Hello Everyone,
I have a technician that has been with our library since the 1970s. He knows the collection by heart, and periodically he identifies titles he feels are likely out-of-print, and searches for their current price on sites such as Alibris and Abe Books. I don't know what the library will do when he retires -- he is a wealth of institutional, tacit knowledge, and a testament to his profession.
I also look at the back lists of the book dealers we use, and follow the ARLIS-L listserv for any announcements on prices of out-print-titles, and check them against the catalogue holdings. I wish there was a more streamlined and systematized process of doing this (such as a database). I'm sure there are many titles we miss.
We pull the expensive, out-of-print titles from circulation and put them into our protected collection. They can only be accessed on weekdays from 9am-5pm, and used only in the library. Patrons are still free to photocopy and scan them.
Unfortunately, the maximum replacement cost for a lost or damaged item is set by the central libraries at the University of Toronto. It does mean for architecture monographs we take a loss for items whose replacement cost is above that set amount.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mail submissions to [log in to unmask] For information about joining ARLIS/NA see: http://www.arlisna.org/join.html Send administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc) to [log in to unmask] ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance: http://lsv.arlisna.org Questions may be addressed to list owner (Judy Dyki) at: [log in to unmask]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~