CULCNM303A
Part 2 of Determine Movement and Storage Requirements

1.3 Assess collections to estimate projected current and future storage requirements with relevant personnel

1.4 Seek specialist advice or assistance where required

Before we go ahead to work out how we look at assessing the collections,I just want to show you a short video from The Hunt Library in the USA which has a very different type of library than what we are used to:


Assess collections in order to estimate projected current and future storage requirements.

So where do we start?

How do we make a good assessment of the collection? Can you think of any methods you have used?

A stocktake would be a good start, but there are more things to be taken into consideration than just numbers – we need to figure out the different types of items to be stored.

Let’s take a look at the sample document that we drafted up in the last lesson. See the bottom of this post.

This is a good sample of the details which need to go on the boxes, but first they have to be sorted so they can go into the boxes. It’s much quicker to sort before they’re boxed, right? Nobody wants to mix up the contents of the box and have to sort it out during the move – what a nightmare! As the different types of items are usually already kept together, this shouldn't be a big problem, but it is important to be aware that there may be a few items which are kept separate - for example, some which are on a display shelf, and may be rotated according to need.

How do we determine what different types of items need to go into the different types of storage?

What ARE the different types of storage? Morgenne has covered several different types of the storage systems which are available, so I won’t go into detail. Let’s just call them Long Term, Short Term or Direct Move (straight to the shelf).

What types of items will go into the various types of storage? 
Class ? Suggestions ?

Artefacts - probably will need to go into long term storage, or at least until they are required for a particular event. The way these are handled requires careful consideration - perhaps the staff need to be trained.

Older, classical books - depending on their fragility, you may want to put them into the long-term storage. Find out from experts if there are particular requirements for packing these - who would you talk to?

Every Day borrowings - direct move I think, what needs to be taken into consideration for these?
A few suggestions - size, shape, weight, etc.

Scholarly books - these may be a mixture of long and short term, you may have to divide these up between direct move & either short or long term. Or even to be culled, particularly if there are enough copies in circulation.

This is where the assessment criteria comes into play. Depending on your library, this will differ, and you should check with the Librarian in charge (there will be a procedure to follow if you are in a large library, with a variety of collections).

If you work in a smaller library (or a school library), you will usually only be dealing with items which require a direct move, so the move will be more straight-forward than if you are, for example, moving a large public library, a University library, or a specialist library.even a museum - here is an interesting look at moving items if you were in a museum:

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Let's have a look at Cambridge University, and how they treat some of their more rare books :

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This of course is not your usual, run-of-the mill library move - but it is food for thought. 

Here is a more typical (if somewhat larger) set-up :

Planning for future requirements needs to be part of your storage method, if you do not want to spend many hours shifting and reorganising collections as the Ingalls Library staff were required to do. Listen to Betsy Lanz, Director of the Library and Museum Archives describe the magnitude of the job:

Also, for any dvd/video collections, or files which have been digitised, you need to ensure that there is regular revision done to ensure that the files/collections are still able to be read with current technology - think of the microfiche of the 'olden days' now - who still has a microfiche reader? Not many places! Or the floppy disks that we all took for granted - not any more.

Seeking Specialist Advice

You would have noticed that in the 'Cambridge' video shown previously, they asked experts for advice as to which books to reprint/reissue. This is an essential part of making an assessment of which collections are valued - or which ones should simply be culled as they are not of any value.
So, where do you find your experts?
That will depend on the type of expertise you are looking for. Can you think of any?
Book preservation, packing, tracking, OH&S, moving, storage conditions, digitisation, treatment of artefacts (if relevant). Depending on the size of your organisation, there may or may not be procedures to help you.

But it's not just the library staff who are experts in their field - you can get in touch with the moving company and consult their experts too - after all, ultimately the goods are going to be in their hands, even if it is only for a short time. That short time can make all the difference in the world!

From Call No	To Call No	Category	Box No.	Shelf No.	Storage Type	Checked Out by	Checked In by

Legend:

Category :

Pink = Fiction Book

Blue = Non-Fiction Book

Red = Fragile Item

Purple = A/V cds/dvds

Yellow = Magazines / Newspapers

White = Other

Storage Type

Long Term (L/T)

Short Term (S/T)

Direct Move (D/M)