I don't really have any particular library hacks. I went on a bit of a trawl through a search engine, having a look at the things they considered library hacks - and some of them were great ideas! I loved some of the ideas on this list, like having a list of the classmarks for difficult topics, and reading down fines. I particularly love the grab bag idea - that would definitely help me decide what to read next!
But most of these don't work for my library.
I don't have fines, the library is reference-only, so there aren't any borrowing hacks. Browsing is already impossible due to the fact that all the books are on closed access to readers, and most are very different sizes and shapes than the standard fiction book size, so don't lend themselves to being upended to allow for easier reading of the bottom shelf.
I guess if I were to try and give advice about the library where I work, the biggest thing I would say is:
TALK TO A LIBRARIAN!
If there's one thing I've learnt, it's that every library is different. Every library has its own foibles, borrowing limits, ways of setting out everything. Even efforts to standardise everything across the university's libraries have been met with limited success, because the way readers use resources is different; for example, people don't borrow a score and set of parts from a music library to read for an essay to be submitted that week, they're usually required for much longer, so music loans have always traditionally been for months at a time.
So my library works very differently from most of the libraries in Cambridge. Because everything is on closed access, I have to fetch it all. Because I'm on my own in a building with priceless objects, I have to keep the room secure. So it's hard to explain to readers that they can't just turn up, classmark in hand, and expect to find a book on the shelf and borrow it - I know that's how their libraries work, but I just can't do the same for them here. I try to couch it in positive terms: reference-only means no one else will have borrowed it before you, for example, but really, the best way to manage expectations is to have talked in advance!
But most of these don't work for my library.
I don't have fines, the library is reference-only, so there aren't any borrowing hacks. Browsing is already impossible due to the fact that all the books are on closed access to readers, and most are very different sizes and shapes than the standard fiction book size, so don't lend themselves to being upended to allow for easier reading of the bottom shelf.
I guess if I were to try and give advice about the library where I work, the biggest thing I would say is:
TALK TO A LIBRARIAN!
If there's one thing I've learnt, it's that every library is different. Every library has its own foibles, borrowing limits, ways of setting out everything. Even efforts to standardise everything across the university's libraries have been met with limited success, because the way readers use resources is different; for example, people don't borrow a score and set of parts from a music library to read for an essay to be submitted that week, they're usually required for much longer, so music loans have always traditionally been for months at a time.
So my library works very differently from most of the libraries in Cambridge. Because everything is on closed access, I have to fetch it all. Because I'm on my own in a building with priceless objects, I have to keep the room secure. So it's hard to explain to readers that they can't just turn up, classmark in hand, and expect to find a book on the shelf and borrow it - I know that's how their libraries work, but I just can't do the same for them here. I try to couch it in positive terms: reference-only means no one else will have borrowed it before you, for example, but really, the best way to manage expectations is to have talked in advance!
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