Adrift or Right on Target: Perspectives on Floating Collections Barbara Spruill Branch Services Division Director Gwinnett County Public Library 2010 PLA National Conference

Some background... Began floating entire collection in March, 2004 Pilot floating collections ▫Books on CD ▫Adult browsing fiction ▫Children’s DVDs 11 branches across the county Migrated from Dynix Classic to Horizon

Centralized selection Over 1,000,000 items Circulation of 6,172,537 Two compelling reasons to float entire collection: ▫Save courier time ▫Reduce customer wait time

Today’s Reasons to Float Maximize resources Maximize Materials Budget Allow customers to determine where items are needed Use courier service efficiently Decrease wait time Create a more productive system collection

GCPL Today 2009 total circulation = 7,528,750 Items placed on hold = 1,365,972 94,009 holds placed in December Soon to have 15 branches

Impacts of Floating Constant flow of materials -- the floating philosophy embraces movement of items to their audience: ▫Each branch’s collection becomes dynamic ▫20,000 items moving through system to satisfy hold/requests in a 5 day period ▫Branch staff devote time to movement of materials  Expired holds  Request Pull List

Impacts... Materials may “float away” ▫Online vs. physical browsing communities ▫Encourage browsing customers to browse catalog as well as the shelves ▫Monitor shelves for gaps as well as duplicates ▫If item lands in branch where it is not used, staff must consider system circulation potential before weeding

Impacts... Redistributing ▫Determine if snapshot or big picture view is needed ▫Must use system thinking and 360 degree view to determine if rebalancing is needed ▫Place system reporting tool in hands of branch staff for quick view of system ▫ILS and WebReporter

Range: 500 to one branch compared to other branches

“Just Looking” copies Help insure that copies of blockbuster titles are available for browsing 25% of initial distribution Minimal processing Do not accept holds

“Just Looking” Green d0t identifies Staff change status after initial demand wanes May weed or place back into circulating collection

Weeding A “system team” effort Branch Collection Development Librarian oversees More considered effort needed to weed at system level Constant weeding on condition at check-in System Weeding Manual Annual Weeding Schedule with monthly reports

GCPL Annual Weeding Schedule MonthWeeding January900s FebruaryFiction MarchPaperbacks, Children’s DVD/Video April000s & 100s & 200s May300s June400s – 500s July and August600s SeptemberFiction October Paperbacks, Children’s Music November700s-800s December900s

Special Benefits Greater circulation out of fewer copies Budget constraints more easily absorbed ▫Even with decreases in Materials budget AND fewer open hours, system saw only a slight change in our Holds Ratio—from 3:1 to 4:1

Feb. YTD Circ and Holds % %

A few tips... Take full advantage of your holds pick up area Expect to restock displays often and with mixed formats Purposeful users should have an easy path to their intended goal

Questions? Barbara Spruill Branch Services Division Director Gwinnett County Public Library