consulting to academic libraries and library vendors
 

Professional Seminars

Emerging trends can be difficult to identify and track when engaged in the press of daily routines. As an independent organization with a commitment to bringing new value to libraries, R2 works hard to keep our knowledge current. As we research new topics or develop new concepts, we simultaneously develop presentations to provide overview, context, and practical details for libraries and related audiences. Rick Lugg, Ruth Fischer, and Matt Barnes are frequent speakers at major professional meetings, including the Charleston Library Conference, the Society for Scholarly Publishing, E-Resources & Libraries, Exploring Acquisitions, and American Library Association conferences.

In addition, R2 often provides half-day or day-long seminars in collaboration with libraries or library groups to host and present private seminars.. R2 has previously conducted seminars for MINITEX, CARLI, MLNC, and CAVAL Collaborative Solutions, among others.

At present, our two primary topics include:

We are also developing seminars in several other areas including:

Creating the Capacity for Change:
Transforming Library Workflows and Organizations

Libraries face unprecedented demands to adapt to the digital environment. New and emerging tasks related to institutional repositories, non-MARC metadata, networked resources, and new generations of users place additional pressure on staff and workflows built to handle print materials. Yet print-related workloads are not diminishing as fast as digital workloads are growing. Meanwhile, the growth of external "competitors", such as Google, increase the need for libraries to focus on user expectations and highlight their own unique attributes.

How can libraries turn these pressures into opportunities? How can librarians adapt workflows, priorities, and organizational structures to provide those services most important to users? How can library leaders create the capacity to pursue critical new initiatives without increasing staff? What new tools and services can help? R2 offers advice, both strategic and practical, drawn from our experience conducting workflow analysis and organizational redesign in more than 80 academic libraries of all sizes and types.

A typical session runs from 10 AM-3:00 PM, divided along the following lines:

  • 9:30: R2 Set-up
  • 10:00: Why Workflow Redesign? (An Environmental Scan)
  • 11:00: Break
  • 11:15: Workflow Redesign: Principles and Practices
  • 12:15: Lunch
  • 1:00: Creating Capacity in Collections, Acquisitions, Serials, E-Resources, Cataloging and Preservation
  • 2:00: Break
  • 2:15: Conclusion, Discussion and Questions

Each session throughout the day becomes gradually more specific.

In Why Workflow Redesign? R2 reviews trends in the information environment that are shaping new demands on libraries. Topics include Predictions, Changing Users, and Trends in Collection Development, Acquisitions, and Cataloging/Discovery.

In Principles and Practices we outline our own approach to conducting workflow audits and the business principles that guide R2 recommendations.

In Creating Capacity, we look at sample recommendations and outcomes in specific functional areas. R2 models the thinking and interaction that will be needed by library managers to undertake a successful workflow analysis.


Weeding, Offsite Storage, and Sustainable Collection Development:
Library Space and Collections 30 Years after the Kent Study

Library shelves are increasingly full. The Kent study at the University of Pittsburgh found that 40% of the monographs purchased in 1969 did not circulate within the first six years of ownership, and that the chance of a title circulating after that point was 1 in 50. R2's own informal survey of monograph use in 2008 indicates that the percentage of never-used monographs is now higher than 50% in many libraries.

Abundant offsite storage has allowed many libraries to defer weeding decisions, at least until those facilities are full. And more books are being published than ever before. Weeding can be difficult and controversial, and is rarely a priority. But, as new library space becomes harder to fund, and as library administrators seek to increase space available for group study, information commons, writing centers, and cafes, print collections face much more scrutiny.

While some parts of library collections (print serials backruns, government documents, print reference) are being actively weeded and stored, print monographs remain a particular problem, due to sheer numbers and the need for title-by-title review. Current solutions such as compact shelving, static and mobile high-bay storage, automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS), collaborative collection development, and shared print archives can provide temporary relief.

But hard decisions remain regarding the extent of library space dedicated to low-use print collections. Ultimately, every library or consortium will need to define its "carrying capacity" for print and develop strategies to maintain that balance as new content is acquired, while assuring the integrity of their collections. R2 presents these issues from multiple viewpoints, and describe tools, techniques, and strategies for achieving and maintaining sustainable collections.

This 3-hour program is organized along the following lines:

  • Introduction: Why Weed?
  • Print Monographs Usage: A Historical Perspective
  • Print Monographs Usage: A Contemporary Perspective
  • The Cost of Library Space: Offsite, Onsite, and Opportunity Costs
  • Storage Options: Onsite and Offs
  • The Need to Weed: Methods, including
    ~ Shelf-Time Period (Stanley J. Slote)
    ~ the CREW Method, and
    ~ R2's Disapproval Plan: Concept and Method
  • Barriers to Weeding: Making the Case and Managing the Flak
  • Sustainable Collection Development: From Project to Process