Issues to Consider

Large Collections Shifts are complex tasks that involve countless decisions by librarians, extensive and time-consuming work by technical services staff, and comprehensive reporting to support collection analysis, direct the movement of material, and facilitate record clean-up. This document attempts to provide a detailed overview of the process from beginning to end. The intended audience is the work group assigned to “make it happen”: unit heads, librarians and library staff, LTS, and Library Systems.

Three major categories are outlined below. This material is expanded on in subsequent sections.

1. What types of material do we have to plan for?

a. Monographs (Primary Stacks)

i. Single volume

ii. Multi-volume

b. Serials (Primary Stacks)

i. Ceased

ii. Current

c. Reference

d. Rare (if you have a local collection)

e. A/V

f. Microfilm/Fiche

g. Reserves (permanent)

h. Theses

2. Where will everything go?

a. Transfer to other libraries

b. Send to Library Annex

c. Withdraw

d. Cancel serials

3. What are some standard reporting options/criteria to can help us analyze our collection?

a. Publication date

b. Language

c. Historic circulation counter (# of times item has circulated since NOTIS)

d. Voyager circulation activity

e. LC class, and optionally the first cutter

f. Serial status (ceased / current)

g. Type of monograph (singe / multi-vol)

h. Already in the library Annex

i. Duplicated at other libraries

j. In-house duplication

SECTION 1:

What types of material do we have to plan for?

STACKS: Obviously, most material resides in your primary stack location. These volumes will be divided into single and multi-volume monographs, as well as ceased and current serials since each category of material requires different handling behind the scenes. Units will receive reports for each of these categories. This material may be further broken down by whether a copy is at the Library Annex or not. Generally, criteria will be established during the review process that will define what goes to the Library Annex, what will be withdrawn, and what will be transferred to other units. Picklists will then be created to facilitate the movement of volumes. In many cases, barcodes of selected portions of the collection will be given to LTS staff to automate the required records updates, such as location flips or withdrawal processing.

Reference: Previously, units have chosen to handle the evaluation and distribution of reference materials on their own. Reports can be provided to facilitate your review, and if needed a variety of picklists can be provided for automatic processing.

Rare (if you have a local collection): Unit staff should consult with Katherine Reagan on the disposition of rare materials held in your local collection.

A/V: Lists of audiovisual material can be provided for your review

Microfilm/Fiche: If your unit has microfilm or fiche that needs to be moved to the Library Annex, this material needs to be identified early on and evaluated by LTS staff to determine if cataloging will be required prior to moving. The library Annex only accepts barcoded material, and quite often microfilm/fiche lacks barcodes. Completing the cataloging process can be time-consuming, so this effort should start early in the planning process.

Reserves (permanent): Lists of this material can be provided for your review

Theses: Lists of this material can be provided for your review

SECTION 2:

Where will everything go?

Transfer to other libraries:

For stacks locations you can identify volumes in specific LC call number ranges (by class and first cutter) that will go to specific libraries. Based on the call number ranges provided, picklists will be created to facilitate these moves.

For other small collections you may request picklists, or manage them manually.

→ Note –
Potential domino effect: If the number of volumes being sent to another unit library exceeds its ability to absorb the material, the destination library may have to initiate a weeding project to make room for the new material. This, in turn, may change the “At Library Annex” status of some of your material. The number of volumes to be sent to other unit libraries should be determined early in the planning process so that the target libraries can decide if they will need to reduce their collection size prior to receiving your material. Their moves will have to be completed prior to yours, and each affected library will require their own set of reports.

Send to Library Annex:

Two criteria must be met before an item can be sent to the Library Annex

1. The item must be barcoded

2. The item must not duplicate a volume already in the Library Annex

As part of the reporting process, all library materials are compared to the current holdings in the Library Annex and flagged as “At Library Annex” or “Not at Library Annex”. You will receive separate reports for each category. Typically, volumes already at the Library Annex become withdrawal candidates. If you have material that you know is not barcoded, this should be brought to the immediate attention of LTS staff.

It is possible to split serials, retaining a portion on campus and sending the earlier volumes to the Library Annex. This requires extensive record work in LTS (approximately 30 minutes for each title).

Withdrawals:

Candidates for withdrawal typically include titles already at the Library Annex, titles duplicated at other libraries, and in-house duplicates. Reports detailing these scenarios for monographs and serials in your stacks and reference locations can be provided for your review. All withdrawn items need to be processed by LTS. The amount of work involved in this is determined by your choices. This will be explained in more detail in planning meetings.

Withdrawals of ceased and/or duplicate serials involve LTS staff reviewing each title and comparing its holdings to other copies on campus. Specific issues may be used to fill in gaps in other copies. When the LTS analysis is complete, you will receive a picklist identifying volumes to be withdrawn and those to be sent to other locations.

Cancellation of Serials:

Cancellation requests should be forward to the Serials unit at Mann Library early in the process. In addition to the record work required to cancel a serial, there is often a significant lag time between the cancellation and receipt of the last issue.

SECTION 3:

What are some standard reporting options/criteria to can help us analyze our collection?

Reports can be requested to help you get an overview of your collection and devise an appropriate strategy for collection decisions. The actual moves are performed with targeted picklists that detail the exact volumes to be pulled off the shelf. From the reporting perspective, moving material out of a library is a numbers game. There are a number of criteria options that allow you to zero in on selected volumes with great precision. If you can determine the number of volumes you need to move, and the split between serials and monographs, criteria can be applied in a manner that identifies the exact number of records to be moved. Simple Library Annex moves, for instance, are often done with a combination of publication date and circulation status, with the intent of finding the oldest books that have not circulated at all. Given a target number and overall goal/strategy, Library Systems staff can manipulate the criteria to identify the target volumes.

Standard criteria for identifying large chunks of records include publication date, language, historic circulation (# of times item has circulated since NOTIS), and circulation activity in Voyager (can be date range specific).

To identify material that should be sent to other libraries, the LC class and first cutter are available for record selection.

Serial processing differs for ceased and currently received serials and these are easily distinguished. The same applies for single and multi-volume monographs.

Withdrawal candidates are identified by determining if the title is already held at the Library Annex, or if there are duplicate copies.

PICKLISTS:
Large-scale moves require standard lists that can be used by movers to quickly and efficiently remove the books from the shelf. All hand-picking of material must be completed before these final picklists can be generated.

LARGE SCALE DIGITIZATION INITIATIVE PROJECTS (LSDI)

Incorporating an LSDI project into a library closure project creates substantial confusion and adds a great deal of complexity to the coordination aspects of both projects. Critical issues include:

1. Touch once or twice?

a. From a unit perspective it seems that a great deal of efficiency might be gained by touching LSDI volumes once. In this scenario, librarians will determine that a subset of the LSDI volumes will be sent directly to the Library Annex upon return from LSDI, and others will return to the home library. However, the actual efficiency will be tempered by the overall percentage of the collection that appears on the LSDI picklist, and the desirability of those items for separate disposition.

b. From a work flow perspective this means that the number of picklists may double from 4 to 8, or even more. Each category of material (serials, single-volume monographs, multi-vol monos, and non-LC items) could potentially be split via some sort of criteria into “return to Library Annex” and “return to Library” lists. Pickers will load up separate trucks according to final disposition. Cart routing is verified by LSDI staff on the return of each shipment.

c. For large datasets it probably makes sense to touch once… for smaller units it might be easier to return all volumes to the home library and move them to the Library Annex later. The simpler the criteria dividing the disposition, the easier it is to split a LSDI picklist.

2. Moratorium on record work for duration of LSDI project

While the LSDI project is actively underway at any library’s central campus collection, records on the LSDI picklist cannot be updated in any way (withdrawals, location changes), nor can volumes be transferred to another unit while they are queued for LSDI processing. This black-out period extends from the date the final candidate list is requested from LSDI, to the return and reshelving of that library’s last shipment from the scanning facility. The only exception to this is for the volumes that are flagged to return directly to the Library Annex after scanning, and these are handled by a special direct accessioning workflow. In all other instances, large-scale record work is done via batch processing. In practical terms, this means that transfers during this active period and modification of the holdings records should cease during blackout.