At a glance
Rebuilding stock management after deep budget cuts
After service closures, a third fewer librarians and a change of LMS, South Gloucestershire used collectionHQ to re-establish a collection management process — and gave dead stock a second life worth 9,017 extra circulations.
Branches
Population served
Additional circulations
The challenge
What the library was up against
Like many UK councils, South Gloucestershire endured a period of tough budget cuts following the financial crisis, resulting in service closures and fewer staff. In 2017 the mobile service closed, librarian jobs were cut by a third, one library was passed to volunteers, and opening hours were reduced across all branches.
The library also changed LMS in 2016. Combined with fewer staff and dwindling resources, that left no collection management process capable of maintaining the appeal of stock for library users.
The solution
What they did
Robina Prince, Bibliographic Services Librarian, identified collectionHQ as the tool that would deliver regular, efficient stock management and a collection reflecting the needs of South Gloucestershire's users.
Support from day one
The library was assigned a dedicated collectionHQ Account Manager, David Bishop, who delivered an on-site training session and worked with Robina and the children's librarian to define targets and parameters. Ongoing support and collectionHQ's Academy training platform built staff knowledge and confidence.
Collection Check first
Collection Check was the first tool applied. With no stock maintenance carried out in the 12 months since the LMS change, the process took six months — but it laid the foundations for everything that followed.
The results
What changed
A second chance for dead stock
Dead titles transferred to new locations between November 2018 and November 2019 were given a second chance, generating an additional 9,017 circulations.
Hidden Treasures on display
Dead on Arrival action plans let branch staff pull non-performing new stock into displays, with some branches running them under the title "Hidden Treasures".
Recognized with an award
South Gloucestershire Libraries were presented with the collectionHQ Super Librarian Award in 2019.
“Right from the start, collectionHQ has helped us with buying and back stocking the books that are needed. Before, we were in the dark about what to buy.”
Robina Prince
Bibliographic Services Librarian, South Gloucestershire Council Libraries
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