WHAT'S NEW

Working to make things easier to find in the library

There are teams of volunteers working to make it easier for you to find things you want. Here's an update of what we've been working on this summer for you:

Telescopes for loan – We have added telescopes to the library collection…if you have a card, you can check out one of the telescopes for 7 days! The scopes are available due to the generosity of the First Light Project of the Planetarium at Santa Fe Community College and the Director of the Planetarium Juan Alvarez. This is an innovative program and we believe that we are the first public library in the country to circulate telescopes.

Music CDs – With funding from the Albert I. Pierce Foundation, we recently installed new cabinets to hold the CD collection of music. CDs are organized by genre so that you can easily find what you want – classical, jazz, etc.

As an extra special treat, Tina was able to take advantage of a special promotion price on our cabinet, leaving some additional funds from the grant. The Pierce Foundation supported our using these funds to purchase new DVDs of opera performances. With the recommendations of opera expert and author Desirée Mays and opera-loving volunteer Irene Moyes, we are adding 33 new opera performances to our DVD collection – look in the nonfiction section of DVDs, under “Opera” and enjoy!

New Catalog Look-up PC – Although our card catalog is online, accessible through the internet, it’s been hard to use the catalog in the library. Our patron PCs are often fully occupied by people doing their own research and work, and the circulation desk people are often busy helping people check materials out – leaving no way for a person to look in the card catalog quickly.

Things are much better now. The IT Team has installed a PC dedicated to searching the card catalog – look for it on the shelves right inside the front door. If you need help, ask Tina or one of the library volunteers.

This computer, as well as patron PC #8, was granted to VGPL by ComputerReruns.

Emailed overdue notices –Overdues do matter! Returning materials promptly helps keep materials available for everyone.

We have recently started a new approach to managing overdues, and we are receiving favorable responses to the new process:

• If you have an item that is overdue for more than 8 days, we will email you a reminder listing the overdue materials. We will telephone you only if we do not have your email address.

• If you have not returned the item after 32 days, we will follow-up with a telephone call.

• If you have still not returned the item after 90 days, we will send (in paper mail) an invoice listing the replacement cost of the overdue materials. You have the option of paying the replacement cost or providing the library with a replacement copy of the material.

You can help by providing your email to us. (Your email is used only for library-related business and not shared outside the library.)