More about the early days

In our post of July 6, we answered a question concerning early DeWitt Library circulation procedures. In the ensuing week, we spoke with Jane Hyde, a current volunteer who has been with the library since before it opened in 1962. Jane has helped us in various capacities, starting out as a volunteer in the process of founding the library; she was promoted to a paid clerk's position in 1966, then later took a position on the Board of Trustees, before returning to her roots in recent years as a volunteer. When we told Jane about our Archives Blog she was excited to shar firsthand information about the origins of DeWitt Community Library.

Jane remembers the first librarian, a man by the name of Lindsay Smith, who was also an English teacher and school librarian at Jamesville-DeWitt High School during the sixties. There were two other part-time librarians, Kay Kinney and Dot Schultes, and several volunteers. This meant that, for the library's infant years, we kept shorter hours depending on whether or not staff were available. Since the library had almost no budget, all the books in the collection were donated by community members and catalogued by volunteers.

Patrons of DeWitt Community Library might notice the sign in our children's room that says: "Betty Smingler Children's Room, Dedicated April 25, 2982." According to Jane Hyde, Ms. Smingler was a grade-school librarian at Genesee Hills School, which was located in the building that is now the Jewish Community Center. She, along with another librarian named Betty Roth, would spend time reading to children at the DeWitt Library. Smingler was also a library Board member, and as such played an active role in library policy making. For her years of dedicated service, we named the children's room after Betty Smingler in 1982.

Jane Hyde also had some information to add regarding circulation procedures and statistics. She remembers a series of punch cards which had circles all around the sides for the different days of the month. Clerks would punch out the due date and whne they had a stack at the end of the day, they would line up the cards and put a metal rod through the hole in the outermost card. Then they would shake all the other cards out and the rod would go all the way through the stack for that one particular due date. This process helped librarians determine circulation statistics for how many items had been checked out during a particular day. According to our statistics for April of 1962 (the first month the library was open), we circulated a total of 1,258 items. 428 juvenile fiction checkouts were made, and 415 adult fiction checkouts, and we took in a grand total of $1.40 in fines! When we talk about "circulation statistics" it's different from the total circulating items. We might, for example, have had only a few hundred books in the collection, but they circulated a total of 1,200 times; one book that went out 5 times in any given month gives us a total of 5 circ on that item for the month. Compare this number of 1,258 in April 1962 to April 2007's circulation of 28,489 items for the month.

Click on the photographs to look at full-size versions of each image. They represent: a copy of the circulation statistics for 1964-1965, a couple of pages from the Dedication of the library, pictures of Lindsay Smith and Kay Kinney, and Betty Smingler's picture and library card. You'll note that Smingler's card number is 3, and her husband was card #4; Jane Hyde tells us her daughter was #8. Imagine being the 3rd or 4th person ever to have a DeWitt Library card, when today all of our numbers are 14 digits long!

Circulation History

This week's post is in response to an enthusiastic reader query regarding the old circulation system at the DeWitt Community Library. Jennifer P. wrote to us as follows: "How about a post on how the librarians kept track of circulation back then? They must have written all the names down in a ledger or something, right?"

Well, Ms. P., we have spent the last 2 weeks tirelessly researching this subject. We searched our own archives, as well as contacting former DCL employees Judy Jones and Janet Lomicka. According to the Board of Trustees archives, they purchased a Gaylord charging machine in 1961 for $325.00. The DeWitt Community Library officially opened on April 9, 1962, and in June of that year (29 days after the opening) the Annual Board Report states that 1,166 borrower's cards had been issued: 550 to adults and 616 to juveniles. Different colored cards were placed in each book for stamping the due dates: white for adult, salmon for junior borrowers; patrons were issued cards with corresponding colors, and including a small metal plate bearing the letter "D" for adults and "JD" for juveniles.

According to Ms. Lomicka, a former director of DeWitt Library, "We inserted each borrower's card into the machine along with the book, record, or magazine card that identified it by author, title, etc. The machine would imprint the borrower number onto the item card. This, therefore, gave us a record of the item, the borrower, and the due date." What, you may ask, did we do before the days of DYNIX green screens, when we could easily check the status of a book? We filed cards tirelessly by due date, giving us easy access to information on whether a particular book was checked out and when it was due back. When items were returned, clerks simply retrieved the stamped card and put it back in the item.

Ms. Jones adds that "before the 'date stamper machine' there were pencils with date stamps on the ends." A card would also be placed in the book pocket, stamped with the patron's due date. In addition, a registration book was kept with borrowers' names and unique numbers. Refer to the pictures on this post for copies of early library policies, examples of due date cards, and an example of a patron card.