Library Biz: The Circulation Department
What they call the Circulation Department at the Hangzhou Library and what we call Circulation are two very different animals. Their non-fiction collection is divided by call numbers just like ours but what might be our 100′s would be their category A. Their fiction is shelved by subject area rather than by author.
So, let’s say I’m the area administrator of section A. I do everything with that area. I scan the books in, I shelve them, clean my area, keep tabs on the equipment, market my collection with displays and answer brief questions from readers about my section.
I also weed the section–sort of. I decide which books I think are no longer useful and then give those suggestions to my team leader. Then the team leader gives the suggestions to the head of Circulation and he makes the final decision. Books are not discarded. They are sent to small branches that have very small budgets.
Library Biz: An Eye-catching Idea
We visited the Zhejiang Provincial Library and saw this interesting idea. They have sets of reading glasses (square for men, oval for women) in a variety of powers in each department. Readers can use them while they are in the library
Library Biz: Special Collections
Similar to our Indianapolis Special Collections Room, Hangzhou Library has a Special Collections Department that contains 3,000 rare books. It is the largest collection of rare books in China. Stone rubbings of tombs and temples are included as well. Patrons must sign in to look at the materials and, of course, they can’t be checked out. The collection contains old Chinese documents mostly about Hangzhou but not exclusively. While we were there a staff member trained in book conservation was repairing a document from 1755. The Hangzhou Library has not digitized any of these works because it is too expensive. However, The National Library in Beijing has digitized some and Hangzhou can buy them from Beijing.
The collection also contains autographed books by famous authors. For example, they had on display a book by Mo Yan who just won the Nobel Prize for literature. You might be familiar with the movie “Red Sorghum” based on one of his books. Mr. Mo visited the library a few months ago before he won the award. Also in that display case was a signed copy of “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros. However, it’s not just famous authors who are represented. Like our library’s Indianapolis Special Collections Room, Hangzhou also collects books by local authors.
While the rest of the library is modern and furnished in a Western style, the Special Collections area is decorated in an Asian style to reflect the nature of the collection. There is a room in the Special Collections area where patrons can try their hand at calligraphy. In the summer special programs are presented for the readers in that room.
Library Biz: The Shanghai Library
We had a quick look at the Shanghai Library. It is gigantic so it wouldn’t be worthwhile to even photograph it. Instead, I took a picture of a model of it so you could get an idea of its size. In a cosmopolitan city of about 15 million people you can imagine that the library would be extensive and have unique features.
Here are a couple of interesting things we saw. There is a kiosk outside the library where one can check out and return books 24 hours a day. You can’t go inside; it is like a book vending machine. The books are lined up in the window so you can see them but there is also a screen that tells what and how many books are available in each classification area.
They still have some card catalogs to accommodate elderly people who do not want to use the computers. On the other hand they started loaning ebooks in 2002.
The Shanghai Library is the biggest genealogy library in China. They have a room of “Chinese celebrity” family trees. For example, they have the family tree of Confucius, I.M Pei (a well-known architect in the US as well) and the Emperor of the Qing dynasty which was the last Chinese dynasty
Library Biz: The Basics
How do you get a library card?
Any resident of Hangzhou can get a card by showing his resident ID card which every person in China is required to carry. They can use this to check out materials if they don’t want to get a card. If they want to check out books but are not a resident of Hangzhou they can put down about a $16 deposit. They get that back when you return the card.
How long can you check out a book?
You can borrow a book for 40 days. You can renew it once for 15 more days. Let’s say another person puts a request on it while you have it checked out for the first 40 days. You still get to renew it once before you have to give it up.
CDs, DVDs and even magazines check out for 10 days but can’t be renewed.
You can have 10 items per card checked out at one time. If even one item is overdue you can’t check anything else out.
Do they have late fees?
Yes, but they are very small. For books it is about 1 cent per day with a 48 cent maximum For CDs and DVDs it is 15 cents a per day with a $3.00 maximum.
How do you check out and return the materials?
The library has RFID which stands for radio frequency identification device. It tracks books by using intelligent barcodes and a sticker in the back.
To check out you put up to 10 items on the checkout machine, as you see below. Then swipe your library card, ID card, or even your fingerprint to check out the books. Voila! You’re done. To return your books you use the same method and then put the books in a bin next to the machine. That takes the book off the reader’s card but it doesn’t update its location in the catalog system. From there the returned books are laid on the ends of the shelves and updated in the catalog with a scanner at least 3 times a day.
They have a security system similar to ours that beeps when people try to take an item without checking out. There are guards outside and at the entrance of every department to help out with that.
Wrap Up
When I applied for this opportunity to come to Hangzhou, I was so naive (I’ll call it naive instead of ignorant) that I didn’t know if China even had public libraries. I figured if they did, they were dingy little buildings full of dusty books and no technology. From our pictures of the Hangzhou Library you can clearly see that is not the case. In fact, their state of the art library has some very interesting technological features that I have never seen before.
Mr. Chu, the director, visited libraries in the United States and Europe, looking for a model on which to develop the Hangzhou Library which opened in 2008. It should be noted that it was the first free library in China. Until then people had to put down a deposit in order to use the library. The deposit would be returned to them when they turned in their card; but what about the people who did not have the money for the deposit? It was also the first library to invite “beggars” into the building, a move that was controversial in China. Still, Mr. Cho was persuasive enough to get the government to support the new library.
When I asked a staff member what made him most proud about the library, he replied that someone else will build a bigger, better building in the future, but it is the concept of the free library that makes him most proud.
From our posts you have realized that the Hangzhou Library does a number of things differently from the Indianapolis Public Library. However, there are many similarities: we both welcome everyone into the library; we both provide open access to the collection, we both offer programs for children and adults, and we both want our libraries to be a third space for the public. Perhaps the most important similarity is that we both try to do everything we can to make our libraries valuable resources for our communities.
