Speaking as a librarian--before you do ANYTHING, establish your collection policy: what you collect, what your criteria for donations are, what you DON'T collect. Write it down, have your board approve it, and make it public on your website or elsewhere. That will make it much easier to justify anything you do afterwards, and will also make it easier to make decisions about individual items. In addition, don't base your decisions too heavily on what is available at other libraries. They get rid of things, too. If it is a (relatively rare) valuable resource for your community, I would keep it. Another thing to consider is keeping some basic statistics about what gets used and what doesn't. Martha Grenzeback Omaha Public Library On Mar 5, 2015, at 5:35 AM, J.O.S. N. via <[email protected]> wrote: > Protect the school yearbooks. > > On Wed, Mar 4, 2015 at 8:35 PM, Elissa Scalise Powell via < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> Connie, >> I hear you when you say that you don't want to purge until you need the >> space. However since the committee is in the mode now, it might be good to >> evaluate items that have already been digitized or are available at a >> nearby >> library or archive and remove those. This also means that when you do want >> to take in a collection the committee doesn't have to go into "panic mode" >> to purge at that time to make space. Haste is how things do get pitched >> without thought. Bravo on trying to get the thoughts down on paper as to >> the >> limits and conditions of the comings and goings of the collection. >> >> Best wishes, >> Elissa >> >> Elissa Scalise Powell, CG , CGL >> www.PowellGenealogy.com >> www.GRIPitt.org 28 June-3 July 2015 and 19-24 July 2015 in Pittsburgh, PA >> CG, Certified Genealogist, CGL, and Certified Genealogical Lecturer are >> service marks of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, used under >> license by board certificants after periodic evaluations. The board name is >> a trademark registered in the US Patent and Trademark Office. >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: [email protected] >> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of >> Connie Sheets via >> Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2015 1:06 PM >> To: [email protected] >> Subject: [TGF] Projecting Library Shelf Space Needs >> >> I am a >> relatively new board member for a non-profit organization that has >> developed >> a large, private genealogical library operated entirely by volunteers. Most >> of the volunteers are not librarians or archivists, and the genealogical >> expertise of the Board and library volunteers varies. For many years, the >> person primarily responsible for the library made every effort to make >> space >> for most materials that came her way. She has retired and we have come to >> the point where available space does not allow us to continue on that >> course. On that we all agree. Where we disagree is in the specifics of what >> constitutes a valuable genealogical resource that needs to continue to be >> made available, and what we need to find another home for. I may be >> posting >> later about one or two specific types of resources, but this is a more >> basic >> question. >> >> I am being told it >> is impossible to project, even in a general "guesstimate" way, the amount >> of >> linear shelf space we will need each year for new acquisitions because we >> cannot project the books, etc. that will be donated. We also have a >> limited >> purchasing program. >> >> We are in >> the process of developing written criteria for what we will accept as >> donations, what we will deaccession, etc. but I'm feeling like a voice in >> the wilderness advocating that those criteria need to be developed before >> the "decluttering" proceeds further. To my untrained eye, we have >> sufficient shelf space for a year or two at least. >> >> Surely, >> others deal with this issue all the time and have developed some method >> for figuring it out mathematically? Am I being unreasonable to suggest >> that it does not make sense to eliminate all school yearbooks and a >> significant portion of our periodical collection, how-to books, etc. >> without first having some objective idea of when we will actually need the >> shelf space? >> >> >> Connie Sheets >> Phoenix >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> [email protected] with the word >> 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> >> >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> [email protected] with the word >> 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message