The REAL draft of Rebooting Your Collection
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Carmel Clay Public Library
Hamilton County * 1 Building * 80,000+
We have one building that serves more than 80,000 people. One Mobile Library.
Panorama Slide
Show the whole CYS Dept. for overall picture
It's a big children's department with lots of collections that can potentially confuse patrons.
Challenges
Access is key - helping patrons get exactly what they are looking for, without unnecessary obstacles.
Photo by exfordy
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Fairy tales and nursery rhymes--so important to childhood--go unnoticed because they're way far away from our picture book collection and the children's play area. We know that patrons want them, because when we move them out to display them in the highly-trafficked areas, they go like hotcakes.
WE HATE THESE.
We didn't ALWAYS hate our spinners--they hold a ton of books in a small space, but as our collection grew, they became less of a "pro" and more "con."
1. The books were often hard to find (e.g., all books w/ "S" authors piled onto 3 spinners, in no order).
2. Many titles in our collections were in both hardcover and paperback versions. "JPB" was one more place we had to look for a title.
3. The signage was small and unnoticeable. Many patrons didn't know where the "JPB" section was.
4. JPBs required additional processing: green spine stickers to indicate series books, stickers w/ letters for books alphabetized by author's name, plus frequent changing-out of series, which meant lots of shifting.
5. TS was happy to have one fewer collection to keep track of.
6. The wire racks snagged my sweaters and cut my knuckles.
1. The books were often hard to find (e.g., all books w/ "S" authors piled onto 3 spinners, in no order).
2. Many titles in our collections were in both hardcover and paperback versions. "JPB" was one more place we had to look for a title.
3. The signage was small and unnoticeable. Many patrons didn't know where the "JPB" section was.
4. JPBs required additional processing: green spine stickers to indicate series books, stickers w/ letters for books alphabetized by author's name, plus frequent changing-out of series, which meant lots of shifting.
5. TS was happy to have one fewer collection to keep track of.
6. The wire racks snagged my sweaters and cut my knuckles.
We love this...
Early Literacy display area! [Show next slide of kids hanging out]
This "early literacy feature"--meant to appeal to toddlers and preschoolers--has lots of display area for and interactive elements.
[got to next screen]
This "early literacy feature"--meant to appeal to toddlers and preschoolers--has lots of display area for and interactive elements.
[got to next screen]
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It's right in the middle of the picture book collection, where all the little ones pass by on their way to storytime or the play area. Ideally, it's the go-to place to take parents who ask for help finding great books for their toddlers and preschoolers.
...but it's not foolproof.
Sometimes the books that make it to this display really aren't meant for little kids.
FIRST STEPS:
BUSINESS AS USUAL
Collectors' meeting, Sept. 2015. Ideas for meeting SOME of our challenges. Just taking a step or two in the right direction, easing into doing things a little differently.
Photo by pellethepoet
Original agenda items:
- Fairy tales and Mother Goose
- Move JNF seasonal books to Holiday section
- Group JNF series (e.g., Magic School Bus)
- Interfile print and audio books
Photo by Albuzzzzzz
THEN we hatched a big idea
describe brainstorming Tuesday evening with Gina! [show next slide w/ pic of Gina]
Photo by hairymuseummatt
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This is Gina. She's the evil genius with mad spatial skillz who figured out how we could make much bigger changes. [describe how I started by asking her to help me figure out how to make space for interfiling JCDs w/ Js and JRs, and that led to all the other moves.]
THEN talk about meeting with Renee' the next day to tell her about the ideas.
THEN talk about meeting with Renee' the next day to tell her about the ideas.
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We had to get buy-in from key people--TS manager, circ manager, and director--before we could move ahead. Renee' met with each one individually.
We also had another collectors meeting to talk about all the improvements we wanted to make--one of our best meetings ever, generating lots of excitement for the changes.
Lisa, TS manager, told me later that they had lots of "good conversations" about this big move in their department, and they picked up on our excitement. They willingly took on all the challenges for 2 reasons:
1. the focus on improving customer service, and
2. the eventual improvement in their workflow on account of reducing the number of collections.
We also had another collectors meeting to talk about all the improvements we wanted to make--one of our best meetings ever, generating lots of excitement for the changes.
Lisa, TS manager, told me later that they had lots of "good conversations" about this big move in their department, and they picked up on our excitement. They willingly took on all the challenges for 2 reasons:
1. the focus on improving customer service, and
2. the eventual improvement in their workflow on account of reducing the number of collections.
Photo by soukup
Untitled Slide
We had to get buy-in from key people--TS manager, circ manager, and director--before we could move ahead. Renee' met with each one individually.
We also had another collectors meeting to talk about all the improvements we wanted to make--one of our best meetings ever, generating lots of excitement for the changes.
Lisa, TS manager, told me later that they had lots of "good conversations" about this big move in their department, and they picked up on our excitement. They willingly took on all the challenges for 2 reasons:
1. the focus on improving customer service, and
2. the eventual improvement in their workflow on account of reducing the number of collections.
We also had another collectors meeting to talk about all the improvements we wanted to make--one of our best meetings ever, generating lots of excitement for the changes.
Lisa, TS manager, told me later that they had lots of "good conversations" about this big move in their department, and they picked up on our excitement. They willingly took on all the challenges for 2 reasons:
1. the focus on improving customer service, and
2. the eventual improvement in their workflow on account of reducing the number of collections.
Photo by soukup
On your mark...
Shelving inventory, weeding, planning!
show shelving inventory spreadsheet?
Get set...
Schedule time for moves; communicate plans
Meetings with circ and tech services,
GO!
Photo by Blue Funnies
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Renee' planned out the order in which we had to move things, so all the pieces could fall into place with minimal disruption.
Note:
1. Start and end dates
2. Repeatedly moved shelves and kept weeding
3. Orange steps indicate that those collections had to be taken to TS for processing.
Note:
1. Start and end dates
2. Repeatedly moved shelves and kept weeding
3. Orange steps indicate that those collections had to be taken to TS for processing.
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J Fiction shelves required considerable adjustment, w/ tools and such, so our maintenance guy handled that. Otherwise, we and teen volunteers did all the labor.
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Here's where the Graphic Novels used to be, ready for us to spread out the J Fiction section (with the newly-added paperbacks and audiobooks interfiled!).
We hated these.
Remember these?
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I loaded one cart at a time of paperbacks. After weeding, and reordering when necessary, I took the cart to Sandy in TS for recataloging and replacing the spine labels. [go to next slide]
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We love this!
e
Use bins to make popular series easier to shelve and easier for kids to browse. Also "cleans up" shelves, as many of the paperbacks fall over on shelves.
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no comment--just whip
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Career books w/ spine labels
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Unexpected benefits
- Award winners re-emerge
- More space to display Graphic Novels Middle School more visible
- Arthur helped us guide patrons to DVDs better than the sign
- Came up with a system for putting series books in order
- More space to display Graphic Novels
- Graphic Novels
1. Newberys, Caldecotts, and YHBA books are now much more easily discovered, as before they were near the toddler play area.
2. Middle School books [insert photo]
2. Middle School books [insert photo]
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See notes: Having Arthur pointing the patrons to JDVD's new location was a happy accident. When moving collections, have a plan to use markers (Arthur, Owl) to help patrons find key collections. Something to point to when patrons ask where Graphic Novels are located now.
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There isn't actually one of these Captain America shields up yet to guide patrons to the Graphic Novels, BUT we've turned in a work request for it! It should be up by the end of August.
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Tell anecdotal stories here about how patrons and staff [cue Lisa Dick] have reacted to changes.
Photo by arj03
Circulation statistics
Have the moves paid off?
[Which slide do we want here, Barf? see the following two cartoons and tell me what you think!]
Photo by Jose C Silva
future plans/wish list
End with this slide?
**Maybe just talk about things that cost little or nothing?
unused space under stairway
new books--get rid of, or reduce
[Just mention those things briefly, then end with a good concluding statement?]
**Maybe just talk about things that cost little or nothing?
unused space under stairway
new books--get rid of, or reduce
[Just mention those things briefly, then end with a good concluding statement?]
Photo by mrhayata
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Katherine Huddle
Many thanks to our IT guru,
