There are a lot of good points being made on both sides of the discussion.
Having once taken over a library in which no inventory had been
performed for at least twelve years, I do appreciate how necessary an
inventory is. If the catalog does not reflect the collection, then the
students (and teachers and others) will have no respect for the catalog,
will not use it. In the case of that particular library, this may have
been why the library in general was poorly used. I look forward to
Barbara's posting, 25 good reasons to take inventory.
One thing that has not come up so far is the notion of partial
inventory. It may not be necessary to check the presence of every book
in the record; it may be enough to check (say) the 500s and the 900s
every odd year, the 300s and the 700s every even year, the fiction every
year and other areas perhaps every three or four years, on a rotational
basis. The areas chosen will depend on your own usage patterns.
There are good reasons for the librarian to do the work her- (or him-)
self, and also there are good reasons for delegating the job to
assistants, student assistants, to parent volunteers. I have done it
both ways. Doing it yourself, you get a good feel for the area of the
collection under investigation, you note possible gaps, you find books
which need replacing, mistakes in classification, possible overstocking
of particular titles, and so on. If delegating the task, good training
is necessary: if there are any queries, get the assistant to refer the
book (or other material) to you, whether an accession number which does
not match the record, an item needing repair, whatever.
But the big question: library closing? Over the years, I have been
lucky. I have always been able to take inventory with the library open,
while school is in session. I have done it with a shelf list from the
card catalog, and I have done it with an inventory bar code reader. The
bar code reader is by far the quickest method, and by far the most
easily delegated, and the reports highlight books in the wrong place,
books on the shelves which the computer believes are out, and other
problems and anomalies. But it is still possible to take stock with the
library open, using catalog cards. (That first check after twelve years
took several months; it was more a series of partial inventories which
eventually covered the whole library, than one concentrated effort to
get it all done.)
What about books currently on loan? What about books borrowed, or
returned, during the inventory period? Well, you do need to be aware
that they need special treatment. The automation system may take care
of these special cases, but if you are using the shelf list then you
must put the returned books, or the loan records, on one side and
reconcile them later. In any case, it is a good idea to do a follow-up
check a couple of months after the initial inventory, look for just
those items marked missing before you close the inventory and do
whatever analysis or report is necessary.
As I say, I have been lucky: good volunteers, good staff; as a high
school librarian I have perhaps less regular face to face and timetabled
contact with students than those in elementary schools, thus more time.
But I hope there are a few thoughts here which might be of use to any
and all.
John Royce
MUN Director
IASL Regional Director (North Africa and Middle East)
Library Director : Robert College of Istanbul
Kuruçesme Cad. No. 87
TR-34345 Arnavutköy - Istanbul
Turkey
Tel: +90 212 359 2448
Fax: +90 212 257 5443
Email: jroyce@robcol.k12.tr
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