Library Organisation 101 for Non-Librarians and Library Advocates

A few months back, a friend invited me to meet with her staff. She runs a respectable private company in the local book industry. Their book collection has become a desirable body of works for their staff and interested researchers from outside the company that they have thought about organizing the collection. They need a library. They need a librarian. But finding a registered librarian has been a big challenge.

The consultative meeting I had with the team was productive. The staff, a mix of millenials and Gen Zs were enlightened as to the goals of setting up a library the brick and mortar way. Helping them further on, I put together a workflow they can use as reference. I am sharing it here on the blog to also help others who are in the same situation.

Phase 1 - Goal Setting

1.    Why are you setting up a library?

2.    What is the purpose of the library?

3.    What do you wish to achieve in a year?

4.    What resources (time, money, staff) do you need to achieve this?

5.    Determine criteria for selecting and acquiring books, documents and resources to put in the library.

6.    Who will use the library in the next 2-3 years?

7.    How do you see the library growing five years from now?

Answers to these questions need to be written down because it will serve as a guide when you begin organizing your library’s collection and holdings. Sometime in the future, it will be valuable in your library manual, handbook or brochure.

Follow administrative protocols and coordinate with department units when the guide and the goal of the library are written down. Seek approval of admin and the head of the department.

Phase 2  - Acquisition Registry, Classification and Cataloging

1.    Assign each book, document and resource an accession number that is alphanumeric and unique to the material. Example: AL0001 

2.    Stick or put the accession number on the book, resource or document. Choose a special page number, at the copyright page and at the back. Barcoded accession number is ideal, but if the tech is not available, manual will do.

3.    Enter the bibliographic data of the book, document, resource in the catalog. This may be a manual or digital cataloging system.

4.    Assign a location mark - this is usually the classification or subject code like the Dewey Decimal or Library of Congress. But you can devise your own subject and classification scheme.

5.    Cover the book, secure documents and resources (put them in folders, envelopes, clearbooks)

6.    Place the book, documents and resources on the shelf

For your shelving concerns, you can devise your own. For your cataloging and classification issues, yes, you can also create your own. You need not follow the Dewey Decimal System nor the Library of Congress, especially if there is no librarian hired by the school, organization or company.

The important thing is, the accession number/Barcode, location mark and bibliographic data are consistently recorded.

Basic principles of library organization: ACCURATE. UNIFORM. CONSISTENT.

Phase 3 - Communications and Circulation Services, Inventory Process

1.    Announce new acquisitions and inclusions to the library collection to the community.

2.    Include simple and practical ways to inform the community ways to access the books and library resources.

3.    Do inventory twice a year. Use the acquisition registry as main record for inventory.

4.    Mark the status of the book or resource as: missing, lost, accounted for. Inventory is done manually.

5.    Write and submit an inventory report. Information on the inventory report will help you assess and evaluate your library’s systems, workflows and processes.

 

This is not the first time I helped a community organize a library. Below are links to previous post where I had interactions with non-librarians in setting up a library and a paper I wrote about school library organization.

A School Library Grows in Sta. Cruz Laguna

The Living Library 1 of 2

The Living Library 2 of 2