Collection Maintenance Activities

Collection Maintenance Schedule

The collection maintenance schedule is intended to help community library staff methodically focus on specific areas of the collection and to help selectors determine where gaps in the system’s collection may exist.  (If all libraries are removing materials from the same area of the collection at the same time, we selectors get a good picture of what is needed across the system.)  The schedule also helps us manage the flow of materials into the Service Center.  We recognize that all libraries may not be able to follow this schedule for a variety of reasons.  When large maintenance projects outside this schedule are anticipated in a community library, we appreciate hearing about them beforehand so we can adjust our work accordingly.  Also, items removed from the collection for poor physical condition or age may be sent to the Service Center at any time.

For 2009, we elected to follow a calendar year with this schedule, rather than following the selection year as we have in the past.  We felt that this schedule more realistically reflected the workflow for library staff.  Community library staff may request Dusty Book Reports from the MTL Technical Liaisons to assist with carrying out the evaluation and review of the collection in their buildings.  In the shared collection environment, a Dusty Book Report is best used if it is recently produced.

All selectors are ordering replacements as needed, rather than adhering to a schedule for specific areas of the collection.  We think this makes our selection work more responsive to customers’ needs.  Replacement requests can be sent to selectors on the SINC form, which is on the staff intranet:  https://intranet.sno-isle.org/applications/staffcollection/ .

If you have questions, please contact me.

Nancy Messenger

	AREA OF COLLECTION
	Adult Fiction	Adult Nonfiction	Teen	Children’s	Other
	(all genres)		(incl graphic novels)
January	A – E	400	A – E	E’s: A – H
February			NF 100 – 300	JF Series	All ages – Media
				JNF 500
March	F – J	600	F – J	Readers A – Z
April		600	NF 400 – 500	E’s: I – O
May	K – Q	900 & BIO	K – Q	JF A – H
				JNF 600
June		900 & BIO	NF 600 – 700	JF I – O
July	R – U	500	R – U
August		700
September	V – Z	700
October		300	V – Z	JNF 700
November		300		E’s: P – Z
December			NF 800 – 900, BIO	JF P – Z	All ages – Media
				JNF 300

Monday collection maintenance projects at Service Center

You’re Invited

Collection Development issued an open invitation to supervisors in 2007 to work with us on these projects. Staff who have participated in these projects gain a greater understanding of the weeding and reallocation process that they can share with their coworkers.

Although staff from LAK, MAR, and SUL have participated we encourage the rest of you who have not yet had an opportunity to send someone from your building to help with these projects.

The Service Center weeding projects are dependent upon the flow of materials which can fluctuate. Check with Jim McCluskey or Nancy Messenger for the status of a weeding project before scheduling your staff.