I am at the point with the reference collection at MPOW that I fantasize about running amok with a machete through it. My very first duty when I arrived in the job was to weed it by one-third, down to one range, as part of a major branch space reshuffle. This was rather daunting, since I had no experience with the collection or the community on which to base my decisions.
My branch is out of space. Weeding is a daily obligation. (Jesus wept.) We did get reference down to one range last year, but it is sardine tight. Every new title the reference committee adds bring yet another search for something less than incredibly useful or necessary on some level. (I am on the reference committee, and I protest almost every new multi-volume set.)
How much use does our reference collection get? Well, do not walk over there expecting the following sections to be neat and tidy in perfect Dewey order: spirituality, legal, foreign language, military, cars, collectibles, antiques, music, indigenous peoples, history.
I am the designated shelf reader for reference. In theory, I go from 000 to 999 in its entirety every month, and it's all in apple pie order. In practice, all of the above-named subjects need daily maintenance. Of course, there are also the temporary but huge disturbances due to school assignments, i.e., endangered California animals and plants, the missions, black history, etc. So in fact, the section you need might be in some order at some point in the month. Of course, next month is always looming at the door.
Well, I tell myself it is a good upper body and mind workout for me.
One of the basic traits of a successful library worker is a desire for order. Create order, impose order, enforce order. It is what we do. Another highly desirable trait is accepting without daunt that creating order is truly and ever and ever a sisyphean task.
I was all excited to hear that RFID can assist with shelf reading and inventory. However, of the libraries I have visited that use RFID, none are using it for shelf reading or inventory. Is the library-vendor-marketing hype machine working overtime?
800 lb gorilla=electronic reference: I am not going to argue about whether all reference interactions can/should be handled with computer-based tools. Yes, I go there first, but mainly because the reference collection is roughly 45 feet from the reference desk. (Did I mention that I am not the author of last year's huge shifting plan?) Going to a database or a search engine has some attraction, since surfing does beat walking, mostly. But as we all know, not all content is online. Or it's there in a user-unfriendly format. Or this customer in front of me wants a big fat book with nice graphics and a good index, and does not want me to hand them a one-page printout that answers just the beginning of their questions.
On to how am I going find more space in the reference range: Purge some of the elderly local history materials? There's a bad idea. Move the science encyclopedia to the circulating collection? What! That thing cost how much and will be how useful when it is missing five volumes, including the index? Ah, government documents. Those are all online, right? Not necessarily in great formats, but the person who wants to read the County General Plan 2020 Hearings Commercial and Industrial Uses and Special Study Areas is willing to slog through much, no?
Our "gov docs" section makes me particularly crazy because we have shelves filled with binders filled with all kind environmental impact reports, quasi-governmental agency reports, and utility company stuff. And people actually do come in and want to review these, I kid you not. The local design review board sends them, a completely appropriate action on their part. Maybe they could design me some more space? Nevermind. Maybe I can figure out a way to shift that empty shelf over by over-sized books to the reference area? OK, it's across the aisle, which is a challenge, but I like a challenge, and it would mean like 48 inches of beautiful space!
Complete side track: I also need to reweed adult fiction, which I also pruned back to dead wood last year. My community reads a lot. I defy you to find a fiction title in the collection that has less than 10 circulations in the last two years. So so much for weeding criteria. I am convinced that some of my adult fiction customers borrow every title I buy, and then borrow it again six months later. And I do mean every title--they are not even genre-specific--catholic in their tastes, to say the least. Though we cannot have too many Westerns (who knew those were still being written?), or any flavor of mystery.
...OK, sorry to vent...Nobody said librarianing would be easy .
