Tuesday, June 10, 2014

It's not EZ being Green: Collection Management edition

My final class for the MLIS program will be collection management; however, I mentioned I have a collection that I have to move. Perhaps this class would help before I start the ordeal?!?!

We all know there's 101 ways to skin a cat. Well, there 101 ways to manage a large  collection. When I say large collection, I mean LARGE  collection, 25,000+ materials, including books, DVDs, video games, and audiobooks. My original plan was to pull the books I want to move since I'm only taking roughly 20% of the collection. I'm terrible at math, so I'll tell you it will be about 5,000 items. I know that all the video games, DVDs, and series (think the "Babysitters' Club" series) will be available during the move. These titles aren't on any list; we're just pulling them from the shelves. On the other hand, the books are a whole different game. I mentioned my plan to 2 coworkers, which was to pull the books I want to take with me, and store them in the room that we will occupy. One gal suggested that I pack up and start storing my materials I won't need. That sounded like a great idea, until I started to do the reports.

I had to create several reports to manage the collection and merge them to get one final report. With the second option, to pull the books I won't take, it means that I'd have a list of 20,000 books. It means that I would have to create several reports and merge them. It also means that I (or whoever is doing the task for the day) would have to pull the books based on the list, checking each one and searching on the shelf. 20,000 books would take too long. It means I'd have a list 150 pages long, at least, and would be on paper. Being "green" (pun intended) I opted for the first method of collecting the 5,000 items and taking them to the small room.

KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid (this does not reflect my opinion of my coworker. She is very helpful, smart, and friendly. It's a motto to me to follow). We've heard it before. If I'd been at the library longer, I would most likely go with my coworkers suggestion; however, I'm in my 4th week, hence the term "green", and I barely know what is in my collection.

I welcome opinions. If you think there is a better way to do this, I'd love to hear it. I'll be researching other library transitions to find out their methods. Stay tuned to learn more about this wild adventure.

No comments:

Post a Comment