College and Research Libraries IRWIN H. PIZER A Mechanized Circulation System A system is described in which embossed identification cards with machine readable numbers and embossed book cards are used to cre- ate an IBM charge card. The borrowers data is automatically punched into the card using an Addressograph 9500 Optical Code Reader. Other data is keypunched manually, and overdue notices are prepared by computer. Cards for selected groups of borrowers can be sorted out and reinserted in the files by machine. MucH HAS BEEN wru~N regarding systems design, stressing the need for total planning and for careful considera- tion of equipment, so that the best and most appropriate machines can be uti- lized to serve the library's purposes. Un- fortunately, the library is not always in a position where it is permitted to make the decisions regarding machines, and it must therefore sometimes be able to adapt its requirements to suit the de- vices available. The system described here is one which was developed within such parameters; it might not have been formulated ~n this manner, nor using these machines, had the total systems approach been possible. BACKGROUND The library being described houses a collection of seventy-two thousand vol- umes, of which forty-seven thousand are bound journals and twenty-five thousand are monographs. Approximately fifteen hundred and fifty serial publications are currently received. The eligible borrow- ing population numbers two thousand and some thirty-nine thousand items Mr. Pizer is Director of the Library and Assistant Professor of Medical History, at the State University of New York, Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse, New York. This paper was read at the 3d Symposium on Machine Methods, Washington University School of Medicine, AprilS. are circulated annually. Approximately twenty-five hundred charge cards are in the files at a given time. The informa- tional requirements of the circulation section necessitate that each volume be identifiable quickly as to name of bor- rower and location. Overdue materials in demand must be recallable, and rec- ords for departing users must be cleared at the end of each academic year. Items which are missing or at the bindery must also be traceable. Since 1950 the library has used the Gaylord Charging System which calls for the issuance to each borrower of a card with a metal plate and the use of a special charging machine which im- prints the number, together with the date due on a white 3 x 5" book card. A major disadvantage of this system is the sole use of a number on the charge (book) card, since a register of bor- rowers must be consulted each time information is requested as to who has an item, or when overdue notices are sent. With the opening of a new 370-bed teaching hospital, and the move to the medical center of the Syracuse Free Dis- pensary (now the hospitar s outpatient department), accounting systems were designed to handle a large volume of transactions, and the equipment chosen to perform these tasks included an Ad- dressograph Class 9500 Optical Code Reader and an IBM 1440 computer. /5 6 I College & Research Libraries • January, 1966 TABLE 1 Unit Cost Total Cost 1 Graphot)'pe Class 6400-with foil attachment~~ 10 Foil rolls . . . . . . . . . . . $4,822.40 3.11/roll 622.00 175.75 1.55/ea. 32.50/M 32.50/M 2.52/M $4,822.40 31.10 622.00 351.50 18.60 32.50 650.00 Graphotype Service Contract/year 00 . . . . 2 Addressograph Data Recorders Model 12-90 Series 12 Carbon Ribbons for Data Recorders . 1,000 Plastic Identification Cards~ . . 20,000 Laminated plastic book cards . . . 54,000 IBM charge cards (with removable stub) Design cost/ one time charge Set up charge/ order . 25,000 Book Pockets . Cutting charge/ order . 5,000 "Missing" cards . . . 5,000 "Unbound Journal" cards 5,000 Registratie New York 13210 Lf99 900 1 521 ELWOOD, J CLINTON JD20 LANCASTER AVENUE SYRACUSE, N.Y. 1~210 FACULTY Stille Unover511y of N Y- U pstate Medocal [f>nler IDENTIFICATION CARD 7t.,6 Irving Avenue Svracu~P r ... e ..... York 13?1: 100 Ob8 0 101 STUDENT, JOHN B 100 STADIUM PLACE SYRACUSE , N.Y. 13210 . STUDENT A Mechanized Circulation System I 7 simply traced. A departmental code number was added to the former num- ber. This enables the library to machine search the circulation files for the charg- es of any particular group of borrowers, e.g.~ graduating students, departing in- terns, etc. BooK CARD The plastic card prepared for each volume is also limited to four lines of data (Fig. 2). For books, line 1 is re- served for author, lines 2 and 3 for title, and line 4 for call num her and accession number. (No accession records are maintained by the library but a con- trol number is assigned to · each book as it is processed, and this number ap- pears on the shelf list card. It obviates the need for copy designation, speeds discharging of books when returned, and is invaluable in inventory for positive identification of volumes.) CHARGE CARD This is a specially designed IBM card (Fig. 3) which serves to identify im- printed data, and to outline the card fields for keypunching of book and jour- nal information (see Table 2). The cards are color coded along the 12-edge so that charges which come due in a particular week are easily found. The ce.nter por- tion of the card is printed as a reserve- recall form which is filled out by the re- questing user and then replaced in the file after being clipped to indicate the reserve request. ADDITIONAL CARDS Registration. In order to maintain a file of active borrowers, when an ID card is presented at the circulation desk for the first time, the plate is imprint- ed on an IBM card (Fig. 3a) which specifies that the user will abide by the library's regulations. The borrower is asked to sign a statement indicating his responsibility for all loans made on his card and to provide his phone number. 8./ College & Research Libraries • january, 1966 Nonbook materials. To charge out items which do not have plastic book cards (unbound journals, pamphlets, etc. ) the borrower's imprint is recorded on an IBM card (Fig. 3a) and the required information is written in by the user. These cards are not keypunched. Missing materials. When an item is declared to be missing,tan IBM card (Fig. 3a) is prepared and placed in the appropriate file. Thes.e cards may be keypunched. It should be noted that the three .. ad-· ditional cards," while conforming to standard punched card size, etc., have been manufactured for the library by Gaylord Bros. This step was taken for several reasons. Because a relatively small number of these cards would be used each year, it was felt that the set-up and design charges of $126.50 per card would be excessive. The large quantity of cards that would have to be ordered to make the price per card economically practical would cause long term storage problems, and on reorders, there would still be a set-up charge of $61.50. Columns Books 1 2-11 12-17 18-35 36-65 66-67 68-69 70 . 71-74 75-80 Journals 1 2-11 12-17 18-62 63-67 69-70 71-74 75-80 . TABLE 2 Data Book Code Borrower's number Date Due Author's Last N arne Book Title Volume Edition Copy Year Cutter Number Blank Borrower's Number Date Due Journal Title Volume Part Year Blank _ _..,.__,,..._.. ______ ._ .. ...,,.. HARRISON,T.R. PRINCIPLES OF INTERNAL MEDICINE WB 1100/H322P/62 60227 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED RADIATION AND ISOTOPES V. IS 1964 77:4_0 6 Frc. 2-The plastic cards for insertion in the bound volume also contains four lines of de- scriptive data as shown. The book cards are scored along the sides so that the flaps can be broken off to make them fit the Data Recorder. The advantage to having them full size for the Graphotype operation is that only one style holder need be used and accurate alignment in embossing is assured. CoNVERSION PERIOD During the months between October 1964 and September 1965, when the sys- tem is scheduled to begin operation, processing of books must suit both charging systems. In order to do this, the plastic book card is prepared and is then used to imprint both the old and the new book pockets, and one book card (Fig. 4). It is expected that the addressograph system will be started for faculty charges by June, whenever possible, in order to cut down the number of old faculty charges which will have to be handled in the fall. CHARGING PROCEDURE The method of charging materials is quite simple. The borrower produces his ID card as he presents the materials de- A Mechanized Circulation System I 9 ~,· -- 't'l'l '100 .L 521 MAY ·a 1965 , , I I ••• I I I NUITEI . I . I . DATE DUE I ••• ' II : I IUIOSUICICIL ST.41£ li~IJ'ERSITl' OF • I U&ESTN£Sil El_WOOD ; . J CLIITOI V0~35/H945ft / 1,64 '"'" ·''£,. l"ORK- 'CPST.HE • I OZO JIEDIC4C. CEI\'TER J.{RR.4RY LUUSTEI UUIE r SUlCUS£. '·'· 13210 BOOK- JOURNAL IMPRINT FICULTY •A 19 65 CIRI:t'T. HI.IJ.'Y CH.4RCE C~RD f BORROWER 'S IMPRINT , DATE CHARGED 12 l 4 5 I 7 1 91011121ll4~11 11111t102'1n2324Z5 Mn2t H30lll2lU4 l5lll7Jilt4 ~uu~uu~uu~~n~~»M~~HA~uuw~unuuNnnnu~nnnnu RESERVE WHEN RETURNED FOR RECALL WHEN DUE FOR NAME DEPARTMENT EXTENSION NAME DEPARTMENT I~TENSIOH '· ·- l ' ' t I ~ IORROWER'S J, DATE AUTHORS LAST NAME B OOK TITLE lY•LT ••l!J YEAR I CUTTEO I NUMBER DUE .JOURNAL TITLE INOE)( MEOIC U S ABBREVI ATION YOt.t*E .. AitT ....,. ! :14 S I 1 I 11011 2UM1SMI11tlti2021Un242121272UIH JI UllJ.e~·:U·li414UH.U4454147414tSO~St_!I~S7_stHIII!~MI51~_;~a:~.~~nnnlt JIDaJt • FIG. 3-Shown here is a dummy of the charge card to be used. There is a removable tab on the left side which is used to align the card in the Data Recorder. It is removed when the information has been imprinted on the card. sired at the circulation desk. Both the ID card and the plastic book card are in- serted in the Data Recorder (Fig. 5) and an IBM card is placed on top of the cards. The machine is closed and a handle is pulled across the face of the cards, thus bringing a carbon ribbon in contact with the embossed data and im- printing it on the IBM card. The Data Recorder also imprints the date charged. The book card is returned to the pocket together with an appropriate date due card, and the ID card is returned to the borrower. After the charge card has been pre- pared, it is kept in a file of the day's cir- culation in sequence by author or jour- nal title. A statistical count is made at the end of the day, and the following morning the pertinent data is key- punched into the cards. Each morning a supply of date due cards is pre-stamped in a quantity esti- mated to last the day. MECHANICS Each morning the cards for the previ- ous day's circulation of between 100 and 200 bound volumes are taken to the data processing department, where they are first run through the Optical Code Read- er (Fig. 6). This procedure is done in two steps, first for journals, and then for books. The machine automatically punches the borrower's number into columns 2-11 of the IBM card by read- ing the bar codes. The reader has the ability to punch up to 40 columns of numerical data into a card, and using this capability, a code number 9 is FIG. 3a-The three specially printed circula- tion forms are shown here (reduced ) . They are printed on different colored card stocks in order to lessen confusion and to guard against the forms being accidentally used for the wrong purpose. STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK UPSTATE MEDICAL CENTER LIBRARY UNBOUND JOURNAL- PltMPHLET CHARGE CARD JournaiTitle::_ ---------- ------- Pamphlet Author .:' _____________ Number : __ _ ~==-- - ----------------SUbjecl:: ________________ _ STATE UN IVERSITY OF NEW YORK\ UPSTATE MEOtCAL CENTER LIBRARY REGISTRATION CARD Reg•strattOnOete 1 hereby appty IOf the right to use t he State University of New York Upstate Medical Center Ubrary. 1 •gree to be responsible lor all materials charged out with my ldenhfation Card, andwillobserveatlof the l lt)l'·ary's regull tlons. On c:hangeofresldenc:e,lwlllglve the Library IM MEDIATE NOTICE. • Signature: UPSTATE MEDICAL CENTER liBRARY\ STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK Missing Date JournatorBookTit~:--------------- Volume : ___ Year: ___ lssue · ___ Month : __ Editioo : __ 10 I College & Research Libraries • January, 1966 punched into all the book cards in col- time that volume circulates, the bor- umn 1, so that book and journal cards rower's data and volume data are im- may be machine separated, and the printed on a new charge card, and the date due is punched into columns 12-17. old charge Cjlfd is removed from the After this step is completed the cards book pocktjt and placed with the new are manually keypunched with the ap- charge card. Since the book and borrow- propriate book or journal data needed to er's data is automatically punched into identify the particular item. The cards the card and the keypunched data from are then returned to the library where the old charge can be duplicated into they are manually filed. the -ne~ one rapidly, all keypunching is ' Because the charge cards are not eliminated on such transactions. Wash- easily reproducible, errors in keypunch- ington University school of medicine li- ing must be corrected with self-adhesive brary has found, on the basis of one pat-ches on the original card and then :---- · year's experience, that over 60 per cent repunched. of the items charged out of the library When a book is returned, the key- have old cards, and it may be expected punched charge card is pulled from the that this figure will rise somewhat over files and inserted into the book pocket a longer period of time. after being marked "void." The next FIG. 4-The plastic book card (lower right) is used to print the book pocket and card for the Gaylord system, and a book pocket in which it is housed. ZE I TSCHI I FT FUI. ZEllFOISCHUIC UID MIIIOSIOPISCHE lilT. Y60.1963 71925 ZEITSCHRIFT f UR ZELLFORSCHUNG UNO HIKROSKOPISCHE ANAT. V60.1963 : 71925 OVERDUE NOTICES In order to send overdue notices, the circulation files are sorted according to school, year, and department. (Overdue ! IE I tiCHt I'FT FUR ZELLFOIICHUNI UNO MIIIOSIOPIICHI A"~T. Y60 .1963 - // ··r· .. 11...fD ZEITSCHRIFT FUR ZELLFORSCHUNG UNO MIKROSKOPISCHE ANAT. V60, 1963 71925 A Mechanized Circulation System I 11 notices are not sent to faculty unless a book is needed by another reader.) The cards are then inserted"' in an IBM col- lator which matches them against the name and address cards, inserting the address card before each group of charges. When the deck has been col- lated, it is run into the 1440 computer which is programed to print out the name and address in block form (Fig. 7), print a legend stating that the follow- ing items are overdue, and list all items for the borrower. When the computer compares numbers on the entering cards and find that they are not identical, the ,, forms are advanced to a new page and the next overdue notice prepared. The stack of forms is then sent to the library, where the sheets are in- serted in window envelopes and dis- tributed either by mail or campus de- livery. It is quite likely that when the system becomes operational, the entire file will be reproduced on a duplicate deck, in- stead of sorting the circulation file into various number sequences. This pro- FIG. 5-The Data Recorder is shown here with a book card already in place (on right) and an ID card being inserted. The carbon ribbon is visible through the step-shaped cut- out in the hinged top section. The ribbon is advanced each time the top section is opened. The date charged is printed by a group of six number wheels situated below the book card. Frc. 6-The 9,500 Optical Code Reader is used to automatically punch the borrower's number in the card, and at the same time punch the date due and a code to distinguish books from journals. Two feed hoppers are shown, but the hopper on the left is the one used for this procedure. The data to be punched into each card, other than the bar coded number, is set on the small panel to the left of the feed hop- per. The completed cards are ejected and stacked on the bin at the left. The machine's functional controls are located on the panel on the top of the unit. cedure will obviate the need for disar- ranging the master file and enable it to be returned to the circulation desk in a matter of hours, while all procedures relating to rearrangement of the file for overdue notices are performed on the duplicate deck. The latter would then be discarded after the overdue notices have been printed. 2 CoNCLUSION It can be seen that this system is basi- cally the same as the one . at the Wash- ington University school of medicine, except that some changes have been made in equipment. The Graphotype coats the embossed letters with a colored foil when the card is completed in order to facilitate reading; newly designed data recorders are used which print with a carbon ribbon, necessary for sensing 2 E. A. Moore, and E. Brodman, "Communication to the Editor." Ibid. LIII (January 1965), 99-101. I I I I I 12 I College & Research Libraries • January, 1966 700 0 6!1 0 007. •• _. ···-· RAF R KAP.c · c;·-·--·------ - --·····---------- - t> l4 S CROUSE AVE • -·-·-. SY RACU SE . ..... -------- 132~n-·--·------:------------------------STUO ENT • r----------- ---Ye~.! of Graduation " 700 06fl 0 003 "" _ ................ ~-·c---.. ---------------- - --·------- ·- HARO RORF.RT L • --· ........ · ~1 T r.REF.N~ID9u-P['A 'CE----·-·· SYRAC:US E . ·- - ·- -------- ··,.----------------- 700 068 0 004 School .... - .. ~-FIA.RV INrni\'K'"'GI~TCR7ilHT-- 41R FELLOWS AVE . • • STUDENT ' ··- ···-----····-----···- ----------··-------.. ---.. • ! .. ---------?oo .. o6·s- o--oo-Y-- ~ BERF.TSKY IRWIN llepartmeRt ·---· . --- - - ~ 163 HALLANIYNE API ~u • ~ SYRACUSE 13205 ~ .. __ , _ ________ , ___ -sTUUEflT _____________________ _ • •• Frc. 7-Printout showing the address blocks and numbers as they appear on the ID cards. The 10-digit number is broken down as shown. The division of the number into groups of three digits is purely arbitrary and done to m ake Graphotyping of the card easier . by the Optical Code Reader; and the Optical Code Reader is used to insert automatically seventeen columns of nu- meric data into the charge cards in order to cut down on the keypunching. Because different imprinting machines were available, the charge card is ori- ented in one direction which makes it easier to read and to keypunch. The use of a machine codable number positioned at the left side of the card frees addi- tional columns for data recording, and allows larger fields to be assigned to author and book titles, the brevity of which caused some slight problems in the first system. It may be noted that this is not an · especially cheap method of circulation control; however, not all of the costs listed in Table 1 are charged to the li- brary and the major cost of the Grapho- type and its service contract are divided between the various departments which use it. Given the limitations of already select- ed machines, this system does provide a neat and workable solution to a circu- latic:>n problem. The time' of the Circu- lation Staff which is eliminated in pro- ducing the overdues is not gained, how- ever, but merely reassigned to keypunch - ing the daily circulation. ••