Circulation
The word circulation comes from the English "circulation" which means rotation, circulation. While in library science, the word circulation is often known as borrowing, however, the definition of circulation services actually includes all forms of recording activities related to the utilization of library materials.
According to Bafadal-Ibrahim (2000: 24), "Circulation services are work activities in the form of providing assistance to library users in the process of borrowing and returning library materials."
One of the main activities or services of the library is borrowing books and other materials. This lending activity is often known as circulation, meaning borrowing. The circulation desk, often considered the spearhead of library services because this section is the first to deal with users or users and is most often used by users, therefore the performance of circulation staff can affect the image of the library (Sulistiyo-Basuki 1991: 257).
From some of the descriptions above, it can be concluded that circulation services are activities that must exist in the library related to the borrowing and returning of library materials so that they can be used by users optimally. In order for the library to play its role well / be effective, the library must be supported by facilities, infrastructure and a reliable management workforce. For this reason, library management personnel need to be equipped with the knowledge and skills to manage the library, especially in the circulation service section.
The Guidelines for Higher Education Libraries (2004: 6) circulation services are activities to broadcast library collections to users or library users with various activities such as:
- Making rules regarding the use / borrowing of collections.
- Make announcements about the registration of library members directly written in the library.
- Billing library members who have not returned their loans, even though the loan deadline has expired by direct billing or through a bill.
- Keeping an orderly record of all income from library member registration fees and fines for late return of library collections, and then depositing it with the authorized person or library management.
- Serving requests for "Library Loan Exemption Letters (SBPP)" to library members who need them for study purposes.
Circulation services are one of the user services. The main principles of good user service are still used as guidelines as stated in the Higher Education Library Handbook (2004: 7) that the principles of user service are:
- Oriented to the user,
- Universal in nature,
- Using discipline, and
- Fast, precise and easy.
The objectives of circulation services include:
- So that they are able to utilize the collection as much as possible.
- Easy to find out who borrowed the collection, where the address and when the collection should return. Thus, if the collection is needed by other enthusiasts, the borrower's address will soon be known or awaited at the time of return.
- Secure the return of loans within a clear time, thus the condition of the library will be maintained.
- Obtain data on library activities, especially those related to collection utilization.
- If there is a violation, it is immediately known.
With the purpose of circulation services, the use of collections can be effective, supervision of library materials will be easy to do and library collections will be maintained because it is known who borrowed the collection, the return time is clear and violations can be known immediately. To be able to carry out library activities, the functions and respective circulation service officers must be adjusted. The functions and duties of circulation services are very important because they can help library users obtain library materials and can protect library materials.
The functions of higher education libraries according to the General Guidelines for Organizing Public Libraries (2000: 5) are as follows:
- Science preservation center.
- Learning center.
- Teaching center.
- Research center.
- Information dissemination center.
To be able to carry out the above functions, the circulation service section carries out the following tasks:
- Receiving library materials from the processing section.
- Storing library materials according to the arrangement in accordance with the regulations.
- Store catalog cards on shelves / catalog cabinets in accordance with regulations.
- Registering enthusiasts / users of library materials.
- Serving candidates and library members.
- Serving loans and billing.
- Impose fines on members who are late in returning.
- Periodically examine and collect damaged library materials for repair.
- Prepare written reports and statistics on a regular basis.
- Submitting reports to the head of the library.
With the details of the circulation service tasks above, it is hoped that librarians can understand and perform their duties properly, so that the information sought by users can be obtained quickly. The circulation service system implemented is divided into two types of services, namely open access and closed access.
The purpose of the closed service system and the open service system is :
- Securing library collections and avoiding and suppressing the loss of library collections.
- Knowing who is borrowing the library collection and how much is being borrowed.
- Knowing the deadline for returning books that are being borrowed.
The open service system is a way that can help library users to find the information they need directly on the shelves. In high libraries that serve the academic community and large collections usually use an open service system.
The advantages of using an open service system are:
- Catalog cards are not damaged immediately, because few people use them.
- Save energy. Because in this system the officer does not need to return the librarian only records and then returns the books that have been read on the spot or returned that day.
- More book titles are known.
- The title of the book borrowed, the name and address of the borrower will be known immediately.
- If the prospective borrower does not find the particular book they are looking for, they can choose a relevant book title at that time.
- There is very little chance of misunderstanding.
The disadvantages or weaknesses of an open service system are:
- Greater frequency of breakdowns.
- Requires more space. Because the location of the shelves with each other requires a loose distance.
- The arrangement of books becomes irregular. Therefore, librarians must often arrange books.
- Users who first come to the library are often confused. (National Library of Indonesia; 1999: 33)
Closed system user service is a circulation service that does not allow users to choose and retrieve library materials themselves. In this closed service system, each user must first clearly know the author or title of the desired subject book and then ask the library staff to find it in the collection room.
The advantages of using a closed service system are:
- The arrangement of the collection will remain neat because only library staff can enter the collection.
- Loss and damage to library materials can be minimized.
- The library space provided does not need to be large.
- For collections that are very vulnerable to damage, this system is very suitable.
The disadvantage of using a closed service system:
- In finding library materials, users can only know the characteristics of authorship and physical characteristics of library materials, namely title, author, book size and number of pages.
- The title of the book selected through the card catalog or online does not always use the book in question.
- Users cannot browse the shelves.
- If there are many borrowers, and the library's tasks are relatively limited, this requires a lot of time and energy, so users have to wait longer. (National Library of Indonesia; 1999: 33)
All activities carried out by circulation services are interrelated, so circulation services should be organized and coordinated according to the type of task in each section. The circulation service process includes the following activities:
- Membership
- Borrowing
- Return
- Renewal
- Billing
- Sanctions
- Providing a free/clean loan statement
