library? (working, damage, central)

[samustang91]

I have a question on how SAPL how with its millions of items in its collection doesnt manages its items on how the condition is.(ex. on over 1/2 of the cds I check out they are either skipping on tracks or scrtached). Does SAPL actually notice the damages on items or what I was just saying.

[AFWife1029]

My experience with the SAPL is that they don't have time to check everything out to see how damaged it is but I have learned if you let the desk know when you get cds or dvds that aren't working to do damage they will put a notice on it not to be put back out. Or at least they were good at doing that at the Central and Semmes library. Other than that I don't know much about how they determine when items are no longer usable. I suppose one could call the Central Library number and inquire.
Central Library
600 Soledad · 78205
(210) 207-2500 ·

[chipsndip]

Originally Posted by samustang91

I have a question on how SAPL how with its millions of items in its collection doesnt manages its items on how the condition is.(ex. on over 1/2 of the cds I check out they are either skipping on tracks or scrtached). Does SAPL actually notice the damages on items or what I was just saying.

Was this post supposed to be ironic?

Most of the CDs I check out are books on CD. There's definitely some wear and tear on some of them - it's just a part of multiple users accessing the CDs, and people not being as cautious as they are with things they own. I've let the library staff know if a disc is damaged beyond use, but you can't tell just by looking at a disc if it's usable or not. Some can be pretty scratched and still play fine...

[Bo]

Originally Posted by samustang91

I have a question on how SAPL how with its millions of items in its collection doesnt manages its items on how the condition is.(ex. on over 1/2 of the cds I check out they are either skipping on tracks or scrtached). Does SAPL actually notice the damages on items or what I was just saying.

Having watched librarians check items in, it appears to me that the only check that a CD or DVD receives is a cursory 1-second glance inside the box to make sure the disc matches the label on the box. If there's a problem that is less than the disc being broken in half, that quick glance it gets will never find it.

[pongiste]

I'm a librarian and I can tell you that there really isn't much that we can do about it. CDs and DVDs have a very short shelf life and they are ultimately discarded. On the other hand, most of the VHS tapes from the 80s still work!

[TexHwyMan]

I have the same problem from time-to-time with DVDs from Blockbuster and NetFlix, so it's not just a library problem. All optical discs get scratches on them, but not all scratches cause the disc to skip or be unreadable, so just visually inspecting them won't help. The only way the library staff would know when a disc is bad would be to play every disc every time it's returned, and that's obviously rediculous. So they have to rely on patrons to report problems.