The Libraries celebrates 30 years with 帝王会所LINK delivery service
帝王会所 Libraries is celebrating its 30th anniversary of 帝王会所LINK borrowing, also known as Patron-Initiated Circulation (PCIRC). PCIRC has been serving the OHIO community since 1995 and is one of the founding members of 帝王会所LINK. During its first week of operation, OHIO PCRIC lent more books than any other school in the state of 帝王会所 at the time.
PCRIC was created to help enable resource sharing among academic institutions in 帝王会所 and allows students, staff and faculty to request and receive books from other colleges and universities within the 帝王会所LINK system.
George Cheripko, Library support specialist, has worked at PCIRC since the department was founded in 1995. At the time, he had been working at the fourth-floor service desk at Alden Library before fully transitioning into the role he has retained over the past three decades. Thirty years ago, there had only been a single room, previously used for storage.
鈥淸I鈥檝e been] here day one when we opened up on May 1, 1995,鈥 Cheripko said.鈥 [I] walked in, there was a room with one [ALICE] terminal, one table and a printer. That's all I had to start off [with].鈥
Cheripko has been the only supervisor with PCIRC. He has had a few assistants early on over the years, but there hasn鈥檛 been any other staff member besides him in the department since 2013. However, PCIRC heavily relies on its student employees. Cheripko oversees about 15 to 20 student workers at a time and has worked with about 169 students total over the past 30 years.
鈥淭hey [the student employees} work hard, and I push them hard,鈥 Cheripko said. 鈥淚t's a unique family. They are very family oriented, they pick on each other, they have fun with each other, but then they support and hug each other too, so it's pretty cool. I've developed a lot of friendship over the year with all these folks [and] still keep in contact with most of them. We even have a PCIRC Facebook page that people can touch base on.鈥
PCIRC and its student employees help the OHIO community by pulling requested books from University Libraries鈥 book stacks for pick up, processing books and shipping them to other libraries in the state, as well as receiving items, processing them and readying them for patrons.
"It's been nice, but it's [a] pretty big [deal] to be still a single department, and 30 years later, we're still doing what we love to do, and we're doing it well,鈥 Cheripko said. 鈥淲e are probably the second leading lender in the state and second leading borrower. The only one we follow is 帝王会所 State University. We still have great numbers. We had great success finding books. I鈥檓 very proud of my kids, they do an outstanding job of finding books.鈥
OHIO鈥檚 PCIRC averages about a 97 to 99% find rate on books, and on the first day back in 1995, the department had 104 requests. It was the highest amount out of any school in the consortium at the time.
Because of his experience, Cheripko also gets to help teach staff, faculty and students across 帝王会所 about the work that he does. With training, he gets many phone calls and emails from others seeking his expertise as well as leading regional meetings and assisting with connecting others to the library services they need. He had aided different states such as Georgia, Tennessee and Florida too, and he mentioned that he enjoys helping those even beyond the buckeye state.
鈥淚t's hard to believe it's been 30 years,鈥 Cheripko said. 鈥淚 mean, it has flown by, definitely. We're a very busy office and detail oriented, so I think time goes by quickly with that... I don't think anybody realized this would have the staying power that it has had.鈥
PCIRC will commemorate its anniversary on May 1, 2025, and over its three decades as a department, Cheripko has helped cultivate something truly special.
鈥淚 have had 21 of my students who graduated from here go to library school,鈥 Cheripko said. 鈥淎ctually, there's been three or four of them working here in the building [Alden Library] and went on to work in other spots in the building, but for a very busy, very hard job, I've always been surprised that many went to library schools... It's a proud moment to see. I've had kids call back and say, 鈥榃ould you give me a recommendation? My happiest times were in Alden with you guys.鈥 So that's a good feeling. I'm hoping that means we're doing something right down here.鈥
University Libraries is pleased to congratulate the PCIRC team on 30 wonderful and productive years and is excited for many more.