[Publib] Shelving Standards!!??!!

[Robert L. Balliot]

That sounds right to me.  I do think that a job description
can and should describe what you would need to be able to
do - such as "Must be able to shelve and retrieve items up
to six feet from floor."

If you have a large floor - say 20,000 sq feet or more -
and you have a cart that is not a densely compressed
set of call numbers , then each cart could conceivably 
take hours and hours to finish.  Also, if the stacks 
are a mess, and you have to put them in order to shelve
each item in the right place, it could take a day or 
more to shelve one truck.  Shelf reading, in my mind,
is everyone's job.  If you can't find a book, all the
the best cataloging in the world is irrelevant.

If the stacks as so tightly packed that in order to insert
previously checked out materials, you have to shift, that
will also increase the time.  Vision problems with poor
labeling, labels on skinny spines that you have to flip
over to see, and problems conceptualizing decimals can
also create problems.  Poor lighting a floor level can
also inhibit productivity.

If the elevator does not match up with the floor and
your truck is heavy, you may need two people to lift
it, slowing down the process.

For any administrator interested in setting productivity
levels for shelvers, I suggest you begin by asking
not what the shelvers can do for you, but what you 
can do for your shelvers.

*************************************************
Robert L. Balliot
1-401-421-5763
Skype: RBalliot
Bristol, Rhode Island
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xMredXsPMw 
http://oceanstatelibrarian.com/contact.htm
*************************************************
-----Original Message-----
From: Mary Donley [mailto:marydonley at yahoo.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 7:46 PM
To: rballiot at oceanstatelibrarian.com; 'candice gwin'; publib at webjunction.org
Subject: RE: [Publib] Shelving Standards!!??!!

Robert and Candice,

I used to ask applicants how tall they are.
I found out we're not allowed to ask that
per our HR dept.  We are on the border, so 
insist that shelvers and all employees speak
at least some Spanish.  

Mary