Stacks Management

STACKS MANAGEMENT AT POLK LIBRARY
Roberta Stuemke

Stacks Management is a specialized subunit operating within the Access Services unit of Forrest R. Polk Library, Division of Information Technology, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. The subunit is located within the Circulation/Reserve area of Polk Library, and is under the authority of the Head of Access Services, Jeanne Foley. Staffing includes one full-time classified staff position, which I assumed in 1985, and 20-25 student employees.

In order to ensure that library materials are as accessible to patrons as possible, Stacks Management is responsible for keeping library materials from the following collections in proper order on the shelves: newspapers, current periodicals, bound periodicals, microforms, Main Collection, Browsing Collection, Neumann Collection, and Putney Collection. Duties include reshelving returned items, picking up and sorting items used in the building, daily and monthly maintenance of newspapers, searching for lost and missing items, tracking long overdue or damaged materials, monitoring shelving accuracy, shelfreading to ensure proper order on the shelves, and shifting whenever specific areas of shelving become overcrowded.

I first came to Polk Library in 1977, as full-time Circulation Desk staff. The position of Stacks Manager was created in 1985 as one-third of a classified position that also included Circulation and Interlibrary Loan duties; I assumed that position, and have held it ever since. Stacks Management has grown and evolved considerably in the last 15 years, most notably with the removal of the Circulation and Interlibrary Loan responsibilities, and the addition of Periodicals Management. Because the position was new when I took it, I had no predecessor to train me, and no precedents to follow. Stacks Management as a separate entity was a relatively new idea, and there was very little reference material available, so I basically 'invented' methods and procedures as I went along, learning all the way.

Because Stacks Management is so heavily dependent upon student employees, it is essential that proper training and resource materials be provided. This ensures efficient operation and a satisfactory level of service to the library and its patrons. Therefore, there is a thorough Stacks Management Student Employee Manual used both in initial training and as an ongoing reference tool. Often there is a need to train several different employees for different tasks in different areas of the library at the same time; to this end, along with more traditional training methods, I employ a system of Self-Training Guides that take trainees through specific tasks step by step.

Over the last 4-5 years, there has been great interest shown in both the Manual and the Self-Training Guides by other libraries. This followed an article I wrote which was published in the March 1997 edition of the online library support staff journal ASSOCIATES. I also did presentations, in 1998 and 1999, at UW Madison School of Library and Information Studies Circulation conferences. The Stacks Management page was created in response to this interest. The most recent Manual and Guides are posted here, along with various documents, guides, and links to other sites of interest.