People are spending more time at their local libraries these days, and libraries are trying to encourage return visits.
Both the Riverside County library system and the San Bernardino County library system have recently tweaked their renewal policies. The county systems are separate from city systems.
Riverside County's 33 library branches are now allowing patrons to renew their books and audio materials for a longer period, as long as no one else has requested the same item. Readers can hang on to a book for 10 weeks maximum instead of six. The system is allowing four two-week renewals after the initial check-out period of two weeks.
"It doesn't arbitrarily force someone to give back the book if no one wants it," said Mark Smith, library administrator for the Riverside County system. "It's an opportunity to keep it longer."
But the county system has also decided to take back videos and DVDs sooner.
Patrons can no longer renew such items, which must be brought back after two weeks. Smith said this change allows people quicker access to videos and DVDs, which can be viewed and returned in a short amount of time. The system has fewer videos and DVDs than books -- 81,000 versus 1.4 million -- and the new policy allows people to get their hands on movies faster, Smith said.
The San Bernardino County system, which has 30 branches, now allows patrons to renew all VHS videos one time. There's less demand for videos than DVDs, and the system decided to offer patrons an extension, said Nannette Bricker-Barrett, collection management coordinator.
Most other items, including books, can be checked out for 21 days and can be renewed for another 21 days if no one has placed a hold on them.
The changes are not meant to imply that people are reading less, said Smith and Bricker-Barrett. They're probably reading more these days.
"We are having a lot of holds," Bricker-Barrett said. "People are purchasing fewer books and our circulation is going up. ... In the past, people only had print books and today they have more options -- audio books and e-books."
The San Bernardino County Library has downloadable books as well. Patrons can download audio books from the library's Web site to their computers and MP3 players. They can also download e-books to their computers or electronic reader devices.
CIRCULATION RISING
Smith said it's well documented that libraries are seeing increases in circulation during the downturn in the economy.
Circulation has skyrocketed in the Riverside system in recent years.
The number jumped from the 2006-07 fiscal year to the 2007-08 fiscal year by about 39 percent, Smith said. The circulation number went up by about 5.5 percent in the 2008-09 year to about 3.5 million. Non-print items -- the bulk being DVDs and videos -- make up about a quarter of the circulation.
"People are reading more or at least checking out more books," Smith said.
During the same time, the system has been attracting patrons by offering more cultural events, programs and bilingual story hours in Spanish. The number of people who attended a program jumped from 40,827 in 2006-07 to 127,717 in 2008-09, Smith said.
San Bernardino County system has also seen a spike in circulation. During the 2008-09 fiscal year, circulation increased by nearly 17 percent to 3.1 million. The large increase is unusual but part of it can be attributed to a Fontana branch that opened in 2008, Bricker-Barrett said.
For the first five months of 2009-10, the circulation is about 5 percent higher than the same time period last year, Bricker-Barrett said. She said she's seeing a general trend -- people are reading more books and requesting more titles from the libraries.
"Our gut feeling is that there's a general increase in usage," Bricker-Barrett said. "People are not purchasing their own books. They're placing them on hold more."
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