Colrain, Griswold Library: Part 2

After thoroughly going through the Griswold's fiction and non-fiction sections the library's collection is well cleared. The removal of excess books alone made for a more open, less cluttered feel. Books no longer crowded onto the window sill, book cart or squeezed into end caps. Even these small changes to the way the books were arranged made for a big difference visually.

Now that the weeding process is complete the temptation is to either fill the extra space with more books or shove the books to the side with a bookend. In either case the extra space ends up as a missed opportunity. Instead of giving up on the additional shelf realestate, the Colrain director and I worked with the extra room and came up with a solution fit for the Griswold.

Not surprisingly bookstores offered a source for ways in which to better arrange books on the shelf. From a more retail perspective, I set up display books as I completed each section. In addition to moving books out of the collection, displays helped create a more inviting space. Intentionally, facing a book cover toward the patron peaks their curiosity and draws the patron into the section. Though libraries are not bookstores some retail methods are handy for libraries. For the Griswold setting displays took a few attempts before getting the arrangement just right.

I first attempted to work the display book in with the shelved books. Display books filled in where space presented itself. A row of books sat next to or on either side of the display piece. I attempted to place one or two displays per shelf from the waist up. Below waist falls out of line of sight and creates more work than its worth. Quickly I discovered that the books collapsed or ended up in some sort of disarray. Even with bookends the displays did not quite work. Also the amount of maintenance to maintain the display books out weighed the added value of presenting the books.

I decided to simplify the process and shifted books to clear whole shelves. Three or four random books sat on the cleared shelves. Again, the titles are presented at eye level. By dedicating whole shelves to the book displays I reduced the number of bookends and display wire frames used in the collection. Also, I placed the empty shelves catty-corner to one another to add effect.

The cost to maintain the set up in the picture is much lower than my previous efforts. In this case books may fall over but the book does not ruin the whole shelf. As books move into the display area the extra bookends can be used to maintain appearances. Though as long as the collection development policy of "shelve one book and remove one book" is applied the display shelves should last until a change is needed.

Displaying books is one creative way to take advantage of shelf space after weeding. At the Griswold in Colrain, the display shelves worked well for the space and added an extra aesthetic touch.

Circuit Rider
Adam Williams

Chesterfield Public Library

At the Chesterfield Public Library my participation in the weeding process began on April 2. Some weeding had taken place prior to my first day there as they were in the midst of converting their holdings to the online catalog. The point was to get me in there as quickly as possible so that I could start pulling books before they were entered and thereby save time, energy and space. Two major projects going on at the same time! Helpful hint: try to avoid that craziness if at all possible.
I worked on non-fiction focusing on keeping basic materials relevant to the area and getting rid of out-of-date materials especially in health and topical issues. Young Adult and Children's are together and there it was a matter of condition, interest, timeliness and doing away with duplicates. One of my final tasks is to go through boxes and boxes of donations and decide which ones to add to the collection. Everything else, along with the discards will go to the book sale in September. Anything still remaining at that point will be given to GotBooks.
Chesterfield library serves a rural community and is not too far from Williamsburg and Northampton. Cindy, the library director, does a very good job of maintaining her collection with, as in most libraries, limited time and resources. We agreed almost totally on what should be kept or discarded. Again I was surprised at how well she knew her user's reading interests and how personable her interactions were with them. I'm thinking that maybe I am finally adjusting to this immense difference of small vs. large city library way of doing things.
In a couple of more visits I will be finished and it is going to be hard not going there every week. But it's time to move on and help at Tyringham.

Grace Memorial Library

The Grace Hall Memorial Library has been weeded! The library director, Paula Long, wanted the collection weeded before they take on the process of conversion to an automated cataloging system. She is also great at coming up with displays and now has more room for that too! In the course of 4 visits to Grace Hall, more than 700 books were weeded. Those materials will go into their book sale in 'the little red schoolhouse' later this year. Paula did a great job of preparing library patrons before the weeding project was started but still had to field some questions. Patrons were surprised more than anything, but some were concerned with how materials were going to be replaced....especially non-fiction. With internet access available at the library, patrons were thinking 'digitally'! When I was just about ready to leave on my last day, Paula told me that she was really glad the project was finished and was thankful to have help! Library directors can easily become attached to their collections, and Paula was happy to have a Circuit Rider do the difficult part for her after we both decided on weeding criteria. It was a pleasure to spend some time at the Grace Memorial Library! It's a comfortable and friendly space with a dedicated Library Director and wonderful volunteers!

AJ Cole
Circuit Rider