Our library has been inspected about three times since 1978. The seven areas
of inspection are:collection development (what percent do you select; do you
select all of the "Appendix A" items or commercially published surrogates as
listed in the "Guidelines for the Depository Library System;" do you have a
coll. dev. policy; do you review the item selections yearly; does your insti-
tution have a periodic self-study in which the library participates);
--bibliographic control: do you record your receipts, including maps; how long
is the delay from receipt until a document is available to the public; you
might get extra "points" if you use technology to assist with check-in, but
wouldn't be penalized if you have a manual system, as we do;
--maintenance: do you bind anything, and on what basis or how often; if you
have a security system, do you strip documents on a consistent basis as for
the rest of the library; do you weed outdated materials (not just the titles
on the "supersedes" list; are the shelves kept in good condition;
--human resources: what size staff do you have and does it meet the "Shearer
measure" (which I don't have at hand); do you have full-time docs staff or
share it with another dept.; what experience does the staff have; to whom
does the docs. head report (i.e., how close to the director); does the staff
participate in continuing education or other professional activities;
--physical facilities: where in the library is the dept. located; how
accessible is it to the public and to handicapped; is anything in storage
(they DON'T like storage!) and how long does it take for retrieval;
are all the docs in the dept or in various locations according to format
or subject;
--public service: I think that the inspectors no longer appear at the desk
and ask to see a specific document, which some of them used to do, thereby
testing your level of service and perhaps catching you unawares. Now they
want to know if the collection is available to the general public to use
and whether the public may check out documents; how many or what percent of
documents are in the main catalog (card or online); are documents available
on ILL; what hours is the dept open or what is the coverage from other depts
after regular hours;
--cooperative efforts: do you meet with other libraries in the area; what
outreach efforts do you undertake; do you exhange lists of items taken or
contribute to a union list.
These are items that were covered in our inspection; other libraries may
add to them, depending on their inspections. The inspector completes a 12
page report, pages 5-12 of which are the checklist (perhaps GPO would send
you a blank copy, unless it is in the guide that you already have). The
inspector also meets with the library director. There is a comment sheet
for you or the library to complete, asking about the inspection process, the
regional depository, the GPO, and general comments.
About a month after the inspection, the Supt of Documents sends a letter to
the director of the library, reporting the results of the inspection and
including a certificate of inspection and the 12-page report.
Hope this helps.
Michael Cotter, Joyner Library , East Carolina University.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 03/07/00 PST