[ISLMA-Share] Inventory

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I do an inventory in all five of my buildings each year and have found a
lot of ways to make the process more efficient.

At the high school, we set up three laptops and volunteer study hall
students- usually working in pairs- scan the books for us. It takes a
little more than a day. Yes, they occasionally miss one or two, but overall
they do a great job saving my clerks and I a ton of work. We used to have
to close the library, but by utilizing students we can stay open.  After
all the books are scanned, I order pizza for lunch for everyone who
volunteers. The kids LOVE using the scanner, and after they are done, all I
have to do is track down the missing items.

At the elementary buildings, I made arrangements with my administration to
"flex" some of my extended contract time so that I could do inventory in
the evenings before school is out for summer. It goes much, much faster
when there are no interruptions and no one is tripping over me and the
power cords.  (My daughters have earned a little extra cash helping me out
on occasion, too. My niece helped me this year and we were able to scan a
6500 item library in about 3 hours.)

I'm always surprised by the number of books we find shelved wrong, and
there are always a couple that we have to remove lost book charges for.  I
love knowing that everything is where it is supposed to be and that my
catalog is accurate.

Before I was hired in my district, the previous elementary  librarians
hadn't completed an inventory in at least ten years.  It was a MESS. There
were multiple items with the same barcodes, books on the shelves that
weren't in the system, and books in the system that weren't on the shelves.
For me, the inventory process isn't as much about insurance-- its about
accuracy and accessibility for my patrons.


Christy Semande
District Librarian
Canton USD #66

csemande at yahoo.com
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