Dear Paula and all- I waited to reply to this request until I saw what some of the synagogue librarians had to say, since ours is a JCC community library, not a synagogue library. But now I will weigh in to agree with the repsonses I have seen.
First, there is a definite difference between opening up your online catalog to all vs. lending library materials to all. I would definitely encourage universal access to the online catalog -- we have experienced no "down side" since we put our catalog online about 3 years ago. The benefit is more visibility and an uptick in library usage. Second, I can share my experience as to lending to a broad community through our library, which is located in our JCC but funded by our CJLL (Jewish ed. department). Since our funding comes through Federation, not directly from the JCC, we have served the entire community, not just JCC members, for the past 18 years. All I ask, before lending, is for the person to give me name, address, phone number, and (optional) e-mail address. I will not lend without address and phone number, because I need to be able to contact the patron for return of overdue materials. We have definitely had some loss over the years, but I would describe it as minimal. I do send bills to replace long overdue materials, and then the patron usually "finds" and returns the item or pays to replace it. On very rare occasion, I find the address and/or phone number to be inaccurate and am unable to contact the patron. When a patron totally fails to return or replace items, I mark the patron's record in our catalog, so a pop-up alram will come up warning us not to lend to that patron in the future until past issues are resolved. Good luck with your online catalog! It is really great fun! Here is a link to our home page, which I enjoy cutomizing (with very little past tech experience): http://jewishnewhaven.mysurpass.net/ Liz Elizabeth Edelglass Library Director Jewish Community Library JCC of Greater New Haven 360 Amity Rd, Woodbridge, CT 06525 (203) 387-2424 x330 libr...@jewishnewhaven.org --- Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: hasaf...@osu.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
