Information Scotland The Journal of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland ISSN 1743-5471 Issue contents | Journal contents | About the online edition of the journal February 2007 Volume 5(1)

Stock policy

Addressing the gaps

What is stock management? I believe it can be summed up in two words – identification and provision. To elaborate, I mean identification of customer demand and expectation on the one hand, and on the other, identification of gaps or weaknesses in our current provision. Then having identified, concentrate your resources on provision to meet those demands, or expectations, and to address the gaps and weaknesses.

And therein lies the problem with current stock management practice; how do we identify these ‘gaps’ in a professional manner? Current practice is largely intuitive, ‘touchy feely’ and experience-based. In other words, stock management practice is an art form rather than a scientific process. It is certainly not designed to identify, in the great detail that is really needed, what library users really want to see on the shelves of their own local library.

I have spent nearly 20 years evolving a more structured, evidence-based methodology, which is based on the principle of identification. In the process I’m afraid I may have inadvertently offended some librarians, who accuse me of demoting the role of librarians and turning them into mere ‘shelf stackers’ or ‘bean counters’ with no feeling for books and literature.

In reply I would contend that the methodology (evidence -based stock management (EBSM)) empowers librarians in the ‘provision’ part of the stock management equation by providing them with a series of powerful tools to help ‘identify’ what is needed.

As to lack of feeling for books and literature, I am long enough in the tooth to have been an ardent user of libraries for more than 60 years – I just want to see better bookstocks!

EBSM is designed primarily to guide librarians on the provision of new stock and re-location of current stock. It uses current and previous borrower use data residing within LMS’s and then formulates a series of management action plans which if followed will produce the sort of stock outcomes which borrowers want. For example, stock will become more relevant to user needs and will be of better physical, measurable quality. Furthermore, the processes involved save lots of staff time which can be used to improve front-line services and in addition significant savings can be expected from the avoidance of the purchase of unnecessary stock (which will not be well used).
Let’s look at how the ‘three I’s’.

Identification of demand
Identification of demand is the process of working out, from the use of existing stock by current as well as lapsed borrowers, the relative demands that are made on the various stock areas. An analysis is made for a large number of subject areas (using Dewey class number ranges) of use factors such as the percentage of stock currently on loan and the average use made of all the stock within these class number ranges.

Subject areas are then matched against stock use targets, with reports then identifying subject areas which are either underused, overused or on target. Subsequent reports then advise on purchase quantities for future acquisitions, taking account of relative demand locally and globally. The technique ensures much better targeting of new acquisitions to address user demand.

Minority interests are catered for within the EBSM methodology by looking at global demand, and then provision for new acquisition in these subjects is made, by purchasing in accord with relative demand and then rotating such items. This ensures very cost-effective provision for minority interest users.

EBSM also helps maximise use of existing non fiction resources, which is a real Best Value initiative. It does this by identifying low-use stock areas, finding matching low-use subject areas in other service points and then organising large scale swapping of the material. Evidence from a number of users indicates that this technique does generate significant extra loans from material previously moribund in its original location.

EBSM also supplies a tool to identify demand in Fiction. The ‘Popular author report’ works out who are the most popular authors within individual libraries, and then identifies those authors whose works are so popular that demand outstrips shelf supply (i.e. the vast majority of local stock holdings are always on loan). I believe it is perfectly legitimate for library users to expect to find a reasonable selection of items on shelves at all times by their favourite authors. (And this has been identified in surveys of new borrowers conducted in West Lothian.) EBSM’s report highlights these ‘problem’ authors and at the same time, the software finds possible transfer items by the same authors that are sitting currently underused in some of your authority’s quieter libraries. As part of the ‘provision’ equation, these items are highlighted and can be transferred permanently or temporarily to address the under-supply in the busy library. This report provides a double whammy – increased satisfaction for customers of busy libraries and more use from items in quiet libraries which have now effectively become moribund. This concept is logistically impossible to address without the use of the power of your evidence-base.

Identification of expectation
There is a range of sources of information – and staff opinions – about subject coverage which should have special consideration.

However, it makes no sense to identify such potential subject or genre coverage, and then just plough sums of money into provision with no thought being given to what happens to this material once it appears on the shelves. Have we bought the right items? Was the (albeit lower than normal) demand there in the first place? Do we need to promote this material to potential users in order to maximise its use? Do we need to rotate this material round libraries to maximise use? Do we need to consider re-locating to another branch? In other words, we need to analyse performance of this material like any other stock purchased, to provide guidance on future action and provision levels.

EBSM requires provision for Experimental Purchase to take account of these concerns and also for any suggestions which might be prompted by staff (or possibly users themselves!). It is essential that provision for stock breadth is encouraged.

The technique is powerful but simple in concept. Frontline staff use the normal ‘intelligence gathering’ exercises (contact with users, community profiling, etc.) to identify stock areas which they consider are worthy of some experimental purchase to test for demand. A screen is available for staff to input this information. Using EBSM, you can allocate monitoring codes which are attached to holdings records when material is purchased and added to shelves, and then provide regular reports to monitor the use made of the experimentally purchased material.

The technique ensures that evidence-based acquisition does not become too inward looking, which might be a consequence of looking only at demand on existing stock.

Identification of gaps in existing coverage
This is the final identification, and should be carried out in great detail. Using analysis tools, non fiction gaps can be clearly seen, both in local library coverage and at the macro level (i.e. gaps which exist right across the authority coverage). ‘Gaps’ are not necessarily subject areas where no stock exists; it may just be that coverage is miniscule.
EBSM non fiction stock use reports show these gaps up clearly, and librarians then have the opportunity to use the ‘experimental purchase’ concept to purchase small amounts of stock to test for demand, then look at the evidence to see if that demand really does exist. Logistically, again, without the use of a tool like this, it is impossible to be fully aware of gaps in existing coverage.

By embracing the concept of structured Identification and then Provision, stock will gradually begin to reflect what the users themselves want to see on shelves. However, the EBSM method does have safeguards built in, in the form of less stringent performance parameters for stock areas deemed to be more worthy, such as the classics. In addition, the use of Experimental Purchase ensures a continuing process of additions to stock breadth.

By checking the viability of this material, you have the assurance that you are not wasting money by continuing to purchase stock in areas that have been shown to be unwanted.

Advice and further information about the EBSM methodology can be obtained by contacting
George Kerr

Information Scotland Vol. 5(1) February 2007

Information Scotland is delivered online by the SAPIENS electronic publishing service based at the Centre for Digital Library Research. SLAINTE (Scottish libraries across the Internet) offers further information about librarianship and information management in Scotland.