The document discusses how the Portneuf District Library in Chubbuck, Idaho redesigned their nonfiction section by creating their own subject headings that better reflected their community. They weeded over 2,000 books, heavily relabeled their collections section by section over 8 weeks, and saw a 250% increase in nonfiction circulation and a 90% overall circulation increase as a result. The redesign was well received by patrons and staff. They plan to next redesign their fiction section using a similar approach.
2. WHO WE ARE
Small library in Chubbuck, Idaho
12,000 patrons in our database
18,000 in our population area
13 employees
46,000 items, 6,000 non-book items
A library that needed a theme
6. WHAT WE DID
Used words instead of nonsensical
numbers and decimal points
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8. WHERE DID WE CHANGE
Nonfiction first
User surveys
Juvenile nonfiction second
Matched juvenile nonfiction to school projects
9. WHEN DID WE CHANGE
PLAN A:
Initially going to do section by section
Create space, pull and relabel materials
Pull one heading at a time
10. WHEN DID WE CHANGE
UNPLANNED B:
Renovation
Boxed the library, in rough order of new headings
Unboxed in rough order
11. HOW DID WE CHANGE
Planned!
One year
Weeded, heavily!
Created our subject headings and sub categories
Planned our new labels
Planned shelves and locations
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13. WHY WE DID IT
Better categories
OUR categories
Mimic bookstore browsing
Make more sense for our community
14. HOW LONG IT TOOK
Closed 2 weeks for renovations
Unboxing in a few days
8 weeks to relabel
No dedicated staff for the job
15. SO WHAT HAPPENED?
Deleted ~2000 nonfiction books
Purchased many new nonfiction books
9800 adult nonfiction books
3600 juvenile nonfiction books
New labels
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17. SO WHAT HAPPENED?
Hugely positive response from users
Better organization and display of
materials
Improved ‘browseability’
Improved finding for users and staff
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19. SO WHAT HAPPENED?
As we relabeled, we changed the
catalog records
Created ‘shelf locations’ for nonfiction
sections
Able to pull stats on each section to see use
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26. SO WHAT HAPPENED?
Significant circulation increase
250% increase of nonfiction circ
90% overall circulation increase
Biography section increased
27. SO WHAT HAPPENED?
Staff Reactions
Some not on board at first
All on board after seeing the results
User Reactions
LOVE IT.
28. PROS:
Better browsing for users
Super easy to shelf read
Super easy to find things
Helped us hone and define our
nonfiction collection