Letting Go of Legacy Services: Weeding Materials and Programs WorkshopFebruary 11, 2016

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PRESENTERSSuzanne WardPurdue University

Katherine FurlongSusquehanna University

Mary EvangelisteFearless Future

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HOW WE MET

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OVERVIEW

• Case Study: Cumberland County (PA)

• Strategies & Activities • Case Study: Purdue University• Q & A

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PLANNED ABANDONMENT/RIGHTSIZING: COMMONALITIES•Be Strategic•Strive to be Objective in Decision Making

•Diversity Strengthens Decision Making•Practice User-centric Planning•Communicate Change•One Size Does Not Fit All•Assess•Do It All Again

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ACTIVITY 1

•write down three new library services/programs/resources that you would like to add

•write down three existing library services/programs/resources that you want to drop

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KEEP IN MIND:• what are your library’s goals? • who are your stakeholders?• what programs/services/resources are no longer a good fit with your library’s goals and stakeholders?

• what new p/s/r would be a better fit?• what p/s/r can you drop so that you have time and resources to add new ones?

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Case Study: Cumberland County (PA) Library

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A bit of background

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Original Case Study: CCLSMoving to Web Based Services

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Updating the Case Study: CCLS

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Updating the Case Study: CCLS

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“it makes it so easy – I don’t have to put four children in the car and wait at the desk…”

Updating the Case Study: CCLS

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A final word from Carolyn...

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“We will never stop asking the question: is this still working for us? When it doesn’t, we will change it.”

- Carolyn Blatchley, CCLS Training Supervisor

BE STRATEGIC

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Be Strategic

•Cannot continue to add without subtracting

•Examine mission, goals, statistics, other data

•Identify low performers

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STRIVE TO BE OBJECTIVE IN DECISION MAKING

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Strive to Be Objective in Decision Making•Use the same “critical thinking” skills we use in collection development and reference interview to bring objectivity to decision making

•Remain neutral and remove emotions•Focus on organization’s mission and goals of organization

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DIVERSITY STRENGTHENS DECISION MAKING

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Diversity Strengthens Decision Making•Difficult to ask the rightsizing/planned abandonment questions if members are very similar (race, class, gender, socio-economic, region, etc.)

•Foster a diversity of viewpoints to create objectivity

•Use professional tools available to you! http://www.ala.org/advocacy/diversity

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PRACTICE USER-CENTRIC PLANNING

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Practice User-Centric Planning

•Keep the patron front and center•Don’t get wrapped up in behind-the-scenes details

•Understand that it’s impossible to please everyone

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ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL

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One Size Does Not Fit All

•There is no one size fits all answer•Case studies are not prescriptive—they are frames and lenses for examining your own institutional challenges

•What is right for one library may not be right for another

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ACTIVITY 2

• choose the least strategic or least successful s/p/r/ that you want to drop. Circle it.

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ACTIVITY 3

• choose the most strategic or most interesting s/p/r/ that you want to add.

Circle it.26

COMMUNICATE CHANGE

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Communicate Change

•Always communicate change with stakeholders

•Develop ways to send the same message in different ways

•Be aware that people prefer to receive information in different ways

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ACTIVITY 4

• Thinking about the “new” item you want to add - (because we’ve identified something to drop) which of the following methods might best reach your target audience. Why?

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COMMUNICATION METHODS• Social Media• Newsletters• Electronic Messaging Systems • Library Webpage• Posters/Flyers• Word of Mouth• Other

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ASSESS

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Assess

•Be clear about duration of your project - that will impact assessment methods

•What will be the measures of success? •What methods of assessment are available to you?

•Assessment doesn’t happen just once a year after launch.

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ACTIVITY 5

• how will you measure success?

• what will you measure?

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DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN

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CASE STUDY

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Case Study: Rightsizing a Library Collection•Why rightsize? What’s your story?•Who are the stakeholders? How will you communicate with them?

•Will you nibble or bite? Identifying manageable chunks

•Project management

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Rightsizing the academic library collection

“… we have plenty of time before we are faced with the problem of maximum size. But eventually that day will come.”

~ Howard F. McGaw (1956)

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Do your shelves look like this?

“There isn’t room to shelve one more book!”

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How did this happen?

Traditional collection development (the past)

– Availability window– One major format– No or slow ILL– Just in case

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The unspoken assumption

We must keep everything . . .

– In case somebody wants it

– Because we acquired it

– Because we are an academic library

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Result

• Crowded shelves.• Thousands of no-use & low-use books.• Electronic equivalents (mainly journals)

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Rightsizing …

… is the strategic, thoughtful, balanced, and planned process whereby librarians shape the collection by taking into account factors such as:

• Disciplinary differences

• Impact of electronic resources

• Local program strengths

• Previous use (circ stats)

• Partners’ holdings

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Rightsizing advantages

• Considers entire collection• Rules-based de-selection • Automate as much as possible• Ongoing part of routine collection management• Compare local collection to partners’ holdings

• Core value: enhance the user experience

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Impetus for rightsizing

#1. Internal: Librarians acknowledge that something must be done.

#2. External: Outside circumstances dictate action

= time to plan a thoughtful, strategic approach

= strategic triage

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Key components for success

• Administrative support• Manager• Employee buy-in• Communications plan• Milestones• Iterative

• Collaborative approach

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Policies & Plans

• Withdrawal policy• Communications plan• Rightsizing plan

– Rules-based mass withdrawals (books)

– Withdrawals against electronic holdings

– Short runs– Collaborative endeavors

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Planning phase

• Time constraints?• Books or journals first?• Multiple locations?• Consultant? • Costs?• Special considerations?• Identify partners?

• Be strategic

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Rightsizing is ongoing & iterative

• Books: set the next date

• Journals: when new e-backfiles added

• Other: microforms? A/V? E-resources? Government documents?

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Result

Vibrant active library- new spaces- new services & equipment- uncrowded shelves full of relevant titles- happy patrons

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ADDITIONAL CASE STUDIES & FURTHER READING

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Q & A

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