Notes from Class Discussion on Weeding, Acquisitions, Donations, and Budgeting

The following are the notes from the discussion on held on October 28th.

• Weeding

  • Shelf-crowding still exists in the e-environment.

  • Stacks vs. lounges

    • Can the books that have been removed to create space be replaced with online resources in some cases?

    • Deciding on how to use library space is part of trying to meet patrons’ sometimes competing needs, such as for study space, for collaboration space, and for physical collections.

• Circulation statistics

  • Do librarians need to rely on them when making weeding and other decisions?

  • Circulation statistics can be useful to communicate your institution’s function/ needs.

  • How accurate are they?

  • What other statistics, such as browsing statistics and door count?

• Donations can be a blessing and a curse.

  • Pros:

    • They can supplement a collection.

    • Donations can bring in revenue.

  • Cons:

    • Donations may have unforseen costs associated with them, such as the time and money it takes to process them.

    • Patrons have a strong desire to donate but a limited understanding of the collection.

      • Often education about donation policies start at the point of donation

• Donor relations

  • It is important to maintain good relations with donors for a number of reasons

    • Pragmatically, it is important to keep the people happy who may donate something valuable to your collection.

    • Maintaining positive donor relations is also good for public relations.

    • Lastly, cultivating good will is simply a nice thing to do.

• Donation specifics

  • It is important to establish an explicit agreement with donors

    • Be sure to tell the patron if you might discard the items

    • Be clear about what you will not accept

  • Using a donation form can help make comprehensive and uniform agreements

  • Having a written gift policy can help clarify issues and inform potential donors

    • It would be of the most use if it is widely disseminated and available online.

• Collection policy

  • Having a well-worded policy that is not too restrictive or permissive can facilitate case-by-case decisions.

• How are selection decisions made?

  • Professionals can use their discretion, although having accountability is important.

  • It may also be helpful to have a third- party voice on the selection panel.

• Acquisition of electronic resources

  • Who maintains the electronic resources in perpetuity?

  • Where are these resources stored?

  • Digital information is much harder to preserve.

  • New technology does not supercede old technology

• Ownership →  access transition

  • Who controls the resource you license?

    • Power shift from librarians to vendors

    • Publishers do not consider the needs of libraries, which make up only a small percentage of their customer base.

  • Publishers have proprietary systems for organizing and providing access to resources

    • They may differ in loan periods, subjects, headings and identification numbers

    • It could be beneficial if they would adopt a single set of practices, however this probably  would not happen unless the technology or the market demanded it.