Ramblings, citations and "brainwaves" of a college librarian in Toronto. 475 square feet refers to the size of my home, not the size of my office or library.



"What Have You Stopped Doing?" Mantra in Libraries


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Seems every conference I've been at in the last 5 years has this theme come up:
What have you stopped doing?

The basic idea is if we want to go Web 2.0 we have to give up some traditional activities to free up time.

Most common refrains are: Stop checking in journals. Cut print whenever possible. Buy metadata whenever possible, metadata quality downgrades to speed up activities...to name a few.

Here's another list:


  • canceling thousands of dollars worth of subscriptions to primary resources (such as regional reporters, state codes, foreign law reports) and secondary resources (including replacing print law reviews with HeinOnline access)

  • not subscribing to new law reviews

  • eliminating ILL requests for print copies to cite-check when online copies are available

  • downsizing the reference staff

  • leaving weekend reference to the circulation staff

  • stopping all telephone reference

  • giving up library tours, offering mini-research courses and more ALR courses

  • scaling back computer labs

  • no longer creating exhibits

  • no longer binding serials


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