Libraries - Amount of Available games in your Country?

[Tartar]

7 hours ago, KosherKitten said:

I thought I'd already replied to this, whoops

 

First off, who says they'd return anything at all? Or even check it out in the first place?

 

Here we have way too much stuff circulating at once to check each return individually. We do keep track of when a case returns empty and we will contact whoever checked the item out to try to get it back

 

I recently got to witness the security footage of a thief in action. A kid made a show of checking something out, but he didn't actually check anything out, just ran the case through the scanner so it beeped. He then swapped the disk into a case he'd brought with him and placed it in his backpack to smuggle it out. All while wearing a hoodie to hide his face from the cameras. It was an expert heist. So expert, in fact, that he returned an empty case while someone was in the back, allowing us to discern the general time period we needed to seek on the recording. Then we simply traced back his actions until we saw that he had been using one of the computers which gave us a good look at his face and the ability to figure out what his card number was

 

I don't exactly know how the library system in your country works, but at least here scanning a CD/DVD/Game is tied to the disc itself and not the case.  And at the exit to the library the there are these scanners akin to those in clothing stores, that check whether material passing through them has been checked-out. With this being the only exit, it sounds pretty difficult to pull what you described.

 

Am I understanding correctly that you manually check each and every return to make sure they're in good condition? Sounds like a ton of work.

 

 

On a side note, it's very interesting that you happen to work in a library. Do you have any other interesting tales of mystery/intrigue/romance? 

[Shamitako]

Those scanners don't check whether it's been checked out. They're looking for a metal tag of some kind that is presumably deactivated when you check out the item. Ours are strapped to plastic casings which we place around the disc's case and has to be removed at the checkout station (which are right across from the customer service desk at the branch I'm at) using a magnetic unlocking mechanism. I'd be curious as to where these strips are located on your disks (particularly considering the ones we have and the ones I've seen at clothing stores are far too thick to put directly onto a disk without causing issues when you'd attempt to play it)

 

Also, if checkout is tied to the disk, how do you handle multi-disk sets? Or blu-rays that come with a DVD copy as well? Etc? Does each disk have to be checked individually? From the standpoint of the library, it sounds as though it would be extremely tedious to track that someone had returned an entire set if you checked out the set using the individual disks. As in, someone finishes disk one of a set and returns it, but now you don't have the rest of the set and it can't circulate again until the rest is returned

 

Out of curiosity, do you mean to state your library does not check each item as it is returned? But what would be done if an item was returned in poor condition?

 

Here returns are placed into a returns slot and retrieved by a CSA (circulation services associate, I think, I can't remember all the acronyms) on check in duty who will immediately scan them back into the system and check for any obvious issues (missing disks, torn/marked/dirtied pages, resident bugs, the smell of smoke). If they notice anything wrong then they put a note into the system, mark the item with a piece of paper indicating the issue, check the card number of the last person to borrow the item, and then we try to contact that person to resolve the issue. If someone proves to be a repeat offender then they may lose their ability to check out items

 

Also, on the original topic:

The outliers/repeats are the fault of whoever put them into the system not knowing how to categorize them properly or them being from a different system in the network that simply does things different. This is 926 total available items in the network (that doesn't add up from the above because there's overlap in tags), although I'm sure a good chunk are missing and another good chunk are actually circulating right now. As best I can recall, PS3 and PS4 games circulate the most, followed by Xbox 360. And we've got most (if not all) of the mainstream AAA games available. Also the Xbox in the teen room at the branch I'm at has Rocket League on it, so that's cool

 

As best I know, video games are only available by request and none of the branches in our system actually shelve them. A couple in the network probably do, but I've only been to Bexley outside of the main system

 

And I don't actually work here, I'm just a volunteer. I'm basically an extra LSA (library services aide, that one I do know) that they don't have to pay but have for less time. Working on actually getting an LSA position, but Brett isn't leaving any time soon so it'll have to be at a different branch, which results in transportation issues for me

[Tartar]

@KosherKitten Thanks for the long and insightful comment. I'll try to answer your questions to the best of my ability. 

 

Libraries in Denmark use a form of stickers on books/discs when checking out that works sort of like a credit card chip. The loan process involves you checking into the system with a personal card, and placing everything you want to borrow on the computer table you borrow books from. Then some magic happens, and the table detects everything on the table and puts it as borrowed on your account. When exiting the library, you go through a "gate" that works in the same fashion and can detect the stickers on the things you borrow, and will start an alarm if something you forgot to borrow something. 

Multiple disc sets just use a sticker for each individual disc. 

 

You return things in the same fashion, by putting the books you want to return, on the computer table and then having it detect them as returned, and then put them in a shared pool of books/games/DVD's that a librarian will put back in their rightful place once they get the time. Perhaps at this point, the items are checked for the condition they're in, but I'm not entirely certain.

In general, librarians aren't involved with the borrowing or returning process unless an error or problem occurs at which point things can be borrowed/returned manually, as everything else is highly automated. I honestly can't remember the last time I've spoken to a librarian. 

 

Otherwise, I think individual users can report a book/game as being in poor condition, though I'm not entirely certain what happens after that, as I've never reported a book. I must apologise for not being able to comment too much on the functions and tasks of librarians over here as I'm unfamiliar with what they do outside of providing service and support. But in general, the library systems in our two countries seem to work on quite different principles. 

 

 

On that note, you're the first to report that your country's libraries also have a large collection of games. Would you mind if I asked you which country you lived in? 

[Shamitako]

I live in central Ohio which is in the us, but Tue location is significant because we have one of the best networks in the country (not the best mind you, but were up there)

 

Also most of it is automated here as well. I highly suspect that a CSA (or the Denmark equivalent) checks the items when they are returned to the pool, even if the actual scanning is performed by the borrower

[Tartar]

@KosherKitten So, I was in my local library today to get a few Board Games I ordered (apparently you can loan board games too...) and I started talking about one of the librarians, who confirmed that they check the condition of materials returned like you suspected.

 

 

And apparently, this is true for board games too, where they have to make sure that every single part/piece is returned... Which must be a nightmare since they have to count every card, tile and cube by hand. And considering a light board game typically has at least 100 components, and larger ones can easily have 500<, I can feel bad for librarians having to do this. 

 

 

[Maelstrom]

It's probably a lot easier if they use little bags or plastic containers to organize the parts. There's a place around here where we go to board game sometimes and everything comes in those kind of things, along with a printed label saying what goes in what and how many, and generally a master inventory sheet. Pretty neat system that make accountability pretty easy. They also sell containers on the side so if you buy any games or own some already you can use them for your own personal organization.

[Tartar]

2 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

It's probably a lot easier if they use little bags or plastic containers to organize the parts. There's a place around here where we go to board game sometimes and everything comes in those kind of things, along with a printed label saying what goes in what and how many, and generally a master inventory sheet. Pretty neat system that make accountability pretty easy. They also sell containers on the side so if you buy any games or own some already you can use them for your own personal organization.

 

That's a great idea, though they do this with games already. Games are organized in plastic bags, though I supose they don't use tackle boxes because it would be to difficult to find tackle boxes in the right dimensions for every single board game. 

The main thing that makes this difficult is, say a plastic bag has a bunch of cards in it, they have to count those out by hand... Which can grow tedious is a game has hundreds of cards. 

[Maelstrom]

7 minutes ago, Tartar said:

That's a great idea, though they do this with games already. Games are organized in plastic bags, though I supose they don't use tackle boxes because it would be to difficult to find tackle boxes in the right dimensions for every single board game. 

The main thing that makes this difficult is, say a plastic bag has a bunch of cards in it, they have to count those out by hand... Which can grow tedious is a game has hundreds of cards. 

 

No yeah, these are generally smaller than an actual fishing tackle boxes and come in a variety of sizes and shapes, even though board games these days tend to come with some pretty big boxes. One of my friends has an organizer that is really several containers connected. Imagine a a round plastic container, like the bottom part of a soda can, and they screw into the bottom of a container just like it, with one lid for the top-most container. It ends up looking like a tiny totem pole with different pieces in each section.

 

but yeah, I suppose with cards you just pull them out onto a table and count 'em. Whenever I have a big stack to count, I simply make small stacks of five and then do some math after counting the number of stacks and any remainders.

 

 

random related link

http://www.boardgameresource.com/board-game-storage-6-tips/