College and Research Libraries VIRGINIA E. YAGELLO and GERRY GUTHRIE The Effect of Reduced Loan Periods on High Use Items A study was conducted in a university departmental library to deter- mine the effectiveness of satisfying user demand for high use items by reducing the loan period. It was assumed that assigning a one-tv-eek loan period to such items would increase their availability to users, thereby increasing circulation. A 20 percent increase in student charges supports the validity of this technique. CI NFLATION j COUPLED WITH LIMITED FUNDS for the purchase of library ma- terials, has necessitated limiting acquisi- tions n the Physics Library of The Ohio State University. Under these circum- stances sporadic complaints from both students and faculty concerning imme- diate unavailability of titles in the col- lection has served to point up the need for a review of the effectiveness of li- brary circulation policies. The Physics Library is one of twenty- one department libraries of The Ohio State University Libraries. The collec- tion contains approximately 36,500 cata- loged volumes with an annual circulation of approximately 30,000. However, in the past two years, its circulation has dropped 6 percent .and 7 percent respec- tively. The Ohio State University Li- braries has an on-line automated circu- lation system. 1 Statistics from this sys- tem were used to analyze the Physics Virginia E. Yagello is associate professor of library administration and head of the Physics and Chemistry libraries; and Gerry Guthrie is head, research and administra- tion, The Ohio State University Libraries, Columbus. Library's circulation record and to com- pare it to that of the overall library system. Previous research by one of the au- thors indicates that circulation in The Ohio State University Libraries follows a standard Bradford distribution. 2 • 3 A small percent of the titles ( 3. 7 percent) accounts for a disproportionately high percentage of the circulation activity ( 56.1 percent). It is the basic assump- tion of this paper that this phenomenon represents a major limiting factor in cir- culation service. Circulation service, for the purposes of this study, is defined as a measurable activity represented by a patron charging out a book from the li- brary. Any increase or decrease in circu- lation service is reflected in the number of charges recorded at the circulation desk. This definition of circulation ig- nores for practical purposes the question of convenience of service for a single patron. We propose that minimizing frustration of many readers for items at their peak of usefulness is preferable to convenience for the single patron for those same items. For example, all other things being equal, it is preferable to have ten patrons charge a high-use vol- / 411 412 I College & Research Libraries • September 1975 ume for one week than to have one patron charge the same book for ten weeks. Therefore, any increase in the number of recorded charges (i.e., an in- crease in the number of patrons served) represents an improvement in circulation service. Two possible ways to improve access to items in heavy demand are to ( 1) in- crease the number of copies available or ( 2) shorten the loan period. Dupli- cation is not a practical solution in times of severe budgetary restraints and is not considered in this study. In this paper we report on a methoo to( improve library circulation service by identifying high demand items and then reducing the loan period on such items to one week with unlimited renewal privileges for all users. The normal loan period is three weeks for students and thirteen weeks for faculty. Circulation studies conducted in other university libraries show that there is a marked tendency for books to be kept out until they are due back, regardless of the status of the borrower or the subject matter of the book. 4 • 5 The advantage of an on-line auto- mated circulation system is that user- demand for titles can be readily trans- lated into "saves" or "holds" which gen- erate recall notices. Such notices serve either to prevent user-retention of books in high demand or to alert the library as to which particular titles users are finding currently unavailable to them. In practice, users have shown a reluc- tance to place "saves," not realizing the potential of the service at their disposal. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to determine if circulation service would be improved by systematic reduction of loan periods for all high-use titles. METHOD The study was conducted at the Phys- ics Library from April 1, 1974, to June 30, 1974. The Physics Department Li- brary Committee approved the test February 5, 1974.6 High demand items were defined as ( 1) all books charged at least once since June 1, 1973, or ( 2) those acquired by the library since that date. The validity of this definition is supported by a study of R. W. Trueswell. Trueswell found that 75 percent of the current circulation in the Air Force Cambridge Research Library circulated at least once in the previous year. 7 Trueswell's study corre- sponds to the finding of Fussier and Simon, who in their 1961 study con- cluded that the . best predictor of future use of a book is past use. 8 Prior to the test date, the loan period of all physics monographs was reduced to one week on the computer. At the time of charging, low r demand items were given the normal loan period. Cleri- cal procedures are explain~d in a Physics Library internal report. 9 Serial volumes have a regular one-week charge and were not included in the study. Reserve circulation was not included in any sta- tistical data recorded. Students are fined for overdue books while faculty are not. Renewals are unlimited if no "saves" are . present. During ·the three months of the test, only one complaint was received from the faculty concerning the short- ened loan period. No special monitoring was necessary as the statistical reports routinely gen- erated by the circulation system are adequate tq record circulation activity. Copies of approximately 60 percent of the charges were retained for further analysis. Circulation statistics as recorded by the computer system for spring 1974 are compared to the same figures for 1973 in Table 1. ANALYSIS AND CoNCLUSIONs The lack of any significant change in faculty charges suggests a number of possible explanations. Faculty usage pat- terns are more consistent and less sub- ject to influence by this technique. The lack of an overdue fine policy for faculty removes the motive for returning books more promptly than normally. Faculty loans are not directly comparable to stu- dent circulation. The 20.9 percent increase in student usage is considered · significant in view of the decline in library circulation over the previous two years. Student enroll- ment and faculty have remained fairly stable during this same period. (It is assumed that any possible increases due to increased reading assignments by fac- ulty would be reflected in reserve loans which are not included in this study.) Since readers had unlimited renewal privileges, it would appear that the in- crease of 231 charges over the same period in 1973 could be considered as Reduced Loan Periods I 413 charges to readers whose need would not have been satisfied if the study had not been conducted. ~ enewal and "save" activity increased markedly during the period of the study. This is to be expected when loan periods are reduced. This study has indicated the advisa- bility of considering this technique for incorporation by the entire library sys- tem. Variations of the technique, e.g., its modification through the use of the mechanisms of "saves," can be applied to any library where circulation is limited by the lack of availability of high demand items. Whereas in the past it would have been prohibitively expen- sive to gather statistics on the use of particular titles, now the computer, by this technique, can serve to alert the li- brary to the need for restricted loans on only those titles requiring such qualifi- cations. TABLE 1 CIRCULATION STATISTICS, PHYSICS LIBRARY, THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, SPRING 1973 AND SPRING 1974 Borrower Transaction Charges Renewals Saves 1973 1974 Change 1973 1974 1973 1974 Faculty 1,062 1,053 - 0.8% 444 876 75 82 Students 1,106 1,337 t20.9% 367 1,270 55 85 TOTAL 2,168 2,390 +10.2% 811 2,146 130 167 REFERENCES 1. Irene B. Hoadley and A. Robert Thorson, eds., An Automated On-Line Circulation System: Evaluation, Development, Use (Columbus: The Ohio State University, Office of Educational Services, 1973). 2. Gerry D. Guthrie, A Selective Statistical Study of Transaction Activity in a Large On-Line Automated Circulation System (Columbus: The Ohio State University Re- search Foundation, 1973). 3. Ferdinand F. Leimkuhler, "The Bradford Distribution," Journal of Documentation 23:197-207 (Sept. 1967). 4. Michael K. Buckland, "An Operational Re- search Study of a Variable Loan and Du- plication Policy at the University of Lan- caster," Library Quarterly 42:97-106 (Jan. 1972). Reprinted in Operations Research: Implication for Libraries, the Thirty-Fifth Annual Conference of the Graduate Library School (Chicago: University of Chicago Pr., 1972), p.97-106. 5. Barton R. Burkhalter and P. A. Race, "Analysis of Renewals and Overdues and Other Factors Influencing the Optimal Charge-Out Period," in Barton R. Burk- 414 I College & Research Libraries • September 1975 halter, ed., Case Studies in Systems Analy- sis in a University Library (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow, 1968), p.ll-33. 6. Virginia E. Yagello, "One Week Loan: New or High Volume Book" ( Internal Report, Physics Library, The Ohio State University, 1974), p.l. 7. Richard W. Trueswell, "Some Behavioral Patterns of Library Users: The 80/20 Rule," Wilson Library Bulletin 43:458-61 (Jan. 1969). 8. Herman H. Fussier and Julian L. Simon, Patterns in the Use of Books in Large Re- search Libraries (Chicago: University of Chicago Pr., 1969), p.l5, 143. 9. Yagello, "One Week Loan," p.3-4.