The University of Scranton’s Weinberg Memorial Library, was close to reaching maximum storage capacity with 332,000 volumes. We explored various storage options to meet our users’ needs. Through close collaboration with the University faculty, we successfully relocated over 10,000 titles from the Library’s stacks to an off-site storage facility, owned and operated by Iron Mountain. Selection criteria was formulated in consultation with the faculty, and the books were then pulled, processed, packed, and sent to Iron Mountain. Careful planning, organization, and preparation made this project a success. Remotely stored books are retrievable within one business day through our Library catalog.
This presentation will discuss the original problem, the potential options that we explored, and the steps taken to create faculty buy-in. We will outline and review the technical processes involved in executing the project, and list the team of individuals from across Library and University departments, including faculty, IT services, and administration. We will also highlight the work Iron Mountain has done and how they plan to accommodate our unique needs as a library. For example, working with MARC records and our ILS to integrate with their inventory system to automate the record requesting process and make it seamless for Library staff. We will also share cataloging and logistical problems that we encountered along the way and what we did to overcome them. Finally, we will discuss side-projects that arose out of the inventory and evaluation completed in connection with this project.
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Narda Tafuri, Associate Professor, Coordinator of Technical Services/Acquisitions Librarian, University of Scranton
Narda Tafuri is Associate Professor and Coordinator of Technical Services in the Weinberg Memorial Library at The University of Scranton, where she has been employed since 1994. She has been an active member of the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS), serving as a member and chair of the ALCTS Publications Committee, as well as several other ALCTS committees and interest groups. She is the current editor and one of the compilers for the ALCTS Publications Committee’s Library Materials Price Index (LMPI) article published annually in Information Today’s Library and Book Trade Almanac. She is co-author with Frederick Lynden of “U.S. College Book Price Information, 2016,” Choice, April 2017.
Sheli Pratt-McHugh, Associate Professor, Department Chair, Cataloging and Metadata Librarian, University of Scranton
Sheli Pratt-McHugh is the Cataloging and Metadata Librarian and the Learning Commons Coordinator at the University of Scranton’s Weinberg Memorial Library. She also serves as Department Chair for the Library. She previously worked at the Scranton Public Library as the Head Cataloger servicing the Lackawanna County Library System. She earned her B.A. in Media Studies from The Pennsylvania State University in University Park, PA, her M.L.S. from Clarion University in Clarion, PA, and her M.L.A. from Lock Haven University in Lock Haven, PA. She was a 2012 ALA Emerging Leader where she worked with the Preservation and Reformatting Section (PARS) of ALCTS to research options for virtual conferencing.