After months of work assessing our print collection and working with faculty in all departments across the university, we have completed the rightsizing portion of the renovation project! 

What’s rightsizing again? 

• To make space for a new reading room and better study spaces, we needed to decrease the number of bookshelves we have on the 3rd floor of building 6. 

• We also needed to make sure we have room on our bookshelves to continue to add more titles. There’s a surprising amount of measuring and math involved! 

• In order to accommodate the Alberta College Campus Library’s move to John L. Haar Library, we had to make space for all their physical items as well.  

• Librarians and library staff also review our collections regularly to make sure we have materials that are timely and relevant for all MacEwan’s programs. 

Steps we’ve completed so far: 

1. Subject Librarians reviewed our entire collection and identified titles for removal. These were mostly out-of-date, damaged, or duplicate items.  

2. Faculty were given lists of titles from their subject areas to review and identify if there were any titles that should be kept.  

3. Library staff did the hard work of removing all identified titles to make space for renovations and the addition of the Alberta College Campus Library collection.  

4. Removed items were donated to Better World Books (BWB) or, if not accepted by BWB, disposed of using environmentally friendly options. 

Next steps: 

Now that rightsizing is complete, the library is shifting books around on the shelves so that we are making the most use of the bookshelf space we have available. 

The photo above shows a shelf that has been shifted so there is enough space for Alberta College Campus Library materials and for an additional five years of growth. 

[Originally published on the Library Renovations Blog on October 8, 2019] 

With the need to reduce the size of our stacks, the Library needs the help of faculty. 

What does faculty involvement look like? 

Faculty will be hearing from their subject librarian. You may be asked to review spreadsheets or check carts of books. 

What do our timelines look like? 

We will be weeding the collection between October 2019 and February 2020. Faculty members will have 2 weeks to review deselection decisions. 

Why is the library removing books from the collection? 

There are several reasons. 

• The upcoming library renovation will begin to address the substantial space deficit within the Library. Spaces for collaborative learning, research support and new technologies, as well as for contemplation and quiet study, are high priorities for students using the library, and space needs to be created to accommodate these evolving needs. 

• The Library’s mandate is to build a strong undergraduate collection, guided by curriculum. In order to maintain its relevance, the collection must be curated to support evolving university curricula. 

What will happen to the deselected books? 

Weeded material will be offered to Better World Books (BWB) first (at no cost to the University). BWB donates a portion of the proceeds of material they sell to a charity of our choosing. We are still investigating acceptable and environmentally friendly options of disposing of material that is not taken by BWB. 

Why aren’t we using off-site storage? 

An option that was considered and rejected is moving material to off-site storage. Off-site storage was rejected at this time because: 

• We can remove material from the collection without impacting access to material needed to support our programs. Sixty-two percent of the print collection has not circulated in the last 5 years. Also, the physical collection comprises only 19 percent of the total library collection (physical and digital). 

• The cost of off-site storage could be significant. 

What criteria are we using to make decisions? 

This will depend on the subject, but some of the main factors being looked at include condition, age, disciplinary emphasis on physical monographs, relevance to the curriculum, and past use. 

If you have any questions please contact your subject librarian or Karen Keiller at keillerk@macewan.ca 

[Originally published on the Library Renovations Blog on October 8, 2019] 

In preparation for Phase 1 on the renovation of the John L. Haar Library, we will need to reduce the size of the print collection by approximately 25,500 volumes (or 10 percent). Print books, DVDs and bound journals will be removed based on several factors, including condition, age, disciplinary emphasis on physical monographs, relevance to the curriculum, and past use. Librarians will be consulting with faculty throughout the process. This work will be done between October 2019 and February 2020. 

The renovation will begin to address the substantial space deficit within the Library, exacerbated by two previous campus library consolidations, and the forthcoming Alberta College Campus library consolidation. 

The Library’s mandate is to build a strong undergraduate collection, guided by curriculum. In order to maintain its relevance, the collection must be curated to support evolving university curricula. In addition, spaces for collaborative learning, research support and new technologies, as well as for contemplation and quiet study, are high priorities for students using the Library. 

The Phase 1 project plan written by Prime Consultant Architect DIALOG has determined the need to reduce the space occupied by shelving by approximately 25 percent in order to facilitate changes that include building a quiet reading room on the third floor and significantly improving east-west circulation through the library, within the Library footprint. The Library has determined that this translates into a 10 percent reduction in physical collections prior to construction commencing in May 2020. 

The steps the Library will take to mitigate the reduction of the print collection: 
•    We will no longer keep the bottom shelf empty 
•    We will reduce the space for collection growth we have been keeping on every shelf.