Local Libraries - Sandusky, Ohio

I have been interested in how small, local libraries are using the latest online services in their communities and patrons. So, I took a look at my Ohio hometown library's website where I have personal experience both recently and pre-WWW. Sandusky, Ohio, is a town of about 25,000 people and the library is a historic Carnegie building built in 1901. As noted on the library's website, it is one of Ohio's three oldest Carnegie library buildings. Given the age of the library, I was especially interested in seeing how far they have progressed.

The library's website <http://www.sandusky.lib.oh.us/> has a contemporary design with a top navigation bar for access to services and information. The designers of the page appear to have taken into account what the public would most want easily accessible. On the left frame of the page are two large buttons; one for searching the online catalog (of which I will talk about below), and the other for renewing materials. There is also a link to an online question form which one can direct to a particular department within the library. Below the question button are listed library hours. At the bottom of the page are links to .pdf files of current and the upcoming month's calendars of events. All of these features allow quick access to the service or information most patrons would want or need.

Online account management and catalog searching are made possible through participation in the Clevnet Consortium. Clevnet is a network began in the 1980's by the Cleveland Public Library to share their automation systems. The consortium now includes 30 library systems in Northern Ohio, including the Sandusky Library. Unlike many nearby libraries, it is arguable that Sandusky would have developed their own system by now because community support of the library has been relatively strong. But taking advantage of the existing Clevnet allows this library, and many smaller, less-funded public libraries to offer online services to their patrons and put any other funds to stacking their shelves. For some smaller libraries, such as in Clyde, Ohio <http://clydelibrary.org/> (another Carnegie library about 20 miles and, incidentally, the inspiration for Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio), consortia such as Clevnet are the only way they can provide online services.

The online catalog is simple in design and use, and seems to allow plenty of options for customizing searches. Users cans search by keyword or the standard title, subject, author. The keyword search defaults to the location of the originating library system, but can be changed to any or all of the library systems in the consortium. Other customizable fields allow users to search by age group, or date of publication. Links are available to search by ISBN and using advance (essentially, multiple keywords) searches. Results include book cover images, where available, and tabs for full MARC records. One can also click on the availability link to see what libraries in the consortium have the book and its status. The bottom line is that the OPAC provides a thoroughly modern service for both large urban libraries in the consortium, and the smaller outlying systems.

Finally, one other feature of the Sandusky Library website caught my attention while exploring. The library operates two blogs: one by the library's Reference Services and the other by the Archives Research Center. Neither blog seems to have heavy traffic at this time, but I think allowing them to be linked from the library's main page shows openness on the part of the administration for new technology. The Reference Desk <http://sanduskyref.blogspot.com/> seems to focus on library-related issues, including an interesting post from February on "Tagging and Tagcrowd."


As a preservation admin student, I was particularly interested in second blog, Sandusky History <http://sanduskyhistory.blogspot.com/>, which pulls from the library's own archives for content. In fact, it turns out that this library has a very well-equipped, climate-controlled storage facility for their archives, which was constructed during a recent renovation that expanded the library to an adjacent Civil War era jail building. It includes all types of manuscripts, photos, newspapers, and other materials. This use of contemporary online tools, like blogs, to put library patrons in touch with a community's history is nice to see from the perspective of a student of information science. All of these tools, and more, that the Sandusky Library is using are important for small local libraries, usually lacking resources, training, and staff, to keep up in a quick changing field.