“YES, AS A MATTER OF FACT, WE ARE THROWING THOSE AWAY”:

A SMALL, PUBLIC UNIVERSITY LIBRARY DEALS WITH DE-SELECTION

G. Randall WattsAssistant Librarian/Technical Services

Gregg-Graniteville LibraryUniversity of South Carolina Aiken

randallw@usca.edu

SOME BACKGROUND…

• …ABOUT USC AIKEN & GREGG-GRANITEVILLE LIBRARY– Small, public, regional, primarily non-

residential– Approximately 3200 students / 2750

FTE– Two graduate programs (Education &

Psychology)– Materials budget: $345,000 (excludes

special funding for Psychology Masters)

• …ABOUT THE USC SYSTEM– A true “system”– Comprised of 1 large research

university, three regional 4-year universities, and four 2-year campuses

OTHER FACTORS

• Increased availability of new full-text resources– Emergence of Carolina Consortium– Emergence of PASCAL’s Collegiate DISCUS– Expansion of JSTOR packages

• Implementation of new ILS statewide– USC System and others migrate from NOTIS

to Innovative Interfaces Millennium

• Growing preference for e-journals– Reference and instruction librarians report

increased preference for e-journals and increased resistance by both students and faculty

– Class assignments increasingly demand use of full-text databases and e-journals

THE PROBLEM…

• BOUND VOLUMES EVERYWHERE– Technical Services work area is filled

with bound periodicals unable to be shelved in areas designated for public use

– A severe space crunch in the periodicals area makes it difficult for patrons to find bound periodicals and difficult for serials assistants to maintain an orderly collection

• BUILDING RENOVATIONS OFFER NO RELIEF– Hopes for a simple, painless solution

are squashed when the administration approves a renovation without the addition of any square footage

– 1970s era décor is, mercifully, retired. Space shortage will remain indefinitely.

CONTRIBUTING TO THE PROBLEM• Technical Service Librarian position

vacant– Position open for 2 years after Technical

Services Librarian promoted to Director– Capable paraprofessionals maintain status quo

• Allocation formula– Library saddled with antiquated materials

allocation formula which demands funds be spent on departments which do not generate library use

• Changing curriculum / changing faculty– Additions and deletions of concentrations– New faculty often have different needs than

those they’ve replaced

• “Irrational Exuberance”– Occasional budget windfalls (mid 1980s, mid

1990s) lead to subscription decisions that stray from the mission of an undergraduate library

THE BIG CONTRIBUTOR

• Budget stagnation combined with price inflation– Library budget has tended to “flat-

line” for long periods. Current budget has remained static since 1999-2000

– Cost of serials has been anything but static

– The result: a rash of cancellations a few years after the latest budget increase

GOALS FOR THE PROCESS

• Leave smallest “footprint” possible– Minimize impact on collection

• Alleviate space concerns and straighten up– Create more pleasant work

environment for Technical Services workers

– Make it possible for users to browse entire collection of bound periodicals

– Assure bound periodicals are neatly shelved, shifted, and in order

ESTABLISHING CRITERIA

• First target: cancelled subscriptions– Find titles whose subscription has not

been active for several years– Titles cancelled for years are:

• More likely to have been easier choices for cancellation to begin with

• Less likely to be missed by users• Less likely to be reinstated in the event of

budget windfall

– Our criteria: cancelled for at least 5 years

• Second target: short runs– Value of subscription lies in completeness– Eliminate false positives– Our criteria: initially holdings less than

or equal to 10 volumes, later less than or equal to 15

THE PROCESS• Serial assistant / students instructed

to locate periodicals which met both criteria– Produced a list of titles with holdings– Titles divided into smaller lists by academic

unit– Bound volumes left on shelves in place

• Seek faculty input for decisions– Cultivate faculty involvement for collection

development– Sent each department chair a list of titles

associated with their academic unit:“In preparation for remodeling of the library and because the number of volumes has exceeded the space available for shelving, the library has found it necessary to withdraw several periodical titles associated with your department. The titles in question appear on the attached list. None of these titles are ones to which the library currently subscribes, most were only active subscriptions for a short period, and none were active in the last few years. That being said, if you have a compelling reason the library should not withdraw a particular title, please let me know by April 16. Thanks for your help.”—Randall Watts

THE RESULTS…

• …of faculty input– Mostly silence. Most departments

made no recommendations with regards to proposed withdrawals. Silence was interpreted as consent.

– Some departments asked to retain titles. These requests were generally honored.

– Three departments asked to add some withdrawn titles to departmental “libraries” or their personal collections

• Requests refused—library does not want to encourage the use of departmental libraries

• Departments asked to reconsider lists to determine if the titles in question should be retained

• Total titles withdrawn: 428• Total volumes withdrawn: 2,707

TOTAL TITLES WITHDRAWNBY DEPARTMENT

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

TOTAL VOLUMES WITHDRAWNBY DEPARTMENT

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

FINDING A HOME FOR THE “CHAFF”

• Options investigated– Offering up volumes to other USC

campuses• Student assistants checked holdings• Most titles were either duplicated in

their holdings or not held at all• No interest from within USC system

– Only 1 title, Soviet Life, claimed by another campus

– Offering up volumes to others• Not pursued because of experience

within

– Utilizing remote storage• USC Annex in Columbia (60 miles

away)• Cost prohibitive to send• Duplication• Lack of use by users

“Is your proposal that these will be ‘thrown out,’ literally or figuratively?”—Biology Professor

• Most cost effective solution

• Volumes actually recycled rather than thrown out

• In some cases, one man’s trash is another man’s trash, too

LESSONS LEARNED

• Needs to be done on a regular basis

• Need to meet user expectations– Full-text e-journals– Curriculum support– Best usage of library building

• Gregg-Graniteville Library needs to operate within the framework of our mission– Not a preserver of documents (in

general)– Not a resource for faculty research

(in general)– Support undergraduate curriculum