This section is for your library’s procedures for day-to-day operations, reporting on its collections, and performing interlibrary loan42 (ILL) functions.
- Step-by-step processes/checklists for opening and closing the library, placing a hold, making an ILL request, checking materials in and out, generating overdue notices, maintaining computers, ordering library materials and supplies, and all the routine day-to-day tasks that the new (or interim) director will be performing. Input from all library staff should be encouraged in the creation of these procedural cheat sheets43
- A list of all library collections and their locations in the library, including how to generate reports from your library’s ILS44
- The date(s) of the last inventory and weeding45 of the library’s collections and the schedule for the weeding cycle
- Instructions for responding to challenges46 to library materials or programs
42 Interlibrary loan is the process whereby one library borrows materials from another, unaffiliated library. This form of resources sharing depends on the maintenance of union catalogs. The largest interlibrary loan network in the world is maintained by OCLC, which uses the WorldCat database as its union catalog. The Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) of the American Library Association (ALA) has developed an Interlibrary Loan Code for the United States.
43 Library policy is set by the library’s board in an open meeting and carried out by the library’s director and staff. Procedures for implementing board policy are created by the library’s director and staff. One of the rare instances where procedure is mentioned in library policy is the procedure for dealing with challenges to library materials, which is often the last section of a library’s Collection Development Policy. More information is available in the ICfL’s Trustee Manual Knowledge Base.
44 The library’s integrated library system (ILS) is an integrated set of applications designed to perform the business and technical functions of a library, including acquisitions, cataloging, circulation, and the provision of public access. ILS software is used to track items owned (inventory), orders placed/bills paid (acquisitions), and patrons who have borrowed (circulation and interlibrary loan). ILS vendors for public libraries include Biblionix, KOHA, Innovative Interfaces, and SirsiDynic. The Alaska State Library has assembled a list of automation options for small libraries. Marshall Breeding has authored the annual Library Systems Report published by American Libraries since 2014.
45 Weeding is the process of examining items in a library collection title by title to identify for permanent withdrawal those that meet the library’s pre-established weeding criteria, especially when space in the stacks is limited. Public libraries usually weed routinely on the basis of circulation numbers and physical conditions.
46 A challenge is a complaint made by a library patron or other member of the community — acting as an individual or representing a group — concerning the inclusion of a particular item in a library collection, usually accompanied by a request that the item be removed from the library, reshelved in another section of the library, or made available only to a particular segment of the population. A challenge may also be made to a library program. Public libraries are challenged more often than other types of libraries, as they provide resources and services to a diverse clientele comprising multiple demographics. The library’s best defense against challenges is an unambiguously worded collection development and maintenance policy. The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom maintains a database of challenged materials and asks that libraries report challenges by using their online form or by calling 1-800-545-2433 x4226 or by email: oif@ala.org.