Putting It Together

Happy Fall Semester! I was working diligently all summer to get the ECSU Music Library ready for Fall, which is our first full semester to be open. It is exciting to go back and see how the library has progressed visually. Here are the latest pictures:

In this last picture, you can see that scores have been expanded to two bookshelves. There is quite a bit of open space as I am still cataloging and have roughly 200 more scores to add. I was able to add a shelf of music reference (on the left). Of course, that is not all of our music reference items, which are still mostly  located in our main library. I am using this shelf for recent reference order requests by Faculty and big ticket items that don’t circulate. Eventually, I would like to move the majority of the music reference items into the Music Library, save for bound serials and larger collected works. This will be a part of a large scale music weeding project, which I will start once I have a solid semester of circulation statistics.

Not pictured is a music career section, which is located at the back of the group study table shown in third picture. This is a permanent display collection, similar to a browse section. It highlights books on careers in music, self-promotion and legal guides, and wellness for musicians. An example of a few titles in the collection are:

• Project Management for Musicians- Jonathan Feist  ISBN: 9780876391358
• The Inner Game of Music- Barry Green  ISBN: 9780385231268
• The Balanced Musician- Lesley Sisterhen McAllister  ISBN: 9780810882935
• Careers for Music Lovers & Other Tuneful Types- Jeff Johnson  ISBN: 9780071405751

My plans for this section is to assign it to a student worker to keep updated, since it is a small collection. Every semester I will have them check anything 3 or more years old to see if there is an updated edition, as well as make other order suggestions. I have found that the more I involve my student workers in collection development, the more they talk about the Music Library to their peers.

Physical Development and Issues

As I mentioned in my first post, the Music Library is the size of a small classroom, roughly 21.5 x 15.5 x 12, and is shaped like a baseball diamond . Here is an image of the room dimensions, along with the original plan for shelf layout:

Click for larger picture

As you can see, space is pretty tight. The original plan also did not leave room for a circulation/ work desk, which we have now. The room was zoned for 8o lbs per square foot of weight, which equals approximately 40,880 pounds or 20 tons. At this time, we only have 10 bookshelves along the perimeter of the room, which is far less than the weight limit- on the diagram they are the walls marked 21.6 and 15.6. The room has gone through many transformations. I have already moved things around from my first post picture.  I removed 2 computer stations, so we have four computer stations in the center of the room and one table that seats up to 4-5 people, for group study. I also moved our circulation/ work desk towards the wall farthest away from the door, which will open up space for one more tall bookshelf on the wall marked 12′ 7 7/16. There is a media file cabinet for DVDs and CDs behind the desk.

Right now we are weeding items that were stored in the room that are not cataloged, so do not be alarmed at the sparseness in the pictures! Here are the most current pictures of the room (please excuse the mess):

Hallway to ECSU Music Library

Circulation / work desk and glimpse of media cabinet

Shelves and group study table

View from behind the circ desk and of computer stations

In order to make more space in the future, we may attempt to lay out a row of back-to-back half shelves in the chevron shape (as shown in the diagram above), plus another chevron row of half shelves with the computers against the backside of the shelf. This would edge us closer to our weight limit, but provide space for almost 500 more books. We also have plans to add short shelves under the windows once we no longer need both book carts currently taking up the space.

The next few posts will address our “business” model, marketing plans, and collection considerations.