Adrift or Right on Target:Perspectives on Floating Collections

Barbara SpruillBranch Services Division

DirectorGwinnett County Public

Library2010 PLA National

Conference

Some background . . .•Began floating entire collection in March,

2004

•Pilot floating collections▫Books on CD▫Adult browsing fiction▫Children’s DVDs

•11 branches across the county

•Migrated from Dynix Classic to Horizon

•Centralized selection

•Over 1,000,000 items

•Circulation of 6,172,537

•Two compelling reasons to float entire collection:▫Save courier time▫Reduce customer wait time

Today’s Reasons to Float

• Maximize resources

• Maximize Materials Budget

• Allow customers to determine where items are needed

• Use courier service efficiently

• Decrease wait time

• Create a more productive system collection

GCPL Today

•2009 total circulation = 7,528,750

•Items placed on hold = 1,365,972

•94,009 holds placed in December

•Soon to have 15 branches

Impacts of Floating

•Constant flow of materials -- the floating philosophy embraces movement of items to their audience:▫Each branch’s collection becomes dynamic▫20,000 items moving through system to

satisfy hold/requests in a 5 day period▫Branch staff devote time to movement of

materials Expired holds Request Pull List

Impacts . . .• Materials may “float away”

▫Online vs. physical browsing communities

▫Encourage browsing customers to browse catalog as well as the shelves

▫Monitor shelves for gaps as well as duplicates

▫If item lands in branch where it is not used, staff must consider system circulation potential before weeding

Impacts . . .•Redistributing

▫Determine if snapshot or big picture view is needed

▫Must use system thinking and 360 degree view to determine if rebalancing is needed

▫Place system reporting tool in hands of branch staff for quick view of system

▫ILS and WebReporter

Range: 500 to 530s @ one branch compared to other branches

“Just Looking” copies

•Help insure that copies of blockbuster titles are available for browsing

•25% of initial distribution

•Minimal processing

•Do not accept holds

“Just Looking”

•Green d0t identifies

•Staff change status afterinitial demand wanes

•May weed or place back into circulating collection

Weeding•A “system team” effort•Branch Collection Development Librarian

oversees•More considered effort needed to weed at

system level•Constant weeding on condition at check-in•System Weeding Manual•Annual Weeding Schedule with monthly

reports

GCPL Annual Weeding Schedule

Month Weeding

January 900s

February Fiction

March Paperbacks, Children’s DVD/Video

April 000s & 100s & 200s

May 300s

June 400s – 500s

July and August 600s

September Fiction

October Paperbacks, Children’s Music

November 700s-800s

December 900s

Special Benefits

•Greater circulation out of fewer copies

•Budget constraints more easily absorbed▫Even with decreases in Materials budget

AND fewer open hours, system saw only a slight change in our Holds Ratio—from 3:1 to 4:1

Feb. YTD Circ and Holds

-6.96 % + 6.89%

A few tips . . .

•Take full advantage of your holds pick up area

•Expect to restock displays often and with mixed formats

•Purposeful users should have an easy path to their intended goal

Questions?

Barbara SpruillBranch Services Division DirectorGwinnett County Public Librarybspruill@gwinnettpl.org