Moving to More Electronic: Deselecting and Transitioning Jennie Gerke University of Colorado-Boulder, Sandy Rizzo Mesa Public Library (AZ) Louise Treff-Gangler University of Colorado-Auraria

Introduction/Summary Six State Virtual Government Information Conference  August and 16-17, 2010 Who we are What we are going to cover Why choose electronic selection? Handling the legacy collection Handling the electronic collection Lessons learned / Resource sharing Q & A from you

Choosing Electronic Selection Six State Virtual Government Information Conference  August and 16-17, 2010 Brief History Advantages and Disadvantages GPO versus Commercial Packages Item Selection versus Commercial Products

Regional Perspective Six State Virtual Government Information Conference  August and 16-17, 2010 Handling Needs and Offers (from print collection) Providing access to print collections with region Regional Libraries and the switch to electronic collections

History—Auraria Library Six State Virtual Government Information Conference  August and 16-17, 2010 Large campus – 48,000 students Home page: began reliance on GPO electronic for Federal Register 2004 started actively seeking electronic substitution 2007 Colorado Alliance began cooperative collection development wiki to record agency strengths & commitment 2008 began library wide effort to reduce library’s collections to increase student study space. Large scale weeding began.

Advantages/Disadvantages Six State Virtual Government Information Conference  August and 16-17, 2010 Access to online publications outside of library Publications often more current online. Reduces physical space of collection Reduces browsability Fewer items that can be checked out.

GPO v. Commercial Products Six State Virtual Government Information Conference  August and 16-17, 2010 GPO free to libraries and users Commercial products provide enhanced searchability Commercial products expensive Commercial products not available for everything – mostly limited to legal, legislative and statistical publications

Item Selection v. Commercial Six State Virtual Government Information Conference  August and 16-17, 2010 Purchased LexisNexis Congressional Digital Hearings Withdrew print hearings if no checkout record. Sent copies to regional CU Boulder if needed. Changed Marcive selection to only electronic documents – Documents without Shelves. Catalog few remaining new print publications individually. Did not change GPO profile; too time consuming.

Tools Dropped and withdrew superseded publications. Created keyword lists from OPAC for generic titles, e.g. directory, manual, announcement, bibliography, regulations, etc. Walked collection looking for big sets now online. E.g. FCC Record. Used CU Boulder’s list of online serials not required to list; withdrew & dropped item numbers Six State Virtual Information Government Documents Conference

Selection Changes Six State Virtual Government Information Conference  August and 16-17, 2010 Dropped Congressional hearings if committee online with PURLS. Dropped and withdrew fiche if online. Examples: Congressional Record, bills; NASA, GAO, climate, serials. 2010: receiving no fiche now. Exceptions: Statutes, CFR, Foreign Relations, Presidential Papers. Reasons: Paralegal & other curriculum Evaluate every new serial issue received and drop if online

Promotion Six State Virtual Government Information Conference  August and 16-17, 2010 Classes Online class and subject guides: Reference desk

Collection Development Policy Six State Virtual Government Information Conference  August and 16-17, 2010 Revised collection development policy to reflect: Preference for electronic Initiative to reduce collection size Collection priorities: Congressional, legal, criminal justice, statistical

Staffing Implications Six State Virtual Government Information Conference  August and 16-17, 2010 Work has shifted to deselection from checkin of new publications Library technician manages dissemination of lists and distribution of publications Students check serials, hearings, and maps against regional CU Boulder collection on OPAC for needs

Who we are Mesa Public Library – Selective in Phoenix, AZ area 20% Depository (almost 80% just two years ago) Serve municipal population of over 460,000 Depository at Main Library, 2 nd floor area, with select items elsewhere in building (system has two smaller branches) Depository since 1983 Six State Virtual Government Information Conference  August and 16-17, 2010

Where we started Strong depository – always with very involved, active Depository Librarians and supportive administration For a time, goal was “Go, go, go!” - “more is better,” and “just in case.” 1983 – strictly print and fiche Advent of electronic – collection grew exponentially Six State Virtual Government Information Conference  August and 16-17, 2010

Why we did it Mandate: Get to ± 20% (requested April we were at 79%) Deadline - June 2009 Rationale at start: Due to budget/staffing cuts, Fed Docs Assistant now required to carry several new, non-docs duties Was everything received being used? Reclaim space Additional from our viewpoint: Perhaps our numbers became inflated – did we really need everything selected? Administration often confused by numbers – rather have something we can explain Six State Virtual Government Information Conference  August and 16-17, 2010

Steps Created written project transition plan – Articulated objective: gain space, time, cost in staff/volunteer processing, improve service Outlined steps in no particular order Look at our library’s collection profile – are we in agreement? – Revise Documents Collection Policy to reflect changes Determine which items we cannot cut; use FDLP Handbook, suggested core collection for PLs Six State Virtual Government Information Conference  August and 16-17, 2010

More steps Use FDLP Handbook, Chapter 13, Transitioning Depository Libraries Go through rec’d shipping lists/Tech Notes – find non-desired items Six State Virtual Government Information Conference  August and 16-17, 2010

More steps Isolate print – biggest issue – use tool (Docs Data Miner 2: to evaluate and see what we no longer need Use same tool (DDM2) to evaluate print items we want to continue receiving – offered as electronic item? Six State Virtual Government Information Conference  August and 16-17, 2010

Yes, a few more steps Talk with Legal Subject Specialist to discuss materials/usage Do “touch every item” weed, allowing familiarity with items received from various item #s and whether still want to receive them Get assistance from our Regional Research other libraries that have gone this route Six State Virtual Government Information Conference  August and 16-17, 2010

What to drop Determined doc types we didn’t want to collect in any format - a LOT of items!: Newsletters Annual reports & strategic reports FOIA reports Anything “dead” for a long time Forms, grant notices, things easily dated and/or not searched for in catalog Six State Virtual Government Information Conference  August and 16-17, 2010

More Drops Anything geographically irrelevant to our users (only kept AZ maps of all kinds, world political/physical maps, cut special reports for other states) Anything too technical, scholarly (Technical Reports, conference proceedings, etc.) Bibliographies, publication catalogs, course catalogs Committee/commission reports Six State Virtual Government Information Conference  August and 16-17, 2010

Techniques that help Print Item Lister report ( and mark colors to denote dropshttp:// Build spreadsheet, go bit by bit – can export through DDM2, useful when inputting drops Indicate reason – someday may want to know why you dropped it Keep looking – they grow themselves! Six State Virtual Government Information Conference  August and 16-17, 2010

What this means: Train library staff on electronic things new to them “Someday” project - Clean up catalog! Clear all items no longer have or select Systematic – keep chipping away – takes concerted effort over a long time Every so often, do Item Lister again after a lot of drops – takes MANY items to make 1%! You’ll learn your collection better Six State Virtual Government Information Conference  August and 16-17, 2010

Results Happy result: DID reach desired # without trying – just tried to keep needed, drop needed Trained staff on GPOAccess (next: FDsys) so they can find/use Federal Register (dropped print) Receive fewer tangible items – workload better Removed 2 shelving units, nicer space BIG project handling print offers – coop. with Regional; volunteer helped delete records “Cleaner” profile – just watch for “item creep” Six State Virtual Government Information Conference  August and 16-17, 2010

Tools Six State Virtual Government Information Conference  August and 16-17, 2010 All of the tools mentioned in this presentation are listed on the wiki page for this presentation: Electronic%2C-Deslecting-and-Transitioning Electronic%2C-Deslecting-and-Transitioning Know of more? Put them in the chat window and we will add them to the wiki!

Questions and Answers Six State Virtual Government Information Conference  August and 16-17, 2010 Please type your questions in chat. The chat moderator, will speak your question out loud and let the other presenters answer. If your question is not answered, please feel free to the presenters at: Jennie Gerke: Sandy Rizzo: Louise Treff-Gangler: