LIBR 580 Collection Management

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LIBR 580Collection Management

Managing Collections


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The Materials Cycle

• De-selection based on
• Use
• Condition
• Knowledge of community
• Professional intuition
• Desire to provide balanced views and edges of
  spectrum

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De-selection is Known By Many Names

• withdrawal
• weeding
• de-acquisition
• book retirement
• stock relegation
• purging
• refreshing the collection
• biblioeuthanasia

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Weeding Policies Depend on the Type of Library

• Public Library
• goal is to meet current needs and interests of
  users
• circulation records are crucial to consider
• materials get high use, so often weeded for
  condition
• Special Library
• usually small, so must make best use of space
• materials can date quickly

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Weeding Policies Depend on the Type of Library...

• Academic Library
• long-term research interests important
• circulation levels are less important
• cooperative selection and storage arrangements
  crucial
• School Library
• collection tied to curriculum
• space usually very limited
• materials get high use, so often weeded for
  condition

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Reasons for Weeding

• 1. To Save Space
• you may not need a new building
• create space for other uses people, programming
• 2. To Improve Access
• a well-weeded collection allows customers to find
  materials more easily
• weeding the collection can make the circulation
  go up

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Reasons for Weeding

• 3. To Improve Aesthetics
• cleaner, leaner, tidier look
• improves staff morale - room to breathe, to move
• 4. To EXAMINE at the Collection,
• make decisions
• fill in gaps

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Key De-selection Criteria

• 1. Use
• past use of an item often an indicator of future
  use
• 2. Qualitative Worth
• subjective decisions are difficult
• remember the purpose of your collection
• 3. Condition
• be cautious why throw out your most popular
  items?
• replace well-used items before discarding

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De-selecting for storage

• Compact storage
• Off-site storage
• On-site Automated Retrieval Systems

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Surely we have a better option than these!
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Compact shelving

• Usually on-site
• Increases storage sq/ft capacity
• Manual or automatic
• Public or staff access
• Very heavy (limited retro-installations)
• Greatest savings on-site, self-serve
• Common in many non-library organizations (govt,
  hospitals)

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Off-site storage facilities

• Most common solution for many large, research
  collections
• New England Depository (1942)
• Examples all over NA most collaborative
• High-density warehouse shelving
• No browsing user requests through OPAC
• 1-3 day delivery time common

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Automated Retrieval Systems

• 50-year old industrial technology
• CSUN - 1990 - successful facility
• Erasmus, East Michigan, UNLV, Sonoma
• First Canadian installation - UBC
• Industrial shelving, robotic cranes, bins
• No browsing or public access
• Retrieval time - 1-2 minutes
• Potential for consortia

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• Automated retrieval system at Sonoma State
  University

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Storage Policy

• Storage never popular with users
• User input - nice, but not always a reality
• Storage policy key - little-used materials
• How do these policies change the nature of
  scholarship - browsing
• Active de-selection policy important - reverse
  decisions
• Internal policies for duplication and condition
  of items

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PreservationConservation
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A Key CM Responsibility

• stewardship role of libraries includes
• replacing materials
• storing materials
• reformatting materials
• binding materials, protective covers
• repair and conservation
• levels of preservation activity depends on type
  of library and materials

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Daily preservation activities include

• Proper handling of materials by staff and
  clientele
• Cleaning of materials and library spaces
• Environmental controls
• Security to prevent theft mutilation
• Disaster preparedness plan training
• Binding and repair policies
• Appropriate insurance coverage
• Preservation is difficult because of tight
  budgets

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Environmental control considerations

• The comfort zone for humans is different from the
  comfort zone for library materials
• lighting considerations
• temperature
• humidity

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Environmental Control Considerations cont.

• Trend is toward designing libraries for users
  over physical materials
• Has helped move library materials away from
  windows and high-traffic areas (collection
  containment)
• Design and function should always balance needs
  of users and needs of materials

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The food debate

• Long-time battle between library staff and
  users
• Many libraries now allow food and drink
• Carlson, S. (2001) The Deserted Library Chronicle
  of Higher Education, 48 (12) A35-39.
• Influences of social and informal learning
• A balance between being being welcoming and
  protecting collection
• Food and drink must come with increased cleaning
  levels as pests like libraries
• Silverfish, termites, cockroaches, bookworms,
  rats, mice

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Security

• Problems escalated when we let the clientele into
  the stacks
• More entrances/exits higher risk
• Open windows higher risk
• Like food, its a balance between creating
  welcoming and comfortable spaces with security
  needs
• Security also extends to personal property and
  safety

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Disaster Planning

• Have a disaster plan
• http//preserve.harvard.edu/emergencies/plan.html
  
• Maintain a readily accessible set of blueprints
  showing water pipes, electrical wires/circuits
• Plan for which materials are a priority

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Disaster Planning

• Be ready for fires, floods, earthquakes
• 70 of library fires are deliberately set
• Often linked to a break-in or vandalism
• More damage caused by water from sprinklers or
  hoses
• Flood waters are often dirty polluted
• Earthquake damage is often water damage

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Insurance

• Very difficult area for collection managers
• Insurance companies do not want to insure
  materials that cannot be replaced easily
• Difficult to agree on the value of the collection
• Always have an up-to-date copy of the catalogue
  off-site

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Brittle paper

• 1840s - acid cellulose embrittlement
• high humidity, temp and pollution key ingredients
  for deterioration
• acid-free paper - new standards
• reformatting efforts - microfilm, digitization

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Conservation activities

• Deacidification
• sometimes not an option
• too brittle?
• Two common methods
• Wei To (National Library of Canada)
• DEZ (Library of Congress)
• Digitization
• not always an option
• cost/condition of materials
• Storage
• environmentally controlled conditions
• temperature, light, humidity controlled
• security

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Digital content

• Digital content
• solves some security issues such as vandalism
• raises new issues about long-term preservation
• remember that digital materials can be vulnerable
  to disaster, including sabotage
• back-up servers off-site
• access may be interrupted
• collecting on the edge - preserving materials
  out of the formal publishing cycle