Collection Rightsizing with Item Inventories TERRY W. BRANDSMA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY LIBRARIAN UNC GREENSBORO, UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
UNC Greensboro Carnegie Classification Doctoral Intensive Univ. I Student FTE - 18,500 Libraries Collection 2.8 million items (books, govdocs, and microforms) 42,666 electronic journals 250+ electronic databases Migrated to WMS June 2013
Walter Clinton Jackson Library (1950)
The Need: Expand Student Space Student work and study space is limited & maxed out. Major library renovations or expansions not in the foreseeable future. Shifting from print to electronic collections. Use of print collection declining. Use of library spaces increasing.
What Do the Stats Tell Us? FTE in 2000: 11,000 FTE in 2016: 18,500 Gate Count 2000: 646,600 Gate Count 2016: 1,198,803 Physical circulation since 2000 is down 61% overall
Student Space Options? Cram more seating into existing spaces. Add seating in open lobbies and hallways. Reclaim space used for student services and offices. Reduce the print collection and remove unneeded shelving.
Strategies to Reduce Print Footprint Journal Deduplication Compare electronic holdings to print/bound volumes. Shelf Compression Fill shelves to 90% capacity declare our collection largely no growth. Book Weeding & Shelving Removal In terms of the number of the space reclaimed, this is the smallest of the 3. In terms of campus controversy, this is the biggest area.
Stacks Shelving Evaluation A shelving unit is double-sided. Each side has 7 shelves that are 3 feet wide 42 linear feet of shelving capacity 2,475 shelving units on 8 tower stacks floors. Stacks were expanded over the years to accommodate growth. To reduce to original stacks footprint - remove 247 shelving units (10%).
Original Stacks Configuration
Expanded Over the Years
Expanded Shelving
Expanded Shelving Rear Alcove
Question 1: How many items are in the stacks?
How many items are in the stacks? Import Item Inventories into MS Access. Limit to appropriate Holding Locations, Shelving Locations, and Current Statuses. Jackson Library Stacks Locations: Stacks Stacks-AV Materials Stacks-Building Use Only Stacks-Oversize Stacks-Oversize-Building Use Only Stacks-Theses-Dissertations Do not count Withdrawn items.
Or Use MS Access Queries for Quick Counts Item Count In Jackson Stacks*, not Withdrawn : SELECT * FROM [NGUITE~1] WHERE [Holding Location] In ('NGUU') AND [Shelving Location] LIKE ('Stacks*') AND [Current Status] NOT In ('Withdrawn');
Counts Before Weeding 945,600 items in the tower stacks collection. 827,628 books 105,787 journal volumes 12,185 other formats IMPORTANT: Our entire collection item count (print & electronic, all locations) is ~3.4 million. 10% reduction of stacks items à about 94,560 items
Question 2: How many stacks books have never been checked out?
How many stacks books have never been checked out? Use the same Item Inventories MS Access table. Limit to Jackson Library Stacks* Shelving Locations Not withdrawn Book format 0 circulations (Note: we only have circ numbers back to 1992)
MS Access Query Item Count In Jackson Stacks*, not Withdrawn, Book, 0 Circulations SELECT * FROM [NGUITE~1] WHERE [Holding Location] IN ('NGUU') AND [Shelving Location] LIKE ('Stacks*') AND [Current Status] NOT IN ('Withdrawn') AND [Material Format] IN ('Book') AND [Issued Count] LIKE ('0');
Potentials for Book Weeding 827,628 book items (NOT titles) in the Stacks. Circ data back to 1992. 312,886 had no recorded circs (37.8%). Includes titles just acquired, plus old and potentially rare items.
Question 3: How many non-circulating stacks books are there in each call number range?
How many non-circulating stacks books are there in each call number range? Use the same Item Inventories MS Access table. Limit to Jackson Library Stacks* Shelving Locations Not withdrawn Book format 0 circulations Call number begins with J
MS Access Query Item Count In Jackson Stacks*, not Withdrawn, Book, 0 Circulations, call numbers beginning with J SELECT * FROM [NGUITE~1] WHERE [Holding Location] IN ('NGUU') AND [Shelving Location] LIKE ('Stacks*') AND [Current Status] NOT IN ('Withdrawn') AND [Material Format] IN ('Book') AND [Issued Count] LIKE ('0') AND ([Call Number] LIKE ('J*') OR [Call Number] LIKE ('f J*') OR [Call Number] LIKE ('ff J*'));
Counts by call number & floor
Question 4: Can we get counts by publication date range? Such as 1970-1979?
Publication Date? Pub Date is not provided in Item Inventories. Some call numbers have a date, but not all. Dates within call numbers may not reflect true pub date, or there may be multiple dates. Can still use the date in the call number to give us a general idea of the counts by date range? How?
Parsing the Call Number to Get Pub Date Requires a lot of call number splitting and manipulation. Text to Columns not available in Access. Export data to Excel (max 65K lines per export). Use Text to Columns as needed to split up call number into segments. Collect dates into the same column for data evaluation. Pivot tables make counting by date range easier.
Call Number Splitting Can Be Complicated Over the years call number formatting and local standards have changed. A few examples: J10.D74 1975 JK325.B45 1966C JK1899.M3 S3 JL27.T713 1968-1969 JN276.C917 1917 PT.1 JN6515 1961.S35 1966 JV9125.P70 (1943) 1970.
Call Number Splitting Can Be Complicated Over the years call number formatting and local standards have changed. A few examples: J10.D74 1975 JK325.B45 1966C JK1899.M3 S3 JL27.T713 1968-1969 JN276.C917 1917 PT.1 JN6515 1961.S35 1966 JV9125.P70 (1943) 1970.
Call Number Manipulation Copy Call Number column to the far right column of spreadsheet. Use Text to Columns to separate out the call# date Delimit by Space and Other:. (period) Sort columns to find call# dates Copy call# dates to new column Some judgement is required New column should just have the single 4-digit call# date. Now you can sort or pivot to get counts by call# date.
Counts by Call# Year
Book Weeding Update 827,628 book items in the Stacks. 312,886 had no circs (37.8%). 102,128 no circ, call# date 1940-1999 (12.3%). Still more than we need to weed, but getting closer Total volumes to weed (books + journal vols) is 94,560 What criteria will we use to actually pull the books?
Book Weeding Criteria Stacks only. No circulations (data back to 1992). Call# date between 1940 and 1999. Do NOT pull if: Circulated after 1992 Acquired since 1999 Government Document Former reference item Bookplate Faculty author OCLC retention stamp ASERL retention stamp
Question 5: Can we get the pull lists sorted by LC call number?
Call Number Sorting A simplified overview of the structure of LC Call Numbers: https://www.slideshare.net/akroeger/kroeger-lcclassification Library of Congress Call Numbers: A Guide for Non-Catalogers Who Suddenly Find Themselves with a Cataloging Job By Angela Kroeger, Criss Library, University of Nebraska at Omaha Typical LC Call Number formatting: Z668.R365 2000 Z668 - Class Number (can begin with 1 to 3 letters, and end with up to 4 numbers).r365 - Cutter Number (more than one can be assigned single letter followed by up to 4 numbers) 2000 - Publication Date
Call Number Sorting Z668 - Class Number Sorted alphabetically by letter, then numerically by whole number A to Z, 1 to 9999.R365 - Cutter Number Sorted alphabetically by letter, then numerically by decimal number A to Z,.1 to.9999 (e.g.,.365 before.4) 2000 - Publication Date Sorted numerically
Call Number Sorting in Excel Split the Class Number apart: Z 668 Keep the Cutter Number together, but remove the period: R365 Keep the date as is: 2000 Note: Excel can handle a massive amount of data: 1,048,576 rows by 16,384 columns But when you get to ~250,00 rows you will see performance issues
Steps to Split Up Call Numbers 1. Copy the entire Call Number column to the first blank column to the right. 2. Sort the entire list by the Call Number field. 3. Remove any prefixes (f, ff, REF, etc.) using search/replace. 4. Determine if the Class Numbers contain 1, 2 or 3 letters. You need to split separately by number of letters. 5. 1 st split - use Text-to-Columns and Fixed Width to separate the call number immediately after the letter(s). 6. Select the next column, the one just created by the split.
Steps to Split Up Call Numbers 7. 2 nd split Text-to-Columns and Delimited. Uncheck Tab check Space add a period to Other check Treat consecutive delimiters as one. 8. Add column headers to the new split columns call1, call2, call3, call4, etc. 9. Use the Data-Sort function to do a multiple column sort: Call1 Values A-Z Call2 Values Smallest to Largest Call3 Values A-Z Call4 Values Smallest to Largest
Sample Pull List, Sorted By LC Call Number
Summary So Far Item Inventories & MS Access: Counts by Shelving Location (Stacks*) Counts of 0 Circ books Counts by Call Number Range/Floor Extracted Lists & MS Excel: Counts/lists by Call# Date (~Pub Date) Weeding lists sorted by LC Call Number Pull Criteria
The Rest of the Process Sampling of 100 books 10 times to evaluate pull criteria. ~ 80% of items on pull lists were actually weedable ~ 83,745 items total using the criteria But, only need to remove 96,000 items total (books + journal vols) So Weed fully in business and sciences. After journal deduping and shelf compression, rework formula to weed less heavily in languages, literature, history, and classics.
Getting the Word Out Plan presented at the Provost Council. Letters send to the Dean s and Dept. Heads. Meetings with concerned academic departments. Posted to our website.
How and What to Count? Heavily weeded areas reduce print book items by 10%. Seems shocking, but Items, not titles. Includes many duplicates, old editions, or duplicate online access. For those there is no title loss. We have large ebook collections. Business and Sciences tend to be more accepting of e- access and are less likely to use print than humanists.
Impact on Collections Should be limited (items haven t circulated in 25 years). Actual impact may be difficult to measure. Total collection size continues to grow: Still purchasing ebooks and subscribing to ejournals as we weed print. Total collection use continues to grow: Exceeds 3,000,000/year even as the usage of print declines.
Impact on Student Space 6 th Floor Extra Shelving Removed Seating Added
Impact on Student Space 6 th Floor Alcove Shelving Removed Seating Added
Questions? Terry W. Brandsma Information Technology Librarian UNC Greensboro, University Libraries twbrands@uncg.edu 336.256.1218