The circulation desk is frequently the first and last point of contact for students, faculty, staff and the community with the Furman University Library. The mission of the Circulation Department is to make all visitors to the library feel welcomed and to facilitate access to library resources. The Circulation Department does this by focusing on customer services and acting as a conduit to other departments and resources in the library.

• Assume responsibility for Music and Science Library student worker staffing.
• Create a dedicated, well-trained, student worker shelving pool to keep up with shelving and to assist with shifting projects.
• Continue to expand and enhance student study spaces in the Duke Library.
• Evaluate our Education Study Room practice (lower level of the Duke Library behind the Juvenile collection) and modify as appropriate.
• Develop and implement WebCirc procedures.

This goal proved to be our most challenging during 2012-2013. Next year we will work towards identifying and initiating additional strategies to simplify this process.

In 2012-2013 the Circulation Department investigated how Peer institutions manage the shelving process. Based on findings, a new shelving plan will be imitated in 2013-2014.

During the inaugural meeting of the Library Student Advisory Group Meeting (LSAG) on February 19,  2013 students reported that, during mid-terms and finals, there is limited quiet or group study space in the Library and that students often seek out empty classrooms in other buildings. The need for additional quiet study rooms has also been mentioned in recent Furman Library surveys (MISO, 2011). Based on these expressed needs, Access Services worked with Administration to identify additional study rooms and to find a way to better soundproof those in the Sanders Science and James B. Duke Libraries. The Education Study room (038) and media viewing rooms were identified as potential study space and investigated and we received pricing on soundproofing. We found that soundproofing would be cost prohibitive and at this time we have been unable to make an effective case for re-purposing the space that we have identified. We identified approaches to enhance our existing space. We placed sign holders outside of each study room so that we can put important information notices and reminders to be quiet during exams. We also provided earplugs for students during exams. Next year we will continue to enhance student learning spaces.

Our Library Education Study room (038) is only heavily used a few weeks of the year. Because of complex management system for that space, options for optimizing use are limited. In 2013-2014 Collection Services will further investigate alternative uses.

The ILLiad WebCirc module allows sites that use a remote desk for circulating ILL materials to have access to ILLiad circulation functions without having the ILLiad Client installed on circulation workstations. With the WebCirc module, users can log into a restricted web view of ILLiad and check items out, check items in, renew, and mark an item as In Transit. Permissions can be restricted so the staff using the WebCirc module only have access to that module and cannot use the ILLiad Client, Web Reports or any ILLiad administrative tools. We hope to have this module installed on Circulation Desk workstations by fall and will then train our students. This function will streamline work-flow and increase the accuracy of ILL tracking.