Reference Collection Shift

Century College Library has seen a steady decline in the use of our print Reference Collection in recent years. We attribute the decline in its use to two principal factors:

1.      Our subject guides and search tools have made it easier to find and use online reference content such as literary criticism, statistical information, and biographical information.

2.      When students do want a print source, they want to be able to take it home with them.

In keeping with a growing trend in the library world, the librarians devised a plan to shift approximately 90% of Century’s Reference Collection to other areas of the library. In preparation for this project, the librarians spent considerable time reviewing both the Reference and General (circulating) Collections and deselecting outdated and underused books.

With the exception of about 300 heavily used items that were retained in the Reference Collection for “library use only,” we relocated the remainder of our Reference books to these collections:

1.      General Collection – The bulk of the Reference books were shifted to the General (circulating) Collection, where they are shelved with other items on the same subject. These titles are now available for checkout.

2.      Reserve Collection – The Reserve Collection is now home to all of our big sets of literary criticism books (which are also available online via the Artemis database) and books that are heavily used, but not enough to restrict them to ”library use only.” The terms for using these Reserve Collection books are as follows:

§  Books may be borrowed for up to 3 weeks, but they are non-renewable. By allowing limited circulation, they are accessible to more patrons, and a better value for the money we spend on them.

§  Reserve Collection books are not available to other libraries through interlibrary loan. This increases the likelihood they will be available when a Century student or faculty member needs them.

Positive outcome:

More resources are available for our students to borrow, and all books on a topic are now shelved together in a single collection.

Final thoughts:

In order to provide the best customer service possible for our patrons, our selection of reference content going forward will reflect our users’ preference for virtual reference materials. As we add new reference titles, such as dictionaries and encyclopedias, to our collection, many will be purchased exclusively in eBook format.