Building an Equipment Checkout System from Scratch
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7710/1093-7374.1847Keywords:
Oregon, Oregon libraries, academic library, libraries, librarians, northwest, information science, information literacy, social media, writing, library trends, books, donors, library funding, Oregon library association, quarterly, Oregon library association quarterly, American library association, ala, ola, reading, library success, success, evolving roles, new discipline, changes in libraries, career, careers, library careers, library career, new department, student workers, library kits, spring, 2016, access services, professional journal, scholarly, academic, circulation, public, engine, library spaces, service desk, light filled rooms, Portland, equipment kits, check-out, checkout, check out, systems, Molly Gunderson, Bronwyn Dorhofer, scratch, laptops, ipads, pocket projectors, ILS, Portland State University, University of Oregon, University of Oregon Portland, Learning Library, learning commons, Oregon ducksAbstract
This article will examine the practical methods the Portland State University (PSU) Library and University of Oregon Portland Library and Learning Commons implemented when developing equipment checkout systems to serve their patrons. Due to the inherent complexity of technology items and their unique lending rules, creating sound circulation policies which benefited patrons and worked well with the limitations of our integrated library systems (ILS) was of primary concern. In this document, we will describe our basic equipment lending workflows as well as highlight the basic factors to consider if launching a similar project.
The PSU Library’s focus will relate to lending a variety of technology equipment (laptops, iPads) available to a large student population, while UO Portland’s will relate to lending specialized kits with many components to specific patron groups.