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I didn't plan to join in this discussion, but I found that a good reason for doing an inventory is to be able to provide the needed statistics for accreditation reports, beg the board for money reports, and win teachers over providing the best materials you can collaborations. Both Follet and Sagebrush have wonderful tools to help with collection analysis. You can determine the age of your collection, you can easily pull out titles that complement your curriculum, you can justify asking for 10 times your normal budget because you still have books that talk about when man gets to the moon (the first time). I don't close my center. I can't I teach up until the last day of school :(. I do call for my books 10 days before the end of school. We have a handheld scanner we use to scan the books one section at a time. It saves me from having to hunt for that fiction book in the biographies, because the computer tells me it is there. My administration has never asked any more about my collection other than if we have 10 books per child. They wouldn't care if we had 4,000 copies of the same title, as long as we had it. I use inventory as a tool to check the book condition, where the holes are, and what is really being used. If two books stick together on the shelf and there is no gum between them, then they probably need to be weeded since no one is using them. Sorry, this turned into a mini rant. I inventory for me. I am better acquainted with my collection because of doing this "clerical" task. I like being what the kids call a "walking catalog". Heidi Lewis School Library Media Specialist Guinyard-Butler Middle School 779 Allen Street Barnwell, SC 29812 (803) 541-1382 (803) 541-1306 - fax "There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes". - Dr. Who >>> Joanne Shawhan <jshawhan@NYCAP.RR.COM> 04/21/06 1:54 PM >>> Dear Everyone, I think an annual inventory is very useful. I, my aide and whatever other help we can get scan all the books (currently about 15,000) every year. Since NY schools go to the end of June, we start our inventory around Memorial Day. We work around the kids, since our library only closes for testing and the hand-held scanner beeps too much to use while there is testing. Why do we go to so much trouble: 1) It keeps our OPAC accurate. Our students expect a book to be there if it says "on the shelf". 2) It points up misshelved books. We only care about seriously misshelved ones, like fiction in the biography section, but we get enough of those. 3) It shows which books have cataloging problems, like missing item types and collection codes, that need fixing. 4) I use it for the following year's ordering. If our only copy of a book turns up missing, I try to order it. 5) I like to see how well our security system is working, since I had to do a lot of work to convince the District to buy it. The fewer missing books the better. I hope this helps, Joanne - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Joanne Shawhan Library Media Specialist Cobleskill-Richmondville High School 1353 State Route 7--PO Box 490 Richmondville NY 12149 (518)234-3565 x1151, 1152 (518) 234-9006 (fax) jshawhan@nycap.rr.com shawhanj@crcs.k12.ny.us http://www.crcs.k12.ny.us/lib/hs/index.htm -------------------------------------------------------------------- Please note: All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law. You can prevent most e-mail filters from deleting LM_NET postings by adding LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU to your e-mail address book. To change your LM_NET status, e-mail to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL 3) SET LM_NET MAIL 4) SET LM_NET DIGEST * Allow for confirmation. * LM_NET Help & Information: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/ * LM_NET Archive: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/ * EL-Announce with LM_NET Select: http://elann.biglist.com/sub/ * LM_NET Supporters: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/ven.html -------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- Please note: All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law. You can prevent most e-mail filters from deleting LM_NET postings by adding LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU to your e-mail address book. To change your LM_NET status, e-mail to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL 3) SET LM_NET MAIL 4) SET LM_NET DIGEST * Allow for confirmation. * LM_NET Help & Information: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/ * LM_NET Archive: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/ * EL-Announce with LM_NET Select: http://elann.biglist.com/sub/ * LM_NET Supporters: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/ven.html --------------------------------------------------------------------