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Library eschews date-due stamps Mail Tribune / Jim Craven A new system at the Medford branch of the Jackson County Library prints a paper receipt when patrons check out a book. The receipt contains the date the book is due to be returned. Library workers say the process allows them to help people more promptly. By MEG LANDERS Mail Tribune First, it was the card catalog. Now, it's the date-due stamps. As another hallowed tradition falls by the wayside, the library moves forward. The Medford branch of the Jackson County Library system has made a switch in its check-out procedures. The staff was liberated Jan. 11 from the task of flipping open each book jacket and stamping the due date inside. Staff members now merely check out each book, tear off a receipt from the new printer and hand it to the patron. The new receipt includes such information as the title and due date of each item, as well as titles and due dates of renewed items. It can also serve as a receipt for paid overdue fines. Staff say the new method helps reduce some of the repetitive stress injuries they were experiencing, and they hope to eventually have the new receipt printer in most branches in Jackson County. Eleanor Dinnel, the Medford library system's circulation supervisor, says she finds the new technique helps patrons through check-out more quickly. "It speeds up the desk, it's easier for the staff and when we go into the new building, it'll work with the self check-out," she said. Dinnel says that while most patrons say they like having all the information consolidated, she has heard some say that they miss opening the cover to see the due date stamped inside. For those patrons, the staff has made the stamp available. "They have the option of stamping their own book, or writing on the date-due grid," she says. Klamath County libraries have been using the receipt printers for more than two years. "Switching over was a deal," says Susan Marino, library specialist at Klamath County. She says it was several months before patrons stopped calling because they couldn't figure out when their books were due. But now, she says, with the faster procedure, consolidated information, and lack of ink on hands and books, there's no looking back. "I love them," she says. "They're good machines." She says staff members try to accommodate their patrons. "Older people don't like it as much, because the print is smaller (than the date stamp print)," she says. For those people, they write out the due date." She says her advice for Jackson County staff is to have patience. "Everybody gets used to it," she says, adding that there have always been more compliments than complaints. Jamie Leach of Medford makes weekly visits to the library and says she has already adjusted to the new receipts. "I just leave them tucked right in the pocket so that I can check and see what's due if I do forget," she says. "I'm not really affected. I'll use the library no matter what they do." Reach reporter Meg Landers at 776-4481 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.