[ISLMA-Share] inventory

Sat May 20 13:22:45 CDT 2017

I am in the same boat as Amy in that I don't conduct inventory.  I circulate books until the last few days of school every year and I am up and running within a day or so in the fall, so there simply isn't time. I even started allowing summer check out a few years ago, and kids can take books/series home for the summer, which further complicated the time and resources that would be needed for inventory. I think if I miss it, I can replace it, but otherwise, it isn't worth looking for by closing the library or even sections of it for the time it would take me to scan everything.  My bar codes are inside the books, and that fact alone adds a lot of time to any inventory.   I have not done inventory for over 10 years, and just cannot justify closing the library for it, and am far too busy on my own to do it during the year.  On the priority pole, it's too far down.

Valerie Brunner
Mt. Zion Jr. High
315 S. Henderson
Mt. Zion, IL 62549
217-864-2369
brunnerv at mtzschools.org

"Be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."
"Home is what catches us when we fall. And we all fall."
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From: islma-bounces at list.railslibraries.info [islma-bounces at list.railslibraries.info] on behalf of Email list for the Illinois School Library Media Association [islma at list.railslibraries.info]
Sent: Friday, May 19, 2017 2:57 PM
To: Email list for the Illinois School Library Media Association
Subject: Re: [ISLMA-Share] inventory

We do one every year, per our district policy. The library closes 10 days to 2 weeks before the end of school. We send notices to students who still have items checked out, and we 'read' the shelves. Then we (2 of us) take 2-3 days to scan our collection of about 15,000 print items and a variety of small technology. We don't send bills for lost materials until we've scanned every item and retrieved things from under and behind shelves.

We also offer prizes to classrooms as they become 'all checked in' - a little ice cream incentive always helps.

If an item has been marked 'lost' since the last inventory, we delete it, making sure it's recorded in the 'Weeding Log'. I keep a pdf of both the inventory log and the weeding log. We use the list to satisfy the powers that be that we're keeping track of things and to justify replacement purchases. Interestingly, teachers can be the worst offenders not returning books and technology.

On Fri, May 19, 2017 at 1:52 PM, Email list for the Illinois School Library Media Association <islma at list.railslibraries.info<mailto:islma at list.railslibraries.info>> wrote:
I am librarian for two buildings with different sized collections, so I inventory half each year...Fiction in the even years and Non-Fiction in the odd years. I do it for all the reasons others have mentioned (find lost/incorrectly shelved items, cataloging errors...) but I also use the final list of missing books to make decisions about purchasing: am I going to replace those items?  Then I clean up the catalog.  There is nothing worse than the catalog saying we have an item, but it's not there...ever.

Michelle Harris
Heyworth

On Fri, May 19, 2017 at 12:35 PM, Email list for the Illinois School Library Media Association <islma at list.railslibraries.info<mailto:islma at list.railslibraries.info>> wrote:
I can’t disagree more on the importance of inventory. Now that we have a catalog that allows all 19 of our schools to interlibrary loan materials an accurate inventory is critical. It finds the books that have been returned but human error missed it at check in. It protects the fiscal obligation of my student’s family because I’ve double-checked everything before sending a bill (I still don’t get how we can bill someone for something that may be in our library). It saves me time looking for a book that may or may not be here.

With that being said, manpower is the big issue. My district provides me with summer hours to do inventory every other year (it is a budgeted item). That’s the one where we do everything with no circulation going on. We are well over 99% accurate afterwards.

During the off year, we do 2 rolling inventories. A rolling inventory is where we do one piece of the library at a time. For example, we will zap everything in Fiction between F AAA and F DZZ in a week, then do another section another week. I set it up in Destiny and then have student aides do the zapping of materials. Remember, in Destiny a checked out book is accounted for and is inventoried. It takes me about an hour or two a semester to set it up and finalize it, but at least I have a 95% accurate inventory (estimated guess) compared to not knowing.

Hence, the answer to the original question is I do a full formal inventory once every other year. and 3 other rolling inventories during the same time period.

Sincerely,

Alan, Librarian serving Brooks Middle School
holtzac at vvsd.org<mailto:holtzac at vvsd.org>

"What a school thinks about its library is a measure of what it thinks about education."
- Harold Howe, former U.S. Commissioner of Education

From: islma-bounces at list.railslibraries.info<mailto:islma-bounces at list.railslibraries.info> [mailto:islma-bounces at list.railslibraries.info<mailto:islma-bounces at list.railslibraries.info>] On Behalf Of Email list for the Illinois School Library Media Association
Sent: Friday, May 19, 2017 11:40 AM
To: Email list for the Illinois School Library Media Association
Subject: Re: [ISLMA-Share] inventory

I don't do inventory anymore.  I do run the shelves, putting books in order, and making sure none have snuck behind.  I rarely have a student claim he or she has returned a book that they are being charged for.  Inventory takes so long, and I can't justify the time for the benefits.  When I had an assistant to help, we could inventory pretty quickly, but alone it takes many many (wasted) hours. If books are missing, they are missing.  The fact that the inventory tells me they are missing isn't terribly important.

Annette Mills

School Librarian

Triad High School

703 E. Highway 40

Troy, IL 62294

annette.mills at tcusd2.org<mailto:annette.mills at tcusd2.org>

(618)667-5409x7120<tel:(618)%20667-5409>

On Fri, May 19, 2017 at 11:03 AM, Email list for the Illinois School Library Media Association <islma at list.railslibraries.info<mailto:islma at list.railslibraries.info>> wrote:
I complete inventory (using inventory function of Destiny) during second semester finals every year. For me, it is a snapshot in time when I know where things are. We routinely find lost books, seriously misshelved books, books with cataloging errors, etc. This makes the time very well spent.

Inventory is only for my sake, although I could see how it would be helpful to report up the ladder that 99.99% (or whatever your percentage turns out to be) of LMC materials are accounted for.

~Monica Tolva
Library media specialist
Google Educator
Vernon Hills High School
847-932-2039<tel:847-932-2039>
monica.tolva at d128.org<mailto:monica.tolva at d128.org>
Currently reading And Again<http://titlepeek.fsc.follett.com/tp/query?action=3&subnumber=1206365&isbn=9781501116100&appid=4> by Jessica Chiarella (VHHS '05)
Also re-reading the D128 Union contract<https://sites.google.com/site/d128union/union-contract>
Currently listening to The Art of Secrets<https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18267068-the-art-of-secrets> by James Klise

On Fri, May 19, 2017 at 10:43 AM, Email list for the Illinois School Library Media Association <islma at list.railslibraries.info<mailto:islma at list.railslibraries.info>> wrote:
How often does everyone do a complete inventory of the print materials in their library? Do you do this at the end of the year or during the school year?  Is your inventory information reported to others, or do you use it primarily to update your collection records?  Want to get a feel for how others handle this task!

Brooke Fleuette
Mercer County High School

Currently reading: These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly
Currently listening to: Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin

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--
Michelle Harris
District Librarian
Heyworth CUSD #4

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