When we moved into our beautiful new building a little over a year ago the shelves were a bit bare. Who would have guessed that between our shared collections and our collection development program our shelves would be getting tight in some areas? There are a couple of ways to handle such a problem: collection review and shifting. We have reviewed our collection a bit but even still we need to shift certain areas.
Last week we shifted children’s early readers, picture books and moving up. This week we shifted children’s audio-visual (DVDs and Books on CD) and paperbacks. We also shifted adult/teen science fiction.
When I was a library page (a shelver), shifting wasn’t on my list of favorite things to do. It was labor intensive and time consuming. I always felt that I could be spending my time better (shelving, organizing, setting up programs), but I did the shifting when it was asked. Now that I’m a supervisor, I actually miss getting out there and doing the shifting. I think that’s why I spent so much time last week doing it, and an hour today too.
One of the best parts of getting out there and shifting is that I get to spend a bit more time with the pages as they take a break from shelving to shift. We’re typically so busy that I see the pages in passing as they drop off an empty shelving cart and pick up a full one. So, I got to spend some time with my newer pages and get to know them a bit better. It was nice.
There’s still more shifting to be done. I definitely look forward to doing it.
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