Changes at Reisterstown Library Increase Floor Space, Efficiency

The is undergoing minor renovations to enhance the library experience for customers.

It recently combined its information and circulation desks into one desk so library-goers wouldn’t have to go back and forth between desks.

“You should be able to come into the library and ask someone for whatever you need,” said Melissa Gotsch, library manager.

Reisterstown is the sixth of 17 Baltimore County Public Library branches to go to a combined service desk, said Bob Hughes, BCPL spokesman. Other libraries include Essex, Lansdowne, Arbutus, Hereford and Rosedale.

When the project is completed, the desk will be a one-stop shop for the library. It is expected to wrap up by March 1, Hughes said.

“When completed, it’ll be an L-shaped desk at which customers can check out materials, return materials, make and pick up reserves [and] ask information questions,” Hughes said.

The cost of the new desk and carpeting to fill in where the old desk was will be approximately $8,500, Hughes said.

The new desk gives librarians a better vantage point of the library, and the library's PCs were all clustered together in the middle on the library’s main room.

The return desks will be taken away and replaced by a return slot, Gotsch said.

“When we check in stuff in the back it reduces error,” Gotsch said.

Gotsch said the changes open up more floor space and increase the branch’s efficiency.

“We’ll be able [to] use staff differently in the interest of customer service,” Hughes said. “The other issue is that a single desk saves space, which is a very precious commodity in our branches.”