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Right Sizing Branch Collections

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Right Sizing Branch Collections

Indianapolis Public Library, Ind.

Operations & Management | 2015

Innovation Synopsis

The IndyPL centralized collection management team has developed a collection analysis program to inform collection funding and shelf allocation for sub-collections at each library location.

Challenge/Opportunity

The collection analysis program provides:

  • Evidence to show need for collection and shelving allocation changes
  • Evidence to justify spending shifts for more popular collection items
  • Precise recommendations for number of items and shelves to shrink or grow collections

Key Elements of Innovation

IndyPL's program represents significant innovations in the way the Library analyzes and organizes collections to best serve staff and patrons in the following ways:

  1. Invests significant time in shelving measurements and requires updates whenever branches make changes.
  2. ILS data mining for collection count and circulation by collection code.
  3. Comparison of relative use, turnover rate and shelving allocation in supporting graphs and charts.
  4. Recommendations for right sizing changes
  5. Follow up to measure impact of changes

Achieved Outcomes

Implementation of the new system has helped IndyPL:

  1. Meet patron demands and interests more effectively
  2. Increase collection use
  3. Make better investments of collection dollars.
  4. Increase staff buy-in for having a single shared collection for multiple branches