Ann Wurdeman thinks that nice libraries are the reason that people use
the suburban libraries more. I see heavy use in some Saint Paul branches
that are far from nice and spacious.
There was a posting about the difference in emphasis between the Minneapolis
and Hennepin systems a while back. It said that Hennepin has more fiction
among other differences. That might explain some of it, they certainly
tend to have more copies of "popular" books.
Try doing a search on a popular new mystery on the various systems and then
look at the number of people in line with holds. I've seen 400-500 on some
titles in Hennepin.
I use Saint Paul, Ramsey, Hennepin, and Minneapolis libraries heavily.
I do online searches to find books and get them from the most convenient
place. Sometimes I pick them up on my lunch hour, sometimes on the weekend.
How many Minneapolis libraries are open on Sunday? Even the Southdale
branch is closed on Sundays in the summer. I think that some Hennepin
branches are even closed on Saturdays in the summer. Most Ramsey and Saint
Paul libraries are open weekends.
Many non-fiction books are only in one system or even one library. Of
course, a lot are in the colleges and universities, but I haven't yet
tried to borrow from the U via inter-library loan and I don't know how
well that works.
Having more books on the shelf is good, but there are issues with putting
books out that nobody will check out, even if they are available. Are
there any frequency distributions of the number of times that books have
been checked out? It would seem that you could set some minimum number
of checkouts per year before a book would be out in the public area.
I also wonder how well compact shelving will work, since at present, there
are usually? people in each aisle, which you can't have with compact
shelving.
Would I support the referendum? Don't know, don't have to figure it out.
I did post about the cost for the upcoming refurbishment of the Saint Paul
central library, which is a lot less than the Minneapolis replacement.
It seems that you have to try to assess whether your are going to get full
value for the dollar or whether it is "gold-plated" specs.
Bruce Gaarder
Highland Park Saint Paul
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
