FLOAtiNG cOLLectiONS – AN ALterNAtive cONcept iN LiBrArY cOLLectiON MANAGeMeNt

: he article is about an alternative concept in library collection management – lo-ating collections – very popular in American public libraries nowadays. Selected literature is presented, the history of approach and a case study from Monterey county Free Libraries (McFL) where the author of this article works. potential beneits and challenges of loating collections are presented as well.

Pobrane z czasopisma Folia Bibliologica http:/foliabibliologica.umcs.plData: 15/09/2023 14:59:52 U M C S coast of california. he county has a total area of 3,771 square miles (9,770 km 2 ).patrons can borrow library materials from, and return them to, any branch or bookmobile. in the past, items were returned to their home branches by delivery van, which kept them in transit for brief periods of time. in 2005, McFL implemented the loating collections concept starting with large-print books, talking books, and DvDs.At the same time, the library stopped the practice of rotating batches of vHS tapes to the branches every few months, a very time-consuming process.he practice of loating exposed the branches to a wider variety of books and ilms.Over time, more loating collections were added.Young adult, Spanish, and mass-market paperbacks, being predominantly browsing collections, beneitted from loating and did not cause major issues.he only exception was graphic novels, which congregated in some branches and disappeared from others.currently, most of McFL's collections loat.Juvenile and adult noniction, as well as special collections such as reference, professional, periodicals, microilm, californian, and Korean and vietnamese materials, do not loat at this time, pending further discussion.he goal of the 2013-2016 Strategic plan was to "expand loating collection to 80% of circulating materials to ofset the limited collection development budget.Special collections, which will be deined, will remain exempt from loating (25% of targeted collections will be converted each year; changeover will be completed by 2016)"11 .

Floating and the Five Laws of Library Science
When collections loat, it is more likely that the books will be read rather than just sitting on the shelves (irst law), that the needed books will be delivered to their readers (second law), that it will be easier for readers to ind what they need (third law), that not only the reader's, but also the librarian's time will be saved (fourth law), and that, since the materials loat freely between branches, the collection will no longer be static but dynamic like a growing organism (ith law).
Does reality correspond to these ive laws?Let's take a closer look at loating mechanics: A book (or a DvD) is sent from branch A to branch B by delivery service to ill the hold of patron X.When it is returned to branch B, it stays there instead of being sent back to branch A. he rationale behind this is that patron Y from branch B might discover this item in their own branch and ind it interesting.hus, the library is saving on unnecessary delivery and on the cost of the item (the library system does not need multiple copies of the same title).if patron Z from branch c wants this item, they can always place a hold in the online catalog and the item will be sent to their branch.his concept was invented in the 1930s by a library with multiple remote locations during harsh winter weather.At the time it made sense to avoid sending the books back; if one person wanted the book in that particular branch, then another might want it as well.it all sounds very logical and the merits of this concept are undeniable.he problems begin when patron X in branch A starts placing holds for all the books in the system that correspond to their unique interest so that all these books remain at their branch, illing or even exceeding the allocated space.Librarians have to come up with solutions for such situations.rebalancing the loating collections may become a new routine for library staf and the time needed to rebalance collections may -but does not have to -outweigh the time saved through reduced deliveries of library materials between branches.

implementing Floating collections
As oten happens with new ideas, implementing the loating concept can be challenging and will require changes in the integrated Library System (iLS).Originally, not every iLS supported loating.For example, McFL started with Dynix and loating was possible by collections only.Five years later when McFL was preparing for iLS migration, the team of librarians in charge of evaluating potential iLSs for adoption made sure to note if any given iLS supported loating.interestingly, the loating feature is no longer an issue today because it is compatible with all systems, whether proprietary or open source.Still, a basic infrastructure must be in place with a convenient delivery service, an easy and user-friendly way of placing online holds, and sotware support from an iLS vendor.polaris, McFL's new iLS, enables loating on both the collection and item levels.
Before implementing loating, many libraries choose to reconsider the shelf space allocated for speciic collections in their branches.in fact, an entire process for managing shortages and overlows will have to be prepared and procedures created to facilitate the process.inventory of the entire collection and major weeding are suggested in order to prevent items in bad condition from being loated for holds.
Besides the technological issues, there can also be social challenges when staf has reservations about loating.Some staf members may feel insecure because they no longer know their collection and are not able to provide readers' advisory the same way they did before.Some staf members perceive loating as a threat to the potential Beneits of Floating he literature mentions various beneits of implementing loating collections: • reduced delivery costs due to fewer deliveries of materials.Delivery volume drops and items spend less time on delivery trucks, so materials are more likely to be on the shelf for people to check out.
• continually refreshed collections are better for browsing.Usually the results of loating are invisible to patrons, especially those who are already used to placing holds online and visit the branch only when picking up holds.For those who do come to the library, however, the joy of browsing is enhanced by the constant renewal.
• "patrons who forget to pick up their held items in a timely fashion are delighted to ind that the item has not shipped back to an owning branch but is instead awaiting them in their home branch collection" 13 .
• Savings to the materials budget because high-demand collections are more available without the necessity of buying more copies.his is especially true for costly unabridged books on cD and multi-volume DvDs.Fewer copies of the same title are required to please more customers in diferent branches.
• Floating items with plates recognizing donors (like Friends of the Library) advertise the generosity of the donor and may encourage others to do the same.
• reduced wear and tear on items due to less frequent physical handling and delivery (applies mostly to audiovisual materials).
• Faster transit times for materials so that books reach patrons more quickly.

challenges of Floating for Users
Usually patrons are not aware of loating and some libraries choose not to advertise the shit.However, there will always be some patrons with an attachment to 12 A. canty, L. c. Frolek, r. hornley, c.Andriats, L. Bombak, c. Lay, c., M. Dell, Floating collections at Edmonton Public Library, "evidence Based Library & information practice" 2012, 7 (1), pp.65-69.
Pobrane z czasopisma Folia Bibliologica http:/foliabibliologica.umcs.plData: 15/09/2023 14:59:52 Floating collections -an Alternative concept in Library… speciic books in their home branches who will notice that their favorites are no longer there.Hopefully, they will start using the online catalog more frequently to browse the entire collection and place holds.More serious issues may develop regarding the Friends of the Library or foundations who allocate monetary support to speciic branches.Once they learn that items purchased with their money are no longer permanently shelved in their branches, they may pull funding.One option is to exempt these items from loating; another is to persuade the Friends that loating has beneits even for them. in the Montana consortium, loating became an issue when it was realized that materials purchased with local taxes for their library would be shelved elsewhere 14 .in anticipation of such problems, McFL held meetings with Friends groups and published articles in the Friends' newsletters explaining the advantages of the concept.Some categories of patrons who for a variety of reasons do not place holds for materials may be afected negatively by the absence of their desired materials on their branch's shelves.As one respondent in Weber's study stated, "Non-iction loating is the worst, especially in the juvenile collection as we cannot tailor it to meet curriculum demands" 15 .children, older people, the visually impaired, low-income families, minorities -all those for whom the public library is vitally important -are the most likely to be afected.According to Weber, "if loating collections cannot serve these groups as well as they can the aluent and tech-savvy, then that becomes more than just a drawback of working with loating collections -it becomes a substantial argument in favor of traditional collections" 16 .

potential challenging Outcomes or Flaws of Floating for Staf
As items loat freely between branches some shelves will be full while others will become empty.he branch with several patrons interested in organic gardening or watercolors may be inundated with items on these subjects, or a branch with several homeschooling families may keep receiving books pertaining to their curricula that stay there ater being used.it is also possible for many copies of the same novel to end up in a branch ater the local book club has discussed it.here are two ways to rebalance a collection: customer-directed redistribution in response to customer holds, which relects the unique collection needs of each community, 14 c.Glover, c.G. Langstaf, Floating collections within a consortium: Or, does it matter where the materials are shelved?, "pNLA Quarterly" 2006, 71 (1), pp.12-13. 15K. e. and staf-directed rebalancing in response to overlows or the need for more items in a speciic part of the collection.challenges include: • Uneven distribution of materials among branches (one customer in one small branch may be an avid reader of medieval mysteries, so that all the books in this genre end up at their branch but are not picked up by others).
• inconsistent weeding patterns in branches (even with clear directions, policies, and procedures, some branch managers will weed instead of loat or loat items that should be weeded).
• rebalancing collections becomes a new task for staf.Staf may ind it dificult to accept changes in workload and worklow that appear to defeat the purpose of loating17 .
• he number of volumes in transit may not decrease as expected because many items will be rerouted from one branch to another due to overlow.What originally seems to be a gain (fewer items in transit because they do not have to return to home locations) becomes a burden because boxes of items loat from branches that are overwhelmed by too many items to branches with space.
the most challenging parts of working with floating collections include: weeding, redistribution of materials, conducting readers' advisory, getting materials to patrons in a timely fashion, maintaining a general knowledge of one's own collection, and meeting patrons' needs with available materials 18 .Some problems could be avoided if, as noted by edmonton public Library, collection HQ was implemented and an inventory of the entire collection performed before loating 19 .Also, problems with inadequate shelf space could be avoided if each branch analyzed its shelving potential and allocated a certain number of shelves for speciic loating collections, preferably before loating. in the case of McFL this potential was created by eliminating obsolete formats, such as audio cassettes and vHS tapes.empty shelves had to be assigned to other collections.if these were loating collections, it would have helped to avoid overlows.interestingly enough, in the survey of librarians conducted by Weber asking them about their satisfaction with loating collections in their library, 36% were either "very satisied" or "Satisied", while 40% were either "very Dissatisied" or "Dissatisied".Only 16% were neutral20 .it is easier to implement loating for libraries using centralized collection management.A librarian selecting materials for the entire system does not have to assign branch locations for bestsellers because these books will have holds and start loating immediately.Floating libraries may adjust their collection development policies; one option is to reduce the number of copies.Some will argue that catering to local needs is lost in the process, but it is assumed that customer-directed redistribution will take its place.

Floating and physical processing of Materials
When items loat, branch locations no longer have to be stamped or written on any items.When items belong to speciic branches and return ater being used elsewhere, it is possible to maintain branch-speciic labels for genres, formats, holidays, etc.However, if items loat freely between branches and the system wants to keep labeling uniformity, some changes will have to take place.vendors of book genre/ format labels tend to change designs periodically and it is very diicult to maintain uniform labeling in multi-branch systems over the long term.here may be two or even three diferent labels for mysteries, science iction, and large print.On the other hand, old labels indicate old books and may become a tool for weeding.
collection Maintenance -redistribution and rebalancing collection maintenance is a regular part of branch staf duties.Staf must regularly scan the shelves to see where there may be gaps in the collection.Weeding becomes a daily routine and a necessary part of collection maintenance.
redistribution of materials among libraries within a system is reported as the greatest and most widely experienced drawback of loating 21 .Seventy-ive percent of respondents to the survey found it more or less challenging 22 .What many librarians ind frustrating is the imbalance in the collection due to the excess of one subject or author, gaps in the collection, and having to deal with duplicates and space issues related to overcrowding of materials 23 .Saving staf time is considered a beneit in the literature, but in practice it does not always happen. 21Ibidem, p. 26. 22Ibidem, p. 27. 23Ibidem, p. 29.
Pobrane z czasopisma Folia Bibliologica http:/foliabibliologica.umcs.plData: 15/09/2023 14:59:52 U M C S Staf-directed rebalancing requires special procedures and clear communication between branches.Some libraries choose to assign one person per branch to monitor loating.internal communication among branches must take place.Whenever an overlow of certain kinds of materials is reported by one branch, it is expected that another branch with a gap in this area will pick it up.if not, some weeding may be required.When a culture of sharing is well developed within a library system, this process runs smoothly.Sometimes, however, redistribution issues become major challenges afecting overlow.Also, weeding presents its own challenges.it may be true that some libraries that use loating, can save time by having paraprofessional deal with delivery, but more librarians' time is spent on activities involved in redistribution.

Diferent Levels of Floating
Some libraries choose to loat their entire collections with a few exceptions, such as periodicals, multi-volume sets, and local history.in most cases, however, libraries implement loating in stages, loating a collection or two at a time depending on the situation.A newly opened branch library may want to loat the entire collection, or perhaps not.A large system with multiple branches may initially loat part of the collection to determine if it is a good it.Floating can be limited to certain types of material or certain branches can be exempted for local reasons.System Administration of any iLS gives many options to choose from and it might take some experimentation before the inal decision can be made.
Floating is mostly used by libraries with multiple branches, but it is possible to implement loating in consortia as well.two very interesting cases of loating by consortia in Alaska and Montana were documented by Glover and Langstaf 24 .he National circulation interchange protocol (Ncip) and the Z39.50 protocol are being used to allow the sharing of materials between libraries with diferent iLSs.A pilot project started in 2006 in Montana is still in place almost ten years later.partner libraries can choose to participate in loating collections, thereby sharing items between them for extended periods of time.Owning libraries may choose which items to loat and where they will loat to based on policies speciically created for this process.Some libraries may loat their newest adult iction, or loat it only within their own branches.An item can be taken of loating status whenever the owning library wishes to recall it, or when a participating library no longer wishes to house it.Floating within a consortium can be speciied on the collection 24 c.Glover, op.cit.or item level.Most oten, loating is on the collection level (e.g.all DvDs or all large print books).According to Bartlett, "Many library decision makers have steered a more moderate course and loated only part of their library's collection.Some libraries, for example, do not loat the main library's collection.Some loat only the most popular materials -movies, music, and bestselling iction and noniction from all the branches and main library.Some loat everything except children's or adult noniction" 25 .

Guiding Standards and the Academic teaching of Floating
Floating is oten mentioned as one of the collection-development and management remedies for budget cuts 26 .According to Hedlund, the rUSA (reference and User Services Association) cODeS collection Development planning, education & Assessment committee is about to update the ALA's Guide to collection Development policy Statements from 1996.As of early 2016, the ALA/rUSA website is still using the old version of the document.Librarians and educators seeking actual standards dedicated to collection development practices have to wait for oicial updates, in the meantime relying on research articles that are not abundant.potential participants for the study conducted by Hedlund were solicited from institutions that are members of ALiSe, the Association for Library and information Science education.participants were asked what current collection development trends are being included in curricula to help develop strategies for dealing with budget constraints.trends included: cooperative collection building, participating in consortia and automation programs, just-in-time or patron-driven acquisitions (pDA), loating collections, pay-per-view article acquisitions, unsubscribing from "Big Deals" or reducing journal/serial subscriptions, selecting paperback rather than hardback editions, seeking donations and grants, etc.According to the study, loating is taught in 63% of classes.Overall, the study shows the disconnect between what is being taught in collection development courses and what actually occurs in libraries around the country.Similarly, there has been a lack of guiding standards from professional organizations 27 . 25W. K. Bartlett,op. cit.,p. 18. 26 A. cress, op.cit. 27O.Hedlund, A. Copeland, Collection Management and the Budget Crunch: Are We Adequately Preparing Library Students for Current Practices?, "collection Building" 2013, 32, pp.128-132 [online] https://scholarworks.iupui.edu/bitstream/handle/1805/4586/hedlund-2013-collection.pdf?se-quence=1 [accessed: 15.11.2016].

Floating and readers' Advisory
One of the concerns raised by some librarians is the efect of loating on readers' advisory.Many librarians, especially small and medium-sized public libraries, feel the need to know their collections well so that they can provide reading recommendations on the spot, taking the patron to the stacks and immediately delivering the item.When collections loat, staf can no longer rely upon their memory because the recommended titles may have loated to another location.A signiicant number of respondents to Weber's survey felt that knowledge of one's own collection while loating becomes challenging and negatively afects the librarian's ability to provide high-quality readers' advisory 28 .Bartlett, on the other hand, points out that not only librarians, but also some patrons tend to memorize their collections and when they do not ind anything new and interesting on their favorite shelves, tend to rely solely on the new book section.Floating gives them another opportunity: a "just returned" section might be full of "new" items never seen in their branch before that were brought there from other branches in response to holds.Bartlett encourages libraries to make just-returned items freely accessible for patrons' browsing instead of shelving them immediately.Floating enables librarians to make surprising discoveries; although they thought they knew their customers' tastes, they suddenly ind books from unexpected genres loating to their branches, such as romance or urban iction.his motivates librarians to expand their reading as well as to monitor their customers' interests.As cress mentioned, "trends that might remain unnoticed by staf dealing with questions at the service desks are revealed through the holds activity of patrons who never ask a question" 29 .

Floating and collection Analysis
As early as 2004, Hennepin county Library developed a "semi-automated method identifying surplus and deicit collections based on system-supplied shelf counts.he loat manager sotware directs staf in designated libraries to pull a speciic number of materials and route them to speciic libraries -based on item count, not content" 30 .edmonton public Library in canada is using the collection management system collection HQ, which takes an evidence-based approach, allowing intelligent redistribution of materials across the system 31 .Some libraries take their Pobrane z czasopisma Folia Bibliologica http:/foliabibliologica.umcs.plData: 15/09/2023 14:59:52 U M C S loating collections to the next level and combine them with a detailed collection analysis provided by their iLS. in 2013, innovative interfaces inc.released a new module for their Millennium iLS and Sierra Services platform.he module helps librarians manage loating collections across multiple branches and anticipates the demand for new titles.it also helps optimize collection sizes for locations, and can even help create proiles of the branches by generating collection use and subject use reports that include available space and popularity of various genres in diferent branches.tulsa city-county Library was a beta tester for this module.hey started by solving their own problem of one branch that was without adequate shelving being constantly inundated with returns of picture books from other branches 32 .
collection management systems like collection HQ can provide an alternative solution to loating.his was the case at Nashville public Library in tennessee, which moved away from loating. it appears that collection HQ, which distributes materials based on past usage data; drives material placement decisions more efectively than the patron loating method 33 .
Maximizing the Beneits of Floating it is possible for a library to loat its collection and not experience beneits.his happens when the same number of copies are ordered as before loating (no money savings), or when the most popular just-returned items are kept on carts in the back rooms or reshelved too quickly.too much rebalancing could also negate the beneits of loating.
Ways to maximize the beneits and minimize drawbacks of loating: 1. perform a thorough inventory and weeding of all collections in all branches, preferably before loating starts.his prevents staf members' frustration when they receive a book in bad condition from another branch to ill patron's hold and prevents patrons' frustration when they place holds on nonexistent items.
2. prepare appropriate shelving in each branch, anticipating that some shiting will be necessary later on.if loating starts at the same time that some obsolete formats are being discarded, those vacated shelves might serve as a remedy.According to Bartlett, "Branch librarians need to resist the urge to weed the collection to it the space that collection held in a traditionally housed model" 3. Keep statistics on the preloat percentage by branches and recheck every year or every six months.his will help to monitor success and make corrections, if needed.
4. centralize ordering of materials to reinforce the treatment of the entire system as one collection and to generate savings by purchasing fewer copies of speciic books, movies, etc.
5. centralize physical processing of materials to avoid inconsistency in labeling, etc.
6. centralize weeding to remind branch managers that "their" collections are part of the system and to avoid unnecessary discarding of important items.According to Bartlett, "Some degree of centralized weeding ensures that the collection as a whole is being managed well, leaving less room for branch-to-branch discrepancies in the level and quality of weeding being undertaken.Also, centralized weeding can help with rebalancing eforts, maximizing the opportunities to ine-tune each branch's collection to meet its patron's needs" 35 .
7. pay special attention to core collections to avoid weeding items essential to collection integrity, as well as to items that are diicult to replace and to diferent editions of books, especially legal guides and tests.
8. Decide which collections will not loat and back up your decisions with sound reasons.9. Arrange the loat in stages: one collection or format at a time, adding more every year, etc.According to Bartlett, "Another tack taken by many library decision makers is to begin by loating a part of the collection, adding portions as they go along.his very common approach is a good way to test the processes involved and identiies potential risks and roadblocks" 36 .
10. Maintain good communication with all staf members throughout the process.Using a central posting board or WiKi might work better than email.
11. Keep just-returned materials within easy reach of patrons for fast circulation instead of immediately reshelving the most popular items where they will be more diicult to ind.According to Bartlett, "if daily shelving is not caught and the back rooms are not clear, the advantage that loating brings, of quickly moving popular items around for maximum circulation, will be completely lost" (Bartlett, 2014, p.61).
12. Learn from the loat about the speciic needs of patrons in each branch and adjust shelves for popular materials rather than immediately rerouting an overlow to other branches.Branch managers should pay close attention to the categories 35  of materials that come to their branch and learn from it: these are the materials needed here.According to Bartlett, "it is sometimes hard for staf to understand that a section is not created by the size of the shelving unit but by the needs and dynamics of that particular collection" 37 and "the loat is bringing in exactly the right amount of materials customers want and need: it is the current shelving space that is inadequate" 38 .evaluation Some libraries choose to keep detailed statistics and periodically reevaluate the loating process.it is always interesting to see the percentage of items that loat in each branch and also to survey staf satisfaction with the process.Sometimes it may be worthwhile to reevaluate the process and stay safe by loating only certain collections rather than everything.Floating is deinitely an interesting concept and philosophically very appealing.he literature seems to indicate that success is guaranteed for any library that chooses to embrace the concept.However, each individual library must verify whether the promised beneits are being delivered.Libraries must remain aware of potential drawbacks associated with loating and be prepared for the negative consequences that may be experienced by both staf and patrons.