The Big ShiftCharleston Library Conference

November 4-8, 2014Ibironke Lawal (ilawal@vcu.edu)

Patricia Selinger (peselinger@vcu.edu )Barbara Anderson (bjanders@vcu.edu)

AbstractVCU Libraries grappled with space problems for years.

All initiatives to create functional learning spaces failed to get us to where we wanted to be until now.

This presentation is about the process of weeding, withdrawing, re-shelving, moving and storing over 1 million volumes to prepare for the construction of a new library

OutlineIntroduction – Fast Facts

The Problem

Literature Review

Plan

Execution

Conclusion

Q & A

Fast FactsOne of the nation’s top public research universities

Located in Richmond Virginia, the state’s capital

Enrolls over 31,000 students

Two campuses: Monroe Park Campus James Branch Cabell Library (JBC) Medical College of Virginia Campus Tompkins McCaw Library (TML)

VCU Medical Center including the university health system Offers state of the art care in more than 200 specialty areas Serves as the region’s only level 1 Trauma Center

Fast FactsOne of Virginia’s Outstanding Library Systems

Holdings exceed two million volumes

61,000 Serials

60,000 E-booksNationally Prominent Collections in Health & Biological Sciences

Comic Books

One of the Largest Comic Books Collections in the Country

DiverseStudents -Global Living Experience

Our Students Study Hard

They Create Great Works of Art

Multitasking

Students relaxing or having a stimulating conversation

The Problem

Backgroud

The ProblemOvercrowded stacks

Inadequate number of seats

Insufficient infrastructure

Dissatisfied customers

Serious Space Problems

Part of the problem can be found in Cabell’s history

Cabell built in 1970, Addition in 1975

Maximum Capacity of 750,000 volumes

The Problem

Between 1995 & 200Between 1995 & 2009 We added 813,0009 We added 813,000

Growth was too rapid.Between 1995 & 2009 We added 813,000

The Problem

Growth in the VCU Community

1970-1971-672 Faculty-12,000 Students

2013-2014-3,000 Faculty-31,000 Students

Action Taken 2002 & 200417,289 linear feet of compact shelving

-We moved materials, journals 1990 and older

- Stopped subscribing to print journals

-Low use monographs

-Non book materials of enduring value

-Print versions of electronic Abstracts and Indexes

GOALSRelieve the overflowing stacks

Reduce the frustration of our users

Increase usability of the collections

Graduate and Faculty Reading Room

Graduate & Faculty Reading Room

The ProblemLibQUAL results of 2008 showed significant dissatisfaction.

The cry for more seats, more study rooms, and less crowded stacks was loud and clear.

LibQUAL Results – comment by a student

“A library is a unique place for quiet study, reflection and intellectual meditation. Cabell library does not foster that environment because of limitations of the physical space. It is very difficult to find a quiet spot. There is little I believe can be done to remedy the situation in the current library space. A new library is needed…”

ACTION

Hence we decided to do something about it.

The University acquired a former grocery store and repurposed part of it for an off-site storage facility.

2009 Off-Site Facility500 Academic Center-We started moving low use materials on a regular basis

500 Academic Center

Layout of the LibraryFirst floor - Reference, Government Documents, Current Periodicals

Second floor – Bound Journals

Third floor – A-M, Media services, Microforms, Oversize

Fourth floor - N-Z, Art Browsery, Juvenile Literature, Oversize

The Problem Continues

In 2010, the provost teamed up with VCU Libraries to construct the Learning Commons.

2010 – Construction of the Learning Commons

2010 – Construction of the Learning Commons

2010 – Construction of the Learning Commons

The New Learning Commons

18,000 square feet of study and work space

1,100 square feet multipurpose room

7 new study rooms

438 new seats

83 PC’s

12 Apple

White Boards

The new Learning CommonsCollaborative space

The new Learning Commons

Gate Count

Our Gate count skyrocketed

We got compliments

LibQUAL 2011 Results show excitement about the new space

“The new second floor is the best gift VCU has ever given its students. I use the library for group study mostly and without it, I know my GPA would suffer”.

Problem continues

Solution was short lived

LibQUAL 2013

Results show we are back to where we started

General dissatisfaction with the space came through in the quantitative as well as in qualitative parts of the results.

Funds allocatedAgain we knew we had to do something

2013, State allocated money for the construction of a new building and the renovation of the old.

Could not have come at a more opportune time.

Literature Review Freeman (2005)Traditional Library cannot serve today’s needsStudents at all academic levels want to go to the Library more than everExpectation – the library is where the action isFaculty sees Library as an extension of the classroomStudents engage in a collaborative learning process

Literature ReviewFreeman’s vivid description of a modern academic library suits our needs

Kent State Math Emporium and Lounge/Study areaPulled 600,000 books from four floors and send to storage to make room for the Math Emporium and Lounge study area

NCSU – goal was to provide a space for different constituents to interact collaborate, and innovatebookBot – an automated book delivery mechanism also served as a storage for low use items

So it Begins

In the BeginningReview of materials in both storage facilities.

Identified those to withdraw by putting a black line on the spine, using sharpies

Barcodes scanned into an excel files to be used for updating the records

Review of materials in referenceIntegrating essential reference materials into circulating collection;Deaccessioning outdated ones and electronically duplicated ones.

Review of Government Documents

Two simultaneous processesDeaccessioning of those neither relevant to our curriculum nor

our mission, 17,421One cataloging staff spent 25-50% during this time processing

withdrawals

Deaccessioning of superseded items

The other process is identifying those to be offered to other institutions in consultation with the head of the regional center

Review of Government documents contd.

In keeping with the regulation, we offered those items that qualify to other institutions and waited 45 days.

If no institution requested them, then it will be safe to deaccession and remove from the collection. About 37, 695 fit this category

The Plan

Phase I

At least five rows of shelving removedLevel 1 Phase 1A

OLD Entrance

New Temporary Entrance

First floor

Newspapers and current periodicals give way for new temporary entrance study space, and security post

Circulation staff preparing to move to their temporary space

Temporary Circulation area

Collections A-E moved from 3rd Floor to First Floor

Phase 2 Level 3 Phase 1A

3rd FloorRelocate oversize booksMove collection N from 4th floor to 3rd floorCollections F-N now on the 3rd floorOver 3 million microforms and 2000 square feet of floor spaceKeep 35 cabinets containing major newspapers and store remainingStore microforms and convert to user spaceStore microforms and construct stacksRelocate sorting area

3rd floor moving books from one side to the other

3rd Floor - Innovative mediaOutdated computer files, outdated formats were withdrawn.

Cd’s that accompanied monographs were filed alongside their parents

Music scores were interfiled with the rest of the general collection.

3rd floor Media – admin offices

Level 4 Phase 3A

Fourth floor

Relocate Juvenile literature

Relocate Art Browsery

Release space for Special Collections

Level 4 Phase 3B

Special Collections

Fourth Floor

Space relinquished with moving N to third floor will be part of Special Collections

Consolidate the oversize collections into one location

Oversize collection took the space

Moving Oversized books from 3rd floor to 4th floor

Left side left empty for removal later for construction wall for special collections

Locator

Consolidating the spaces reclaimed

After all the weeding and moving was completed

Next step was to consolidate the spaces, shift, and re-shelve

The last floor was 4th floor

We made our director shelf the last books

We made our Director shelve the bottom shelf

Celebration of the completion of the Big Shift

Celebration of the completion of the Big Shift

ConclusionOur endeavor to create functional spaces started in the late 1990’sEssentially we touched 1.5million volumes and thousands of bibliographic records

We did it with 90 staff, helpers, and volunteers in four major departments

We reviewed, touched, moved, stored, or daccessioned in a mammoth glacier we call

Conclusion

The Big Shift

The New Building

References Anonymous. (1975). A library with room to grow. VCU Magazine, no. 44. p. 20.

Barry, J. (1970). New library is ‘service organization’. Commonwealth Times, vol. 2, no. 2.

Brown, S., Bennett, C., Henson, B., and Valk, A. (2014). Next-Gen learning spaces. Washington, DC, Association of Research Libraries (SPEC kit 342).

Day, A.; Vickery, J. Davis, H. (2012). Accidental collection assessment: The NCSU library’s collection move. Charleston, Charleston Library Conference Proceedings.

References Duke, J. K. (2013). The shift. Richmond, VCU Libraries, Internal Memorandum, 12p.

Freeman, G.T. (2005). The library as place: Changes in learning patterns, collections, technology, and use, In: Library as place: Rethinking roles, rethinking space. Washington D.C., Council on Library and Information Resources.

Klinger, T. (2012). Smart pull for remote storage: How to keep (mostly) everyone happy when making a large collection move to remote storage. Charleston, Charleston Library Conference Proceedings.

The End

Thank You

The End

Questions