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ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 44 | April 2000


Stack retrieval study

The tube room

The tube room, through which each call slip passes on its way to the stacks

The Stack Services Branch in the National Library is responsible for the storage, maintenance and retrieval of the Library’s printed collections. In contrast to most other libraries, only 0.3% of the National Library’s printed collection is available on open access; the rest of the collection is stored in closed stacks and retrieved by Stack Services staff. The Library operates five onsite stack areas and two offsite storage facilities for printed material.

In 1997 the Council of Australian State Libraries (CASL) conducted a benchmarking study to compare stack retrieval services in the State Libraries of South Australia, Victoria and Queensland and the Library and Information Service of Western Australia. In 1998 the study was replicated by the State Library of New South Wales.

The CASL benchmarking study compared factors affecting stack retrieval such as collection size, building age, stack layout, furthest distance staff have to cover to retrieve material, request method, the amount of material in closed access, service targets, staffing, request numbers and retrieval rates.

The National Library is the largest of the benchmarking participant libraries, with the highest number of retrievals per annum. Stack retrieval procedures at the National Library are similar to those in most state libraries: requests are made on handwritten call slips, material is stored in multiple stack locations, separate reading rooms are available for advanced research and there are similar restrictions on the number of stack requests accepted.

The transcar

In analysing the results of the National Library benchmarking study, particular attention was paid to results from the State Libraries of Victoria and New South Wales, the two libraries most similar to the National Library, and from the State Library of Queensland, which achieved best practice in the CASL study. The National Library’s stack retrieval performance was found to compare very favourably with other benchmarking participants. Annual average retrieval rates per staff hour were the highest reported by benchmarking participants.

There is still room for improvement, and we expect that this will be achieved at the National Library through continuing retrospective cataloguing projects, stack maintenance, barcoding the collection and the introduction of automated call slip printing expected in November 2000. The Library has also begun to investigate an improved system of mechanised book delivery for introduction once the Transcar reaches the end of its useful life.

The benchmarking study demonstrated that all libraries operating closed access stacks face similar problems in providing efficient retrieval services for clients. The National Library looks forward to working with other libraries to find new and innovative service delivery solutions.

More details about the benchmarking study are available from Lawrie Salter (lsalter@nla.gov.au).

The Transcar, a robotic book carrier, wheeling its eerie way through the stacks

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Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: tford@nla.gov.au

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