The University of California Libraries: A Plan for Development (1977)

86 The University of California Libraries
Examining user behavior in regard to these controllable factors,
he found, first of all, that users tended to return books (or renew
them) at the end of the loan period, regardless of how long that loan
period was, regardless of the status of the borrower, and regardless
of the subject matter of the books; secondly, that the frequency of
renewal is affected little or not at all by the length of the official
loan period; and thirdly, that limiting the number of books a borrower
may borrow is of limited usefulness in controlling availability. The
length of the loan period was clearly a key factor, then, and "the
librarian has, in his ability to determine official loan periods, a
powerful and precise control mechanism for influencing the availability
of the books in his library." 8
Using data collected at the University of Lancaster Library and a
computer simulation model, Buckland and his colleagues then instituted
a policy of varying loan periods on the basis of demand, and increaseing
the number of duplicate copies for popular titles. The results
were immediate, remarkable, and ample proof of his theoretical conclusions:
circulation, which it may be assumed is a rough measure of the
number of items users find that are of interest or value to them, increased
approximately 50 percent per capita at the same time that the
total user population was also increasing rapidly.
Clearly the techniques described by Buckland provide a useful
tool for increasing user success rates, and are related to the "immediacy
of need" concept described in Chapter IV. Increased purchases of
duplicate copies for popular titles as a technique for increasing user
success is discussed in Chapter VIII, but variable loan periods should
also be considered as a means of providing better access to library
materials. The statistics gathered by the automated circulation systems
discussed earlier will provide information that will be useful in
identifying titles for which the loan periods should be either shorter
or longer.
8 Ibid., p. 88.