Sheryl:
Ah, lucky you. You're embarking on the problem of deciding between "just in
time vs. just in case." You might want to bone up by reading Stanley Slote's
Weeding Library Collections, 4th ed. 1997. I've used the "Slote method" to
earmark materials for storage in our library's collection. We've used his
rationale for determining a "cut point" (the date you can use when
determining which uncirculated/lightly circulated items to remove) to
earmark 2,000 items for storage in our library. At least for us, the proof
of the pudding has been in the eating, as we now get only 1 request/week for
things in storage. Such a low recall rate seems to show that we have been
successful in removing the least valuable material. Slote seems to be a good
way of making a rational, vs. otherwise highly emotional decision about what
to put off site. BTW, he also discusses ways to quantify use of ref (i.e.,
non circ) items. I'm sure, with the fabulous collection you have, you've
lots more of that sort of thing than we had to deal with. You'll need to
offer at least equal weight to the knowledge of your ref staff and
bibliographers in a series of weekly meetings or however you regularly
communicate, as they'll know from experience what gets used and what
doesn't. And always keep the faculty informed at regular intervals via
notices, articles, meetings, etc. This will save yourself from a lot of
hysteria. You have a very delicate marketing job to handle.
Good luck
Cathy Donaldson
Library Dir
Art Institute of Seattle
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