loaning vinyl from th' 50s thru th' 70s, tapes in th' 80s, and cds in th' 90s and 00s made some sense 'cause those were by far th' dominant formats of each respective era.

loaning vinyl in 2011 is ridiculous - almost as ridiculous as loaning (as if there is such a thing - tho' i'm sure somebody has made a drm deal that lets you listen to something for 2 wks before it explodes) mp3s, th' dominant format of this era.

i realize there's like no legal way to do it but libraries should just loan cdrs and keep th' 'masters' on th' computer so they can burn another when one gets messed up…

after all, aren't libraries home to th' ultimate example of 'for reference purposes'?

although if libraries are trying to help in th' fight to keep th' great unwashed from ripping mp3s, loaning vinyl makes sense. not everybody has one of those urbanoutfitters turntable deals.

if they're trying to make sure th' greatest amount of people have access to music and literature they might not otherwise be able to find or afford…not so much.

if they're trying to add some new aspect to their clientele or seem hip to a certain group already there i have no idea how they'll do. if the people who work there are just having a good time i'm glad they are at that.

i know it seems silly to rail against a service that's being added, but i can't help think there are other fields where any money and/or effort that's being spent could be better utilised - like has everyone noticed that used kids doesn't want to bother keeping all the local cds around anymore? why not curate a big ol' collection? just as a reference i searched th GPL fer scrawl and royal crescent mob and log and gaunt and hugs & kisses and all y'all's got is "travel on, rider" and "kryptonite" - that's a shame.

and the GPL seems to do a pretty good job of having all kinds of less-obvious stuff on the racks (searched kevin canty and max barry and helen dewitt and yep/yep/yep, kudos and they have scarlett thomas but not 'mr. y', what's up with that?) but man i remember always many years ago when everyone moved there when i wanted to put something on hold here in town and they didn't have it i'd look up th' library in portland, oregon and they'd always have it so like it is being done. no system is perfect or can maintain a huge collection of stuff no one ever checks out but there are ways to be hip and there are ways to hip people and i guess i don't understand what th' point of th' vinyl thing is where i do understand th' point of some other (possible) endeavors ok.

I think loaning records has never made much sense. I can't remember ever getting a record out back in the day that wasn't scratched to hell.

Seems like a fun idea, they only have 30 records to loan, I don't imagine this will turn into a 5K piece collection.

Plus every medium the library loans can be damaged, pages ripped out, cd's marked, records scratched, magazines fall apart.

IT FUCKING IS A FUCKING SLIPPERY FUCKING MOTHERFUCKING SLOPE

I loaned tons of stuff on vinyl when I was in middle school. Now, it seems kind of odd since you can check out so much music for free online but then it exposed me to tons of stuff I probably wouldn't have heard elsewhere at that age.

With increased popularity of vinyl locally and nationally, we decided to try it (again), on a really small scale. The allotment for vinyl was about .2% of our materials budget and .03% of our total budget. Lost Weekend, Spoonful and Used Kids helped us out a little, too.

We offer a variety of media formats and will try new and different formats if we see a potential in usage. We’re constantly keeping stats on usage, and looking at circulation and larger trends to see what our patrons want. Of course, how often our services and materials are used determines whether we continue providing them. Half of the vinyl collection was checked out the first day it was offered (Friday); who knows where it’ll go from there. We thought it was a good fit for Grandview. Sure, they’ll get scuffed, but that’s nothing new, from DVDs that looked like they’ve been used to polish rocks (sure, you can blame some of the cases) to unspeakably soiled books (Youth Services has lots of stories). It comes with the territory.

We’re always exploring more digital services, including music downloads. Last summer, we were the first Ohio library to get Freegal (free music downloads to keep from Sony), and it’s been a hit – 5,000 downloads in six months, and for the first four months we were limited to offering 133/week. Since 2005, we've offered a collection of downloadable books, movies, and (classical) music for borrowing.

Local CDs are generously donated to the Library, though buying more to have a deep collection is an idea. Historically, they don’t check out much. We added 20 or so from one donation last year. Surely we’re missing many good titles.

The Grandview Library was hopping in 2010. We saw a double-digit increase in our total circulation for 2010, including increases in music (16% CDs & Freegal - Freegal was responsible for most of the increase), books (18%), digital books (24%), graphic novels (40%), Blu-rays (153%), and video games for adults (133%). (DVDs were up 3%.) Plus, we offered self-checkout machines, a mobile website (mobile catalog coming soon), email/text alerts, better WiFi, passed a levy, and were recognized as one of the nation’s best public libraries – all a year after big reductions in budget, staff, and hours. We have Grandview Heights & Marble Cliff and our patrons to thank for all that, and we try to stay attentive to what they want from their library.

Sorry if this rambled into a big library thing. Just wanted to show what we’re up to, and how we make decisions about the services we provide for the public. We thought the time was right for offering a few records at the library, and we hope people enjoy having them to check out.

What's next?