On Tuesday, April 28, the Camosun College library launched a service where it will send loans through the mail as a way to get library products into the hands of students and staff during the online summer semester. Camosun director of learning services Sybil Harrison says the point is to get books, DVDs, and audiobooks into peoples’ hands during a time when they can’t come to campus to get them (late fees been waived; the college also includes return postage with shipments).
“It makes me just so really happy that we’re doing this,” says Harrison, adding that Camosun has the first academic library in the province to launch a service like this and that a couple other institutions have asked the college about how they’re doing it.
“It appears really simple, but… there’s quite a few logistics involved,” she says.
One of those logistics was being able to use the inter-library loan infrastructure—a system where a library can access other libraries’ material; this allows the college to use Canada Post’s library rate. There was also the issue of what a reasonable amount to mail was. There’s a limit of five items per package, says Harrison, but users can get multiple packages if they want more.
“We want this to be a positive,” says Harrison. “It’s not just a panic response mode.”
On top of adapting fairly quickly, a main concern for the college is packaging orders safely. Harrison says that staff doesn’t handle retuned parcels for a number of days. Another issue is lending out textbooks within a way that’s in compliance with copyright law, she says, such as possibly lending out portions or sections.
“That’s a big issue for students,” she says. “We’re not going to lend textbooks because one student gets it and then nobody else has access to it. That’s a bit of a challenge for us.”
When it comes to reading fiction, Harrison says she likes to have a hard copy of a book in hand. But the library can deliver most mediums, she says.
“We’ve got something like 50,000—some huge number—e-books available,” says Harrison. “We have thousands and thousands of journals available. We have some streaming video. Our digital content is really rich and deep.”
See camosun.ca/services/library for more information.