Re: CSU library finds 40% of collection hasn't circulated

Somewhat surprised that nobody has commented on how 
silly it is, at a large research university, not to designate 
a publication such as the _SEG_ as non-circulating in the 
first place. I can hardly believe that the librarians at U of 
M could be so dense. It is only recently that this important 
scholarly tool has become available online ( and then at an 
almost prohibitive price ), and failing such availability it is 
essential that it be accessible at all times to epigraphers, 
historians et al. Still, I think I must have used it when I was 
on the U of M Classics faculty for a short period back in 
the early seventies ( before Tim's time there as a graduate 
student, I believe ), and can't recall any particular problems 
at that time.


- Laval Hunsucker
   Breukelen, Nederland




----- Original Message ----
From: Kyle Banerjee <banerjek_at_UOREGON.EDU>
To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Sent: Fri, October 1, 2010 1:29:05 PM
Subject: Re: [NGC4LIB] CSU library finds 40% of collection hasn't circulated

>
> "We're going to move out the books that are never checked out, the ones
> that are never used anymore,"
>

I hope they're not relying exclusively on circ transaction data to discover
what is "never used." I realize this may sound insane, but a lot of
materials are actually used *in the library* without being checked out. The
nature of the resource and the people who have a lot to do with this.

Years ago, we did a major weeding and storage project at a place I worked at
did something similar. Just to be safe, we had the shelvers look at our
proposed list which contained 10's of thousands of items to see if any of
them jumped out as things they recognized as materials that were used. While
most were not, there were certainly a number that were.

kyle