Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Wow! It's been two whole months since the last blog post! What have we been doing around here???
Well, for one, we've been pretty busy making the library shelves more accessible for all of our lovely patrons. It took a lot of shifting and energy, but the library staff is thrilled to have made browsing easier on our patrons and shelving easier on us! Win win!
We've also been taking a lot of time to weed. What exactly is weeding? Many of our patrons don't think about a library as just a space (because really we're so much more than that!). However, we do have limited space when it comes to physical items like books. What would happen if we just kept buying more and more books without ever getting rid of any? (I really don't want to ever find out.) This is why we weed.
Our computer system allows us to run reports telling us the last time an item has been checked out. We can set the report to only list items that haven't been checked out of the library in two years or more. Then, we take a cart and look for those items on the shelves. Librarians will look at the items pulled from the shelves and make a decision as to whether they should stay or go. When the library gets rid of books, they must be removed from the computer system and then they go into our book sale where you (the patron) get an excellent deal!
So now you know a little more about the inner-workings of your local library.
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A few more words on weeding. When we do weed, unless the item is really ratty - pages missing, chewed by a dog or left in the rain, we offer the item in our standing book sale. What, you say, You have a standing book sale? Yes, oh yes. We have a table by the entrance and a whole room at the end of the hall. The books are always changing so stop by when you have time and check out the stock available.
ReplyDeleteAlso, to avoid your favorite item from being weeded, come in and check it out. We make our choices by how many times the material circulates.