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Adrift or Right on Target: Perspectives on Floating Collections

Adrift or Right on Target: Perspectives on Floating Collections. Barbara Spruill Branch Services Division Director Gwinnett County Public Library 2010 PLA National Conference. Some background. Began floating entire collection in March, 2004 Pilot floating collections Books on CD

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Adrift or Right on Target: Perspectives on Floating Collections

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  1. Adrift or Right on Target:Perspectives on Floating Collections Barbara Spruill Branch Services Division Director Gwinnett County Public Library 2010 PLA National Conference

  2. Some background . . . • Began floating entire collection in March, 2004 • Pilot floating collections • Books on CD • Adult browsing fiction • Children’s DVDs • 11 branches across the county • Migrated from Dynix Classic to Horizon

  3. Centralized selection • Over 1,000,000 items • Circulation of 6,172,537 • Two compelling reasons to float entire collection: • Save courier time • Reduce customer wait time

  4. Today’s Reasons to Float • Maximize resources • Maximize Materials Budget • Allow customers to determine where items are needed • Use courier service efficiently • Decrease wait time • Create a more productive system collection

  5. GCPL Today • 2009 total circulation = 7,528,750 • Items placed on hold = 1,365,972 • 94,009 holds placed in December • Soon to have 15 branches

  6. Impacts of Floating • Constant flow of materials -- the floating philosophy embraces movement of items to their audience: • Each branch’s collection becomes dynamic • 20,000 items moving through system to satisfy hold/requests in a 5 day period • Branch staff devote time to movement of materials • Expired holds • Request Pull List

  7. Impacts . . . • Materials may “float away” • Online vs. physical browsing communities • Encourage browsing customers to browse catalog as well as the shelves • Monitor shelves for gaps as well as duplicates • If item lands in branch where it is not used, staff must consider system circulation potential before weeding

  8. Impacts . . . • Redistributing • Determine if snapshot or big picture view is needed • Must use system thinking and 360 degree view to determine if rebalancing is needed • Place system reporting tool in hands of branch staff for quick view of system • ILS and WebReporter

  9. Range: 500 to 530s @ one branch compared to other branches

  10. “Just Looking” copies • Help insure that copies of blockbuster titles are available for browsing • 25% of initial distribution • Minimal processing • Do not accept holds

  11. “Just Looking” • Green d0t identifies • Staff change status after initial demand wanes • May weed or place back into circulating collection

  12. Weeding • A “system team” effort • Branch Collection Development Librarian oversees • More considered effort needed to weed at system level • Constant weeding on condition at check-in • System Weeding Manual • Annual Weeding Schedule with monthly reports

  13. GCPL Annual Weeding Schedule

  14. Special Benefits • Greater circulation out of fewer copies • Budget constraints more easily absorbed • Even with decreases in Materials budget AND fewer open hours, system saw only a slight change in our Holds Ratio—from 3:1 to 4:1

  15. Feb. YTD Circ and Holds -6.96 % + 6.89%

  16. A few tips . . . • Take full advantage of your holds pick up area • Expect to restock displays often and with mixed formats • Purposeful users should have an easy path to their intended goal

  17. Questions? Barbara Spruill Branch Services Division Director Gwinnett County Public Library bspruill@gwinnettpl.org

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