Libraries & Archives Introducing Stock Services Ken Jarvis Stock Services Manager

Stock Services is based at Kings Hill, West Malling, and provides a range of services to support the efficient and effective delivery of front of house services to customers. It is responsible for the overall management of the county’s stock from selection to withdrawal.

This presentation will cover:  What Stock Services does.  How we ensure value for money  How we meet the stock needs of our customers

The teams in Stock Services are:  Acquisitions – ordering, receipting, and distribution of new stock.  Cataloguing – maintenance and quality control of the library catalogue.  Stock management – including requests and inter library loans, You Choose, the Music & Drama collection, the county reserve collection, and materials in black and minority ethnic languages

Stock Services ensures that stock is procured in the most cost efficient way, and that it is:  treated as a countywide resource  based on the needs of those who use, or might wish to use it, either by visiting a library in person or remotely  well managed.

We do this by:  managing the allocation and monitoring of the county’s materials fund  providing advice and support on stock policy and related matters  providing practical help and advice on stock buying and layouts for library modernisation projects  drawing up and monitoring stock supply specifications  managing contracts to buy books, audio-visual items, ebooks and eaudiobooks, and associated services.

We ensure value for money by:  buying stock through consortia of library authorities e.g. The Central Buying Consortium (CBC), to achieve the highest available discounts and lowest processing costs through economies of scale. The total CBC spend is c.£22m per annum  operating a centrally managed requests system  central management of the van delivery service (outsourced to Kent Commercial Services)  procuring stock electronically wherever possible, from ordering to invoicing, to speed up supply to libraries, minimise errors, and reduce the amount of paper used

 using the expertise of specialist library suppliers to select stock for us, in accordance with our specifications to identify and order our requirements in advance, to enable staff to focus on specific customer requirements  coordinating the efficient disposal of stock, maximising income and ensuring that where possible stock that cannot be sold is recycled  managing a debt recovery contract to recover unreturned stock and unpaid fees and charges. This helps to protect Kent County Council’s assets and ensure that as much stock as possible is available for customers.

We try to ensure that the stock meets the needs of current and potential customers by:  buying stock in response to suggestions from customers through the You Choose scheme  buying stock to satisfy customers reservations, including additional copies where demand is high  facilitating work with groups of customers on special stock selection projects e.g. with teens

 buying electronic resources e.g. ebooks and eaudiobooks, to meet the needs of those who are unable, or do not wish to, visit the library in person  managing the stock of materials in over 50 foreign languages, hiring them in where necessary, to ensure that the diverse needs of the people of Kent are met  managing the Music & Drama performance sets collection  managing the county reserve collection.