[LM_NET] hit: inventory

[Tina Wilfeard <twilfeard@GMAIL.COM>]

Ladies and gents,

This is gonna be a long one. I have compiled all the results that I got
about the importance of inventory. Thanks so much to all those that
contributed. Your posts may have been edited for content. You're the best!
Results were as follows:

We've implemented a rolling 3-year inventory plan.  We divided the
collection in roughly 3 equal chunks so that it takes about the same amount
of time each year and every third year we've checked on a section.  My
assistant actually does the inventory with our hand-held scanner.  This year
she probably touched about 4000 volumes and all total it probably took less
than a day.

Our schedule is fixed through fourth grade, but we have plenty of blocks of
time without classes.  During those times we are apt to have middle and high
school students in library.  One of them laughed the other day about the
constant "beep - beep - beep" of the scanner!

My situation is probably different from a lot of schools.  The population is
fairly stable and we don't usually lose very many books.

I am in an elementary library on a fixed schedule with 10,000 volumes and I
do partial inventory every year so that I know what is missing
and can update my database. My district pays the elementary media
specialists for 10 extra days in the summer to do inventory, computer
updates, cataloging, book ordering, etc.

I have always printed out a shelf list and went book by book marking off the
titles present. It is very tedious but great when done. This year I
purchased a laptop with another barcode scanner with some grant money so I
will be doing inventory by
scanning the titles into the program (InfoCentre) and taking it from there.
I haven't read over the directions yet but I'm sure their tech support will
walk me through it when I get started. I'm hoping it goes smoothly and I can
get the whole place done
in a few days.

Even when I was on a fixed schedule, covering planning periods, I closed
for at least the last two to three weeks to accomplish all that needs to
be done at the end of the school year.

My district is trying to generate some information in favor of inventory.
We
are trying to prove the value of end of the year inventory. Could you tell
us your procedures for inventory mainly those of you who have fixed
schedules. (We realize teachers don't want to lose a planning
time...however look how much time the LIBRARY needs for this important
task)
When do you do inventory? last 10 days of school
Who does it, you, an aid, or both? both, one to get the shelf in order
while the other does routine tasks, then the other to scan books while one
of you tends to routine tasks...printing fine/replacement cost notices,
printing class lists of missing books, running around to each classroom,
recording payments, contacting parents...
What tasks are included? getting books back from students, getting books
in correct order on shelves, actually looking at condition of
books...dirty, torn pages, checking cover/spine condition, reorganizing
shelves because when all of the new books are added your collection,
sections will need to be adjusted, checking dates of books for weeding
How long does it take you? 10 days...actually more to then return to staff
to let them know what they did NOT return, to notify parents, and to
prepare a spreadsheet to record who has what missing books, who paid for
lost books
Do you close the library? yes, there is no way to complete an accurate,
comprehensive and coherent inventory if you do it piecemeal.  This key
part of your job is just as important as teaching skills.  You need to
complete these tasks BEFORE students and teachers leave for the summer
What benefits does end-of-year inventory have?
accountability of students and teachers!!!!! (did they really return the
books they claim they did?  inventory is the only way to REALLY know) you
can't accurately look for books until they are in the correct shelf order
IF a book has really been returned, you can let the borrower know so they
can get a refund or stop looking for it and end hard feelings
see what has been lost and needs replacing
see what books need to be deleted due to age/condition
see what needs to be repaired
see what areas need "beefing up"
you can base next year's purchases on what you find during inventory


I just finished most of my inventory so this is a timely question from you.
Generally, our librarians close the library 2 weeks before school is over.
During that time we:

1.  scan all items into inventory  (some librarians do 1/2 of the collection
and the other 1/2 the next year)
2.  weed
3.  repair books/equipment that we don't have time for during the year
4.  collect equipment from teachers
5.  evaluate collection and prepare book lists for next year's orders

Only our high schools have para's so the rest of us fly solo.  Knowing the
value of your collection is important, but, knowing the age of your
collection is really valuable.  Especially if you have any opportunities to
ask or beg :) for $$ from admin.

Some of our libraries are in rotation so those girls will have to see
classes until the bitter end.  I'm not sure how they are handling inventory.


I am the LMS at a 9-12 of approximately 1200 students.  We did not close the
library ever, but we did expect all books in the Friday before the last week
of school.  We did not start inventory until Tuesday of the last week and I
finished it this Wednesday--so it took about 5 days total.  We used a
scanner (Follett Panther) that was simple and made "counting" very quick.
Being a newbie, I did all of the inventory, but next year I will have my
library assistant do what she can before she leaves for the summer (I work
an extra week).  I also have to inventory equipment, tables, chairs, etc.
That is all done by hand.  I can't tell you how long that takes because I
haven't started!  I do find inventory useful, especially in my situation,
because I can get an accurate idea of what we have and what I need to
replace, update, etc.  I plan on doing another complete inventory next year
to see what has been "lost" since I took over.  Good luck!


I try to do an inventory every other year. I start end of April so I can
catch any books that are missing or need to be replaced. It keeps the
collection viable and locates those books that have mysteriously wandered
from their correct shelf to other places in the library. It takes 3-4 weeks
but I also have a leveled library of reading resources that needs to be
inventoried so my collection is about 19,000 items.  I weed as I inventory
as this also helps build my book order. Next year I will be half time in my
building, so I may have my para do the scanning and I will weed. We are not
allowed to close the library. I have classes up until the last day, last
minute. When I look at how much is invested in my library collection, why
wouldn't I inventory? Any small business would do inventory to check it's
assets. Without a current inventory of the collection, the catalog is not
usable. I worked at a school that had not been inventoried in over 5 years.
The catalog was a mess, the collection was a mess and the library was
frustrating for students and staff, and that was before computerized
catalogs. Today I think it would be a nightmare. How can you build a good
resource list if half the things in the computer are no longer there? I
would also say that in case of disaster you would have an up to date
collection value for insurance purposes and a place to start to replace the
collection. With a computerized system it does not matter when you do
inventory and most systems would let you do a partial inventory. I like to
do the inventory because it gets those books in my hands and brain one more
time.


We inventory right after Spring Break. We use handheld Panthers, and our
library aides (students), ourselves, and National Honor Society kids
(needing points) do the scanning. Anything checked out indicates it as such
and continues going on through the shelves. This is invaluable for the kids
who say, "I just checked that in." If it wasn't on the shelves during
inventory, you did not. The value is for your end of year report in knowing
how many lost items you have, how many in each classification you have to
check for balance of your collection, etc. I can't imagine NOT doing
inventory.

Hi Tina,

All the libraries in our district inventory at the end of every school year.
Each library is run by one librarian-- no aides, and our seven campuses have
from 477 - over 1,200 students. It took me two days to scan around 10,000
books. Our elementary librarians have twice that many books, so it takes
them longer. We all close the last two weeks of school for inventory and
getting all the books in, and the simple process we use is to:

    * put the collection in order and don't allow students or staff to touch
it until inventory's completed (that way when a student comes in and says
he/she turned the book in, you can go to the shelves and know without a
doubt the book didn't make it to the shelves)
    * double-check the shelves to make sure all the overdue books are still
out before parent notifications are sent out (sometimes a book gets shelved
without being checked in; I found 6 books (out of approx. 10,000) on the
shelves that hadn't been checked in.
    * take inventory - we use Destiny's inventory procedures and a Panther
handheld to scan all the materials and then print out a report to see which
books or equipment is unaccounted for (I let teachers continue to use their
equipment and check out books until two days before we're out of school);
    * take the paper copy to the shelves to see if you missed scanning
anything and account for those before you make a final report to give to
your administrator

Some justification for inventory: good accountability for the collection
we're held responsible for; learning which books need to be replaced;
knowing the collection better. And for a brief moment in time, you feel
wonderful for having your collection in beautiful order : )

Yes, inventory is an important part of the process. Theoretically it can be
done anytime but for school libraries at the end of the year is 'best'. It
takes attendance of your books, helps you find those books that were
reshelved (usually by a semi-clueless child) in the wrong place instead of
being checked in. It also allows me (and my assistant) to touch each book
and make observations about the collection. I also use the preparation time
for inventory (reading the shelves) as a 'weeding' time. We have a limited
amount of shelf space and as books are being returned the shelves overflow.
I also print out or just check circulation records to see what has NOT been
circulating. Sometimes it is that something is past its prime, the
curriculum or reading interests have changed, sometimes I have purchase
multiple copies of a book (usually in paperback) and don't need the excess
copies. Definitely part of the total management piece of the library which
unfortunately many classroom teachers and even some administrators fail to
see the need/value.

Tina, I generate several reports from inventory that show me:
# of items circulated in the year
Circulation anaylsis showing me  the most circulated items
List of lost items
Amount of money collected for lost items
I've also used it to print oldest items, etc.

I've been in the library 20 years and this was already a procedure in place
when I started in 1989.
We conduct inventory for the last two weeks of school.  I have always
written on the last two weeks of my schedule book "INVENTORY."
While I'm available if teachers need me and they can still check out
materials, student check-out is stopped.  It takes me that amount of time to
get materials returned, shelved, etc.  I also have to spend that time
getting our Reading Program Awards ready (printing final reports, sorting
into appropriate clubs, printing certificates, and more).  Today was our
last official day of post-planning...but when 98% of the staff got to leave
at 1:30pm...I had to stay over and continue my work and was there until
4pm.  I'll be back tomorrow as well to try and finish.  I know some people
do inventory throughout the year or start in the spring.  It's just easier
in my opinion to do it at one time.

Our system is using Destiny and so we can do inventory anytime or do it all
year long for that matter. We can do the entire collection or just part of
it. My secretary and I do it and we do not close the lmc to get it done.
After we do a section, we print a report and begin to search for anything
that did not get scanned. Sometimes the scanner does not read the barcode
properly and we will find the book/s. Other times, it is not there.
Sometimes we find books in the wrong section of the library having been
shelved incorrectly. So it may help in getting the collection in order. It
let's you know what is "missing" on the day you print the report. Sometimes
while doing inventory we find books that we weed. It usually takes about 2
weeks as we do it when we are not involved in other jobs or teaching. It can
take longer or less time.
If I could I would do an inventory on a 3 year cycle doing a third the first
year, the second third the second year and the last third the third year and
then start over.


1.  We use Destiny and inventory is easily done while we are still open and
checking out books.
2.  I have a 1/2 time assistant and a terrific volunteer at least 3 days a
week.  So, we have the manpower to keep things up and running during
inventory.
3.  Doing inventory finds lots of "lost" books.  I'm talking about the books
that students insist have been returned but aren't in the right spot on the
shelf or other books that I've tried to find for a teacher, but aren't on
the right shelf.  We find books that are "lost" on the shelves.
4.  I find lots of little things that teachers "forgot" to check out.
*5.*  This one is best... it is the BEST way to familiarize yourself with
the collection.  If I went to work at another library next year I would do
inventory early in the year so that I could really see lots of hidden gems
in the collection.  It's also a tool that helps you find old junk that needs
to be weeded anyway.

We have exams the last week of school.  At this time, no one is scheduled
into the Media Center so my aide--who I have for 2 bells,and my self start
scanning.  The information I receive is useful because I can, first of all,
see if I missed a section scanning.  Then, reports can be created which tell
me which books are missing.  I can then re-look for them.  then, if they are
actually missing, I can determine if this was a great way to weed :-)  , or
if I need to purchase a replacement.

Good morning,
This is for a Middle School.
I stop circulating books about three weeks before the tests begin.  It takes
5 to 6 days to shelf read the shelves of about 8,000 books.  Then I actually
scan the books in 5 to 6 days.  I plan to do at least 1,000 books a day.
I am a one person library except for one period a day helper.
Students from study halls continue to use the library.  Some periods I work
on the inventory and other periods there is only supervision duty for me.
This year all books are due back June 9th.  I will run the overdues on the
10th and start my shelf reading and then the inventory.
During the last five days students do not use the Library because of
testing.
I like this  as I find lost books on the shelves and discover the weak areas
for curriculum development.
Feel free to ask me questions.
This is so much easier than the old drawers of shelf list cards.

Year end inventory is the time that I also shelf read the whole collection
and weed.  It is the one time when, hopefully, everything is on the shelf
and I discover that we are missing one title in a fiction series or that I
have purchased newer nonfiction on certain subjects and those 1995 books on
birth control really need to go, etc.

If I can, I often do inventory in March a little at a time rather than wait
until I close.  Full time inventory usually takes me 2-3 days with under
9,000 volumes.  I do it all.  I have no aide.  I do close the library about
7-10 school days before the last student day so I can get all the books back
and do all the end of year tasks without having to supervise or assist
students.  If inventory is NOT done for a few years, much of the OPAC would
become invalid due to lost or missing books.  I often order replacements at
the end of the school year so that those books arrive over the summer.  This
is also a time for shifting the collection, etc. as ALL the books are in so
some shelves will be too full, etc.  I also often discard older magazines at
this time to allow room for the next years subscription and I offer the old
ones to staff for student use in the classrooms.

Hi, Tina!
It made my day to check email this a.m. and find one from Lyons.
I'm a North Rose native, so it's like hearing from home.
Here in Brockport, we do inventory each year.
At the Middle and High school (flexible schedules) we just close for 2 days
and fit in the inventory that way.
We try to choose times when the library wouldn't be too busy.
Our preK-1 library finishes fixed scheduled classes with the kindergarten
two weeks before the end of school.  The librarian chooses the days which
have the most K classes (Thursday, this year) and does the major bulk of the
inventory then.  The librarian and assistant will finish up the next morning
before classes begin.
In our 2nd & 3rd grade building, the librarian and assistant will do
inventory the day that students are having "Field Days."  What they don't
get done they will finish the next a.m. before the students arrive and
classes begin.
The grades 4/5 building will do inventory when the school does special
activities near the middle of the month of June.  It will probably take them
2 days.
Benefits of the process include: finding books not checked in which made it
to the shelves; finding an interlibrary loan from another school; finding
out that 15-20 different fiction books are off the shelves and not checked
out; teachers have taken many of the videos and DVD's for classes and not
checked them out; opportunity to weed as you go; finding mistakes in
cataloging ...
We try to prepare ahead of time by taking a shelf list and putting
everything in order.  This helps us find a number of typos etc. with the
call numbers and spine labels.
Fortunately, this year we did our inventory the week before Memorial Day.
It was hot, but low humidity.  That was the first time in 4 years that it
had been comfortable while we were working. Needless to say our library is
not air conditioned.

Tina-
       the main reason we still do inventory is to see what is still here.
We
are going to be doing a major renovation in the near future, and we are
trying to justify a security system for our materials.  Inventory finds
out how many books are missing, that have not been checked out (stolen),
so it seems to justify a security system's price.   We have found that we
have quite a few of these "missing" books each year, and inventory is the
only way we could possibly know that.
       As to actually doing inventory, there are only two of us in our very
busy
high school library, and it's my job.  I have to fit it in when it's
quiet.  I start at the end of March, and I am still going--it's very hard
to get much more than one period's worth of scanning and checking done in
any day, because of the need for supervision.  I will try to finish up
during exams next week, but if I don't finish we have decided that we
can't worry about it, and we'll try to start earlier next year.
hope this helps!

This is my first year, and the standard in our K-8 library has been to
do an end of year inventory.  I have a fixed schedule, which includes
6-8 graders every day.  All library books are due 2 1/2 weeks before the
end of the year.  With ENORMOUS amounts of help from my library
volunteer (I don't have an aid; it's just me in a school of 370), we
shelf read the entire library, which took us about a week.  Then we
inventory everything, which we just started yesterday, and are
anticipating about a week for that.  Our collection is about 12,000
items.  The last day of school is June 10, and I have classes through
June 5, although they haven't checked out new books since May 15.  Hope
this helps!

When do you do inventory?
We do our inventory in January during mid-terms week.  We run mid-terms the
same was as finals, which means there are no classes in session and the kids
report to the testing area immediately.   We obviously COULD do inventory
during finals in June.  We prefer the mid-term period, as we are busy during
finals getting our book and supply orders ready to go out July 1.  I also
use the quiet time in June to weed the collection.  Weeding can be done
right before inventory also.   We just feel both are big jobs - so we split
it up.

Who does it
My aid and I both work on it.  We borrow a scanner from one of the other
schools so we each have one.
What tasks are included?
1.  Stop circulating and returning books for the duration (we let the
returns pile up in the book drop.  If someone wants to take out a book - we
let them - but we write down the info - name, title, barcode - to be entered
into circ when inventory is done)
2.  Shelf-reading
3.  Scan books
4.  Download to inventory program
5.  Print missing list & check shelves again.
6.  Scan the items that were missed during the first run.  (No matter how
careful you are, there are always interruptions which result in missing
shelves or forgetting about a section of books that might be shelved
separately etc. etc.)  Download and run missing list again.
7.  Look again for all the books listed as missing.  As you go through it
again - you may realize that they are located in some odd place.  In our
case, they are often books I have taken home to read and forgot to sign out
:-{  Or it might be a group of books you sent to a classroom and forgot to
sign out.  There are lots of reasons they might be mistakenly reported as
missing.  When I discover something like that, I write down who has the
books and the barcodes, then I type the barcodes into the scanner to
download.
8. run the inventory report again and make one last shelf-check for the
books.
9. Any book that was missing last year and is still missing this year gets
deleted from the system.
10.  Look at the list of deleted items and decide and add replacement titles
to the ordering list.
11.  run the inventory report again.  This will be the final list of missing
books.
12.  If "satisfied" that the list is accurate, then run the final step of
inventory which marks the items as missing.
13.  Run an inventory report which lists the number of titles and volumes -
to be used the next Oct for the BEDS report
14.  Close inventory for the year and enter the books that have gone out
during inventory and return the books that have been piling up in the return
bin.

How long does it take you?
It takes us 2 days to scan all the books.  The rest of the steps takes
another day - sometimes a bit longer.  We gave about 8500 volumes.

Do you close the library?
No - it is not necessary.  Traffic is very light during mid-terms.  That
said, if we had to do it while in full swing - we COULD manage.  We would
simply have to spread it out longer.

What benefits does end-of-year inventory have?
1.  It requires the library staff to handle all the books.  I generally do
the fiction section so that I can re-acquaint myself with titles I might
have forgotten.  This helps me with book recommendations.
2.  I always find books in the non-fiction section that I have forgotten
about and can recommend for different research projects.
3.  It provides me a list of titles that need to be replaced
4.  We find books that are completely out of place and get them back to
where they can be found again.
5.  I often locate books that would be used more often if I changed them to
a different dewey number.
6.  I feel it is necessary to properly account for public property.
7.  We often find books that are in need of repair, need to be recovered
etc.

Other ideas
I understand that closing the library to do these tasks can be problematic.
To be honest, as much as I would LIKE to be able to do it - I am
philosophically against doing so.  The library needs to be open for students
and staff for the maximum amount of time possible. On the other hand - I
have been in elementary school and I truly understand how difficult this is
to do an inventory,  given the often fixed nature of classes and the huge
volume of check-outs and returns.  Here is what I would suggest:
1.  Get inventory down to 3 days maximum* (suggestions below on how to do
this)
2.  Try to find a time in the year when library use is down.  Standardized
testing times perhaps.  Inventory does NOT have to be done at the end of the
year.  Trust me on this.  Think about it.  Public libraries do not ever have
all their books back on the shelves - yet they manage to do inventory just
fine.  It is a hang-over from the past to think that it must be done in
June.  It is not even any more convenient to do it when most of the books
are back. The computer does not count books that are checked out as
missing.  The fewer books that are on the shelves, the shorter the time it
takes to scan books.

*  Idea for reducing the time that inventory takes:
1.  Conduct an inventory only every 2 years
2.  Have "inventory parties". This means that if a district has 4 buildings
and owns 4 scanners, they hire 4 subs for 4 days.  The subs go to one
library the first day, do steps 1-6 above, and then go on to the next
library.  They should be able to finish in 4 days.  If the district goes for
an every other year basis, then they would only need to be hired for 2 days
to do 2 schools.  The remaining 2 schools would be done the next year.
Obviously, all the other work would have to be done by the library staff in
each school - but the whole job would get done much more quickly.  If the
district did 2 schools per year - the cost of the subs would be around $600
per year.
3.  District could hire librarian and the aid in each school for 2 or 3
extra days at the end of the year.  Again - that cost could be reduced by
going to an every other year basis.
4.  Classroom aids could be pulled to do scanning.  for instance, in a k-5
school, each classroom aid could be assigned to the library to scan for an
hour or 2.

I'm on a fixed schedule, K-6 school.  I work 3 days a week and the majority
of my time is spent teaching.  I do have 10 extra paid days during the
school year to work without students on library "business.".  I used to do a
full inventory every year when I worked 5 days a week.  The library was
closed for the last two weeks of school.  Now I have 6 days to do an
inventory so I do non-fiction every year and I alternate picture books and
fiction every other year.

I find that doing an inventory is extremely valuable in knowing my
collection, understanding what areas need to be increased, and I find that I
get teaching ideas when I have the quiet time of the inventory and I'm
looking at all the books.  Of course I also find the mis-shelved items that
would be lost for a long time if I didn't have the time to do the
inventory.  At the end of my inventory, I generate reports of the collection
and circulation statistics and present that to my principal and school
board.

By doing inventories over the last 20 years I have corrected things in the
catalog so that my catalog is very accurate and appropriate for my students.

It's kind of a fight every year as some of the teachers complain when they
don't have their scheduled time during the last weeks of school.  This year
my principal asked if I could see classes the second to last week on an "as
needed" basis and the teachers would sign up.  So far I only have 3 and one
has already cancelled due to a conflict with end of year parties, etc.

To sum up....it's important to do an inventory of some kind every year.
It's the best way of really knowing your collection and in turn being able
to help students find what they are looking for.

I do one every year and as a result the time it takes keeps getting
shorter. I attribute it to the fact that the collection is getting
better organized as we get fewer and fewer missing items each year. My
aide and I do it the last 9 days of school.  It takes two of us at a
time as some of our books have the barcodes on the inside (from a
previous librarian) and those need to be taken off the shelf, opened,
scanned, and then returned). I an on a fixed schedule so what I do is
ask the teachers on those last days to send the kids up to the library
with a book (from home or the classroom) and they do silent reading.
Both the teachers and I stress silent and if the kids are not quiet,
they are sent back to the classroom and have to answer to their teachers
why they are there (I've cleared it with the teachers and have never had
to send a kid back yet).  On top of it all, I also do the graduation
dance during the same period so I really couldn't do it without her.

Here is what my supervisor always sends out re inventory. I get my principal
to sign it and put it in teacher mailboxes. Basically, each class misses one
time (I am on a fixed schedule). But some would have missed anyway because
our last week of school (I inventory for the last days) has three half days.
Actually, I try to get done (8,500 volumes, one major volunteer and a couple
minor volunteers) the day before school ends so that I can make one last try
for overdues by saying that the book has DEFINITELY not been returned!

In order for the library media center to be organized and inventoried for
the following school year, limited library use is necessary.  The tasks are
very time consuming, but are needed in order to maintain an efficient and
effective library and to complete the MSDE Annual Library Media Report for
each school year.  It is necessary for your school to be accountable for the
essential library resources funded by our county.

During this time, library media specialists will perform the following
library maintenance:

    * Weeding the collection and discarding out-dated books
    * Repairing damaged books
    * Accounting for all books and library resources based on shelf lists
and/or the on-line library system
    * Collecting overdue books or payments for lost books
    * Organizing the books on the shelves in the correct Dewey Decimal order


Thanks again,
Tina Wilfeard
Librarian
Lyons HS
Lyons , NY
twilfeard@gmail.com
Life expands or shrinks in proportion to one's courage.
~Anais Nin

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