So, my biggest stress so far this year has been collection development. I actually have a lot of money to spend on books this year -- all the elementary schools got an extra $3000 to spend specifically to update the book collections, because they are kind of sad and suffering. And then we switched circ systems from Follett to something called Mandarin and got an extra $1500 towards books that we used to have to pay for Follett services. So, that's good. But the old librarian apparently spent all her money on videos and random books, so we are missing a lot of reallllly basic stuff (like she is missing tons of GOOD Newbery and Caldecotts!). So I have this huge list growing on Follett and I still haven't even considered what to do about a bunch of the non-fiction sections that are suffering, like pets, sports, transportation books, etc. So I am just worried about the budget process -- I want to spend a good half of my book budget NOW and get some stuff in the library. But a. will I be overwhelmed by that many books coming in at once? and b. will I regret spending so large a portion of my budget so early in the year? I'm also wondering if I can use the statistics of what I buy to push for another year with some extra book money, because this collection is honestly pathetic. You should just SEE my list of things that we don't even have!
Also, the woman spent her entire LIBRARY supply budget on random things that should have come out of SCHOOL supplies, like White Out and strange DVD cleaners and who knows what else! She had no book tape, book covers, etc. It is unbelievable. So here's my next question: do you all cover paperbacks? (Megan, what I wouldn't give to have a central office take care of processing!) I have covered them in the past, and I think it is probably worth it when you don't have a ton of money. Our paperbacks that are uncovered get so beat up that they probably only last a year. However, my aide has already hinted that she thinks covering paperbacks is going to be too much work (I like her a lot, but she is SLOW and needs a lot of direction), so that will take some poking and prodding. That's another issue. She is pretty close to retirement, is having a very tough year family-wise, and has been there for a long time, so I feel bad telling her to step it up, but she just doesn't get that much done. I end up doing a lot of clerical stuff whenever I get a chance, because otherwise it will never happen...like we got a couple boxes of GOOD donations from a parent and have to pull records, and she will never do it. It's driving me crazy!
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Unfortunately if your assistant isn't totally on top of it, she won't do a good job covering paperbacks and unless they are done right, they don't really protect them.
In terms of non-fiction, you can probably fill in a lot of areas by buying full series (yeah, it's kind of cheating, but it saves a ton of time). Rookie Readers, True Books, Barefoot Books, Fiesta Series, etc. (Mary did a great job with our non-fiction and most of it was bought between four years ago and now so I can give you some suggestions if you want). Then you can just buy fun stuff that fills in your popular selections as you find it.
My process for dealing with all this processing since I don't have an aide anymore:
1 - Spend the money to get things pre-processed / shelf ready when you order them (i.e. Follett or B&T will do this for you). It's really easy to just download the records and put them on the shelf. And mostly order hardcovers - with B&T, I get 44% off list price on hardcovers and it costs about $1/book to process them which really makes it easier not to get paperbacks and have to deal with laminate. I think getting paperpacks laminated would cost a lot more - not sure.
2 - Buy slightly more expensive laminate - the time you save really makes it worth the extra money. I buy Filmoux by Neschen which I'm really happy with.
3 - Don't laminate/cover donation books unless they are brand new. They end up falling apart anyway.
4 - You still will get paperbacks from the bookfair / scholastic warehouse, etc. But it's a more manageable number. Cover these paperbacks at home while you're watching t.v. I find I can get through a lot of them and I don't feel overwhelmed or annoyed by it.
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