(f) Collection Management

The management of the collection is an important aspect of managing a library. Shelving is an inevitable part of the job. I have conducted shelving using Dewy Decimal system of information organisation in the general collection, teacher resources area and the audiovisual collection. Part of shelving is ensuring that the books have been put away in the correct order, reorganising shelves when they get too overcrowded and relocating books that have been left in the wrong place. Shelving work can be time consuming and tiring but there is something oddly satisfying about seeing untidy shelves transformed into neat, orderly rows of books. If only the students didn’t have to touch them so soon after it was done…

Periodically we cull books and other resources from the collection. Sometimes this is because new books simply won’t fit in the shelves, sometimes it is a more concerted effort where shelves are deliberately inspected for books to cull. We generally take a numerical bracket (say, for example, the 300s) and generate a report that shows the resources that haven’t been borrowed in the past five years. Then these are pulled from the shelves and examined. Sometimes it is obvious why they are not popular with the students – they may be obviously dated in appearance, the information may be out of date and sometimes the subject matter is just very obscure or of little interest to the students. In the cases of the sciences, economics or technology it is generally quite easy to cull because the information in older books is usually quite out of date and has been replaced by newer resources with up-to-date information. In the case of the social sciences, history and the arts it can be more challenging to cull because the information in these areas often retains relevance for a much longer period of time. In this case it is necessary to look at the collection and determine if the subjects have adequate representation in order to make an informed decision about whether to cull or not. I have observed that it is helpful to have a ruthless streak when culling; many librarians seem to be able to justify keeping a text on the slimmest of grounds and then nothing gets culled.

Part of management of the collection is covering and security encoding books to ensure durability and deter theft. I’m the first to admit that I’m not the fastest coverer in the word, but I’m pretty fussy about it and the end result is usually pretty nice, and bubble-free.