FAQs Frequently Asked Questions:
Date Due Labels:
1. We apply date due labels directly to our polyester book covers with a hand-held labeler like retailers use. The labels that we have tried either fall off too soon or must be removed with solvents & razor blades. Does Affordable Alternatives Inc have labels that would stay on for at least four weeks, yet remove easily with just a fingernail or plastic peeler? Would we have to buy new labelers?
A. Yes, we do have labels as you described. Check for the labels with our ‘super-no-res’ adhesive. We provide these labels for most of the popular library labelers. Please provide the brand name & model number for your current labelers & we will send you a sample to try.
2. Our old date labelers are hard to load & use. Does Affordable Alternatives Inc. offer a durable lightweight hand-held labeler that is both easy to load & use?
A. Our most popular model is the XLPro22D(L). We call it the Total Library Labeler. It will help with 17 or more library tasks, including DATE DUE labeling. The imprint is the easiest for the patron to understand “08/25/07". To see how easy it is to load, find it on the e-shop, scroll down the page to the price. Just to the right of the price, locate the link: LOADING INSTRUCTIONS. Click the link & scroll down the page to see about 10 full color digital photos & read the narrative on the right for easy loading.
3. We have seen the Affordable Alternatives Inc DATE DUE labels imprinted by your Total Library Labeler used by other libraries in our area. We have three branches. If we switched to that labeler, how could we distinguish the branch loaning the item?
A. Our libraries use two methods. One is to have us create custom agency labels for you. Please go to our custom label section of this e-shop where you may order & reorder these custom labels. Some libraries use different colors of date due labels to indicate the priority of return of the items:
21 or 28 day loan items may be marked with white labels with red, blue, or green imprint: DATE DUE
7 or 14 day items might be marked with any of the pastel colored labels & coordinating preprint: DATE DUE
3 day might be marked with fluorescent pink & navy DATE DUE labels.
Other libraries use the colors to represent the different branches.
FAQs Frequently Asked Questions:
Other needs:
1. You solved our DATE DUE label problem. We have tossed our razor blades, canceled our weekly Friend’s session to scrape books, & have not had a workman’s comp claim, since we switched to your unique ‘super-no-res’ adhesive DATE DUE labels. We need you to tackle our “NEW” arrival label problem. We need these labels to stick to the spine of the books for up to a year, show us exactly how new they are all of the time, and remove as easily as our DATE DUE labels, with a fingernail or plastic peeler. Can you help us?
A. It took a while, but we developed the snr2212YR-New n21 (or n21). It will stay on the spine of polyester bound books full term, a year or more. It may be imprinted & applied with our popular Total Library Labeler to show day, month, & year of arrival, yet most libraries use only the month/year, like this: 09/2007 or 12/07. When they reach the end of your NEW term, they may be removed easily with just a fingernail or plastic peeler (PLS-1). Check all of the NEW labels that begin with “snr” to find your favorite.
2. The books we loan on ILL often get mis-shelved by aides in borrowing libraries and may stay lost for a year or two. What can you do about that?
A. Our ILL labels when placed over the call numbers before the book leaves your library can virtually eliminate that problem. They remove easily upon return to facilitate proper shelving.
3. We build Special Displays of books to be maintained for two months, but after two weeks, they look like Charlie’s Brown’s Christmas tree. Books returning from browsing or circulating are placed in the shelf, not on the display. Help!
A. Using our snr2212GBk-Spcl ‘super-no-res” adhesive SPECIAL labels in your Total Library Labeler, you may imprint the termination day of the display. That might be the Holocaust Memorial Day (05/05/05 in 2005). Affix it to cover the call numbers. The aides will compare the imprinted date with today’s date & return it to the Special Display. After the imprinted date, the aides will ease the label off with a fingernail or plastic peeler (PLS-1) revealing the call numbers facilitating its return to the permanent position in the shelves.
4. Our multi-part assets are a problem. When one of the parts is lost, the whole asset may be worthless. We tried stocking them by departments, but patrons complained about time that the scavenger hunt took. We tried bar coding each part, the folks in Circulation rebelled at the extra work caused by that operation. Does Affordable Alternatives Inc have a solution for this?
A. Hundreds of libraries use our asset integrity labels for this purpose. Simply write the number of each type of media in the prepared blank. The total should equal the number of parts in the multi-part asset. Some libraries take this a step farther by imprinting the significant 8 digits of the bar code on a custom ownership with their Total Library Labeler. If circulation indicates to the patron that one or more parts are missing, the patron may return the errant pieces on a future visit. The 8 significant digits of the bar code will make a total reunion a snap.