Determining shelving accuracy via sampling in a community college library (original) (raw)

Time Required for Shelf Reading -- A Case Study (Research Note)

College & Research Libraries, 1988

While the subject is of importance to library administrators planning budgets, there is little information available in the literature on the time needed to maintain proper shelf order. A volunteer staff's recent experience with reading and reshelving an academic library's Z classification suggests such work can be done at a rate of 554 to 613 volumes per hour in a collection that includes serials. The value of the commonly accepted statement that a library is effectively ''full'' at 86 percent of capacity is also verified.

Measuring Shelf Availability in University Library: Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Machang, Kelantan State, Malaysia

Library chain of operation is measured in this availability study. The function of acquisition, cataloging, circulation, library system and procedure is examined by a simulated search performed by librarian and library staff. A number of 100 titles is randomly searched in OPAC and effort to search initiated and findings are examined. The score shows the probability of availability of patrons leaving the library with desired book in hand. Suggestions are given at the end of article for correction and improvement purposes.

Inventorying a Library Collection—One After Thirty Years, and One After Two Years

Atla Summary of Proceedings

Inventorying a library’s collection is something that most libraries do at some time. This listen-and-learn session was designed to show the experience of two different libraries in conducting an inventory. The inventory in the first library was done for the first time in thirty years, because the physical collections of the library were finally in one place, permitting an inventory to be done fairly easily. The inventory in the second library was done for the fourth time in a biennial process. The process in these two libraries was presented so that attendees could determine what part of the methods presented might be applicable to their own situation.

Reading the Numbers: An Assessment of DLSU Integrated School Libraries' Book Collection and Usage

2019

Using collection mapping and user-centered approach this paper attempts to answer the following questions: (1) Determine if the IS Libraries' book collection meets the Philippine school standards set by the Board for Librarians (BFL) in terms of collection and growth rate for school library media centers. (2) Know the level of utilization of the IS Libraries' book collection. (3) Identify the highly used LC classes and overused/underused LC classes in the IS Libraries' book collection. Findings showed that the DLSU IS Libraries was able to meet the requirements of the Philippine Standard on School Library and Media Centers in terms of the total number of the collection but needs to update the collection in terms of books with publication date within the last five years. There is a need to improve the collection of the following subjects which are below the target growth rate set by the standard: philosophy, social sciences, applied sciences, geography, travel and biography, fines arts and recreation, history and the Filipiniana. The number of circulations for books proved to be high and the utilization is within the acceptable level. There is a significant number of books with zero usage. There is a predominant subject area with the most number of checked-out books which are subjects under P-Language, Literature, and Fiction. Under the sciences, Pure Sciences has the most number of checkouts. The subject areas with the highest number of titles with zero checkouts are Pure Sciences, Literature, and Fiction. Usage of books published from the past 20 years is high. The subject areas which are over-utilized are Fiction, literature and pure sciences while the subject areas which are underutilized are Literature, Philosophy, and Languages. Literature appears as the oddity in the study as it registers high circulation rate, its checkout rate is low when benchmarked against its percentage of expected use (PEU).

SHELVING DIFFICULTIES, SHELF READING, AND SHELVING STAFF AT ACADEMIC LIBRARIES IN KWARA STATE, NIGERIA

Quest Journal

This study examines shelves, shelf reading, and the challenges faced by shelf staff in four (4) academic libraries in Kwara State, Nigeria. A questionnaire was developed and used to extract data from various respondents. The results show that a majority of 48 (100%) respondents see shelving as inevitable in library practice. These institutions are the University of Ilorin, Ilorin; Kwara State University, Ilorin; Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin; and the College of Education, Ilorin. Sixty (60) copies of the questionnaire, i.e., fifteen (15) copies for each establishment, were given to the selected shelf staff in each case. Kwara State University has delivered ten (10) copies of the completed and usable questionnaire, Kwara State Polytechnic has delivered fourteen (14) copies, the University of Ilorin returned fourteen (14) copies, and the College of Education Ilorin returned ten (10) copies. The overall response rate was 48 out of 60, representing 80%. However, 34 participants (71%) saw the need to employ additional shelves, and 31 participants (65%) expressed dissatisfaction with users' arbitrary retrieval of books from shelves, along with frequent disorganization of shelves, as 42 participants (88%), while 37 respondents (77%) emphasized user boycott of the library catalog in retrieval of materials, among other challenges identified. Recommendations were made for improvement.