beecavetexas.gov
[email protected]
