Rethinking Your Print Reference Collection?
Posted by: Lindsay Harmon
If you're heading to Anaheim, this RSS program sounds worth checking out:
SUNDAY 6/24
RSS Discussion Forum: Rethinking Your Print Reference Collection
Sharaton Park Hotel, Garden AB · 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
http://ala12.scheduler.ala.org/node/618
Convener: Christy Caldwell, University of California, Santa Cruz
Library literature shows that since the eighties, we have known our print reference collections were probably too big and underused. Lately, we've seen more studies indicating increasingly low usage of print reference items both by patrons and librarians. Some libraries, as a result, have weeded their reference collections or, less commonly, no longer have one. While it may be time for many of us to weed our print reference collections, the multitude of sticky decisions in a time of staff attrition make it a very difficult and potentially labor intensive task. These studies provided data, but often not details: what titles were kept? What large multi-volume works were discarded? Join a lively discussion about this important issue.
If (like me), you're not going to Anaheim, how about "a lively discussion about this important topic" HERE? What print reference books are you letting go of? What are you hanging onto?
June 21st, 2012 at 10:49 am
As our reference collection gets smaller, what we consider reference is falling into 2 groups. Browsable reference (generally under $100, includes many Facts-on-File books as well as the Oxford Companion type books) we are making a part of our circulating collection. More expensive reference items like multi-volume sets were are purchasing as e-reference or part of a database.
This is a slow process, as we update large reference works, we are choosing e-reference only.
June 21st, 2012 at 12:06 pm
That's a great point about the migration of "browsable" reference into the circulating collections. That's one of the projects I'm considering for the summer--to entirely do away with the dedicated, noncirculating reference section. I find that the books that are on those shelves don't tend to get much use, so there's little reason why a student who would find them useful couldn't take them home.
June 26th, 2012 at 9:15 am
We're considering an intermediate step in which some of our reference collection will go onto a more restrictive circulation scheduling (e.g., 3 days) while some will remain non-circulating. At the moment, the consensus thinking seems to be that indexes and some of the biblical commentaries (I work at a school where all undergraduates are required to take a certain number of bible credits) should remain non-circulating.
June 26th, 2012 at 10:30 am
Justin, how will you identify the 3-day items? I like this idea, but I'm trying to move away from plastering stickers on everything (that's actually one of my motivations to do away with the reference section).