Multimedia Reporting (Bradford-Utsler)

Cindy Rivera, library assistant at Watson Library, remembers that in the old days, libraries had “little old men” who stood at the library entrance and people could not get out until they checked people’s backpacks to be sure that there was a date stamped in the back of library books.

Today, technology checks the books, instead. A door-way security system prevents books from being stolen.

A gateway security system at Watson Library checks people.

“I think that it is a lot harder to steal library books nowadays than that it used be because of the technology,” Rivera said. “The system is very sensitive.”

Today, automation plays a significant role in libraries at the University of Kansas. Technology has replaced what people have to do by hand. However, technology has not lightened the work. The information explosion and continuous technology-upgrading keeps libraries just as busy. Libraries hire more people than they used to.

“We have plenty of work to keep us busy,” Miloche Kottman, program manager of cataloging at Watson Library, said. She said she needed to install patches and upgrades, and always has people to retrain. “Even if the technology makes it faster for us to work, there is actually more for us to do,” she said.

According to Kottman, there was still a card catalog system when she started to work at Watson Library in 1983. “Windows was not invented yet, so a lot of work was done by hand,” she said.

Each library has a portion of the entire collection collesponed to the school’s areas of study, Kottman said.

Today, KU library has several library venders for cataloging. One of the cataloging systems that Watson Library uses is called “Voyager.”

Voyager was introduced July 27, 1999. The library sent a request for purchase to library venders and asked what venders could do, what would be the cost and so on. The venders did presentations of what their systems could do. Some members of the library visited venders, solicted input and finally decided which system to purchase

Sometimes Voyager shuts down because of problems related to a server.

“Last time, we got a lot of the problems because we got a new server and new version of Voyager,” Kottman said. After the upgrading, Voyager did not work well on the server and it took a while to figure out what the problem was. The problem with the server is fixed, but there are still problems related to the upgrade. The vender handles the problems case by case.

Kottoman said KU libraries were “held hostage” by the venders. If the venders do not invent new technology, the libraries can not apply it.

“In library literature, KU libraries are pushing for venders to do more automation of the cataloging systems and they are changing the cataloging rules,” Kottoman said. The new cataloging rules that might simplify the process are coming out in 2008.

According to Kottman, recently, the Chinese orders have switched to a new book-order system that enables records to appear online immediately. However, some books are out of print. “We have to buy used books from somewhere else, and in that case, we have to call and fax them,” Kottman said.

Watson Library still needs extra people to work on the many tasks that technology cannot do. The library adds a number of new and used books (most of them are degital articles or books) each week and the total number keeps doubling. In 2004, the library added 77,732 books; it increased to 83,469 books in 2005, Kottman said.

Rivera, who works in the marking section at Watson Library, said keeping up with the number of books added every week is her challenge now. She is also working on a project to reclassify thousands of old books with old ID numbers and without tattle tapes.

There are two types of the tattle tape. Green one is used for peperback books, and white one is used for hardback books.

A tattle tape is a sticky strip that has a magnetic socket in it; it is put down either the spine of the book or inside one of the pages. They put it in the books so they can not be stolen. Once it is in place, if someone tries to go though the gateway at the library door, it sets off the alarm unless it has been desensitized. When a book is checked out at the circulation desk, a staff member desensitizes the tattle tape.

Rivera said it is the same technology that many stores use for their products. A mark is put on the price tag so that nobody can steal the product. She also said most libraries have a security system like this.

Thanks to security, the number of books stolen has decreased, Rivera said.

“The tattle tape is hard to see and it has become a lot harder to steal our books, than it,” she said.

She said the tattle tape system has been in use for about ten years. The older books do not have a tattle tape on them.

Many new and old books that have not tattle-taped pile up on a desk at Watson Library.

She has had projects for people to go in the stacks and put tattle tapes on the books, but there are still a lot of books without tattle tapes.

“One of our goals is putting tattle tapes on all books,” Rivera said.

She also said that while some books are stolen, most of books are just lost because sometimes students pick them up and put them back in the wrong place.

“That happens a lot,” she said. “We have millions of books and it is hard to keep track of them.”

She said the library has people whose job is just to look for books that are in the wrong place. Automation can tell her whether the book is in the building, but if it is in the wrong place, they have to look for it in a number of stacks.

At this point, she said, no technology can replace people in terms of finding books.

Related Links:
The University of Kansas Libraries
ID Recall Systems