SETTING COLLECTION PRIORITES: A PUBLIC LIBRARY MODEL A presentation from the Mississauga Library Sys

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SETTING COLLECTION PRIORITES A PUBLIC LIBRARY
MODELA presentation from the Mississauga
Library System for the CLA Conference June 2006
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Overview of the Presentation

• Introduction
• Collection management at Mississauga
• Goals of the project
• Steps in the project
• Results from the project
• Conclusions/next steps
• Contact information

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Introduction to the Mississauga Library System

• serves 700,000 residents through 18 locations
• a collection of over 1.5 million items all
  catalogued in the on-line database
• annual additions program of 100,000 items (2.3
  million)
• net annual collection growth of 20,000 due to
  growth of the city

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Collection Management at the MLS

• active acquisitions program with ARPs, APs and
  decentralized selection
• active regular weeding and write-offs
• plans deal in units/holdings, not
• too much detailed data from Dynix database!
• standards accepted by Council of 2.2 items per
  capita and 7 annual acquisitions rate or
  annual funding for .015 items per capita

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Goals of the Project

• use 2005 as a baseline for collection holdings
  and usage levels
• identity workable sub-categories of the
  collection for planning purposes
• create clean holdings data
• establish baseline utilization data for all 21
  collections
• determine targets for each and plan of action
  over 3 years

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Steps in the Project

• collect the 2005 holdings/uasgedata
• group branches fro analysis
• assess the group norms
• set targets for each and for the overall system
• determine under/over resourcing
• determine annual allocation

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Results of the Project

• rationale for whats needed and the desired ends
• ability to show progress towards the desired ends
• fairness in setting collection priorities
• cost effective approach to budgets
• flexibility to adjust with changed data
• ability to encourage better collection management
  practices locally

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Conclusions/next steps

• further refine the process with qualitative
  measures
• ability to define excellence locally
• emphasis on demand and appropriate supply
• rational process in the municipal environment
• requires vigilance of all professional staff

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Contact information

• Don Mills, Director of Library Services,
  Mississauga Library System
• 905-615-3200 X3601
• don.mills_at_mississauga.ca