• Shelving should be done on a daily basis. As long as there are two people at the desk, one of you can be shelving or shelf reading.
• Take a book cart with you when you go to shelve. What if you have to shift books? It's much easier with a cart.
• When you shelve a book, place an orange library shelf card between the book you are shelving and its neighbor. These should be placed horizontally so the card sticks out a few inches past the book shelf, and can be easily spotted at the end of the row.
• While you are shelving, if you see any of the orange library shelf cards, take a look at the books it is between and make sure they are shelved correctly. If you are sure it is in the correct place, remove the card and return it to the reshelf cart behind the Information Desk.
• Please keep shelves looking neat.
  • Eliminate gaps or spaces between the books.
  • Straighten up messy shelves.
  • Books should be flush with the edge of the shelf, not pushed back, and the spines of the books should be even with one another.
• If a book is shelved out of order, it is as good as lost. Take the time to make sure an item is shelved correctly. But no pressure!
• Re-shelve books as they are returned, as well as items that have been placed on the reshelf carts, or left elsewhere through the library.
• Make sure to look three places to the left and and three to the right of the book filed.
• Put books in order on the cart before shelving to save time and make the process easier.

Shifting

• Each bookshelf needs to have enough room on the end to reshelve books that may be checked out. 
• Do not crowd shelves. If the books you are shelving will cause the row to be crowded or eliminates the room on the end of the shelf, you will need to shift the books. That means moving enough books to the next row to leave the required spacing.
• Sometimes this means shifting several rows to get the shelves in order. It's not fun, but it's necessary.

Guidelines

One of your main tasks will be shelf-reading, which is when you browse the collection to make sure books and AV materials are in the correct call number order. This practice is essential to keeping the book shelves, or stacks, organized.

Shelf-reading is an important part of stack maintenance. It includes reading each call number in order to ensure that the books are properly shelved. Patrons often place books back on the shelves without knowing exactly how to shelve books. It is inevitable that every worker will at some point accidentally misshelve a book. After a long day it becomes easy to lose focus and make simple mistakes. You should try not to shelve books or shelf-read when you are very tired.

Move through the stacks from left to right, and top to bottom.

Shelf-reading can take quite a while. It is more important that you take your time to be accurate than to rush through quickly and make mistakes.

After shelf-reading for 60 minutes, take a break. If your eyes hurt or are tired and you continue anyway it will lead to sloppy work. 

Don't forget to log your work! 

It is more important to make sure that the shelves are read precisely, not quickly. Do not hurry when shelf-reading.

• Use the DIGBY app!
• Take a book cart with you
• Get one of the iPhones designated for this task
• Log in with your Lynn credentials
  • Tap on "Read Shelf"
  • Use the iPhone camera to start scanning the first book 
  • After it is scanned, a list will appear
  • The list will be in proper call number order
  • Mark items on the list as found (check mark)
  • For missing or other issues use the exclamation point
    • If the item is not on the shelf, mark it as missing
    • You can also choose Damaged or Misshelved
      • Damaged items or items missing barcodes or other labels need to go to Jared - do not leave on the shelf!
  • If you notice an item is out of place, scan it & the app will give you information about it
  • If it is very out of place (M's in the A's for example) put it on your cart
    • When you are done shelf reading, take the books on the cart to the Info Desk and check them in
    • Then put them on the reshelf cart
• When you are done shelf reading a section, share the report via email
  • Tap SHARE
  • Tap Mail icon
  • Send report to stalesi@lynn.edu
• Consider the following when reading your section:
• Is the item in the right place when compared to its "neighbors?" 
  • If yes, continue scanning and reading.
  • If no, remove the item and determine where it should go.
    • Items that are only slightly out of place can be immediately reshelved. Example: M219 St82 before M219 M877.
    • Items that are "far from home" should be brought to the Information Desk. Example: if M1507 P943 is found in the M1103 section, the item may have been previously marked as missing and should be checked in prior to being reshelved.
• Is the call number label damaged or otherwise illegible?
  • If no, continue reading.
  • If yes, bring the item to the Information Desk to get a new label.

Edging

• Books should remain upright and remain in line with each other on the shelves and should be level with the edge of the shelf. 
• Eliminate large gaps between books.
• Edging books is a very simple part of stack maintenance. Pull the books close to the edge of the shelf and even out the row. Sometimes the books have been sloppily shelved by a patron, or just moved back from browsing. To ensure that the books are easily accessible to other patrons, it is good to edge them so that the patron can easily see the call number and spine title of the book. 
• Look for books that have been pushed behind rows.
• When edging, be sure to pull the book from the spine or from farther back on the top of the book. It will cause damage to the book if you quickly pull at the top spine edge of the book. Obviously, we want to keep the books in good condition for as long as possible.
• Shelf reading and edging go hand in hand. Do them together.

There should be sufficient room on each shelf to accommodate the bookend and extra space for book re-shelving. Sometimes a shelf looks almost empty. This can be because many books from that shelf are in use, but often it is the result of haphazard re-shelving. Each section varies in how much shelf room it has for all of its books, but just remember to leave an even amount of space at the end of every shelf--usually about 1/4 of the total shelf space. Do not crowd shelves or squeeze in books!

Shelving Tips!

• Before moving on, double-check that you have shelved the book in the correct spot. To do this, to look at the LC number of the books before and after the book you have just shelved. 
• If you find books that are misshelved or out of order, please bring them to the Information Desk so they can be discharged.
• If the books are tight on the shelf, don’t try to jam a book into its spot.  Loosen the bookend to make room.
• It may be necessary to make room on the shelf by shifting the first one or two books to the end of the shelf above, or the last one or two books to the beginning of the shelf below.
• Sometimes it is necessary to shift entire rows of books to make room. 

NOTE: These videos will give you a good overview of DIGBY and what it can do. We may do some processes differently (like we use an iPhone instead of an iPad & scanner.)

Student workers do not have to do anything beyond sending the report, while the Inventory video gives a lot more information than you will need or use.

If you have any questions, please ask your supervisor.

1. Make sure everything on the shelving cart behind the Information Desk and the carts upstairs are shelved.

2. Gather your equipment.

   1. iPhone

   2. Empty book cart

3. Open the Digby app on the iPhone.

   1. Turn on the iPhone if needed

   2. The iPhone is unlocked

   3. Digby is on the homepage of the phone

   4. Tap sign in if prompted, and log in with your student credentials

   5. Tap Inventory Items

   6. Tap in the “Type or scan barcode” field at the top of the screen to get ready to scan

4. Start scanning

   1. Start with the last call number on the Shelf Reading Log (should be bookmarked on the shelf)

   2. Be careful not to scan ISBNs. If you do it’s ok, just don’t get confused and think the barcode wasn’t found if you scanned the ISBN, and go ahead and scan the barcode as well.

   3. Pull items from shelf and put on your book cart:

      1. Items with no barcode

      2. Items that give alerts while scanning

         1. Barcodes not found

         2. Items with holding locations different than the branch where you are currently inventorying

         3. Items that are Missing, Claimed Returned, or Checked Out

      3. Obviously damaged items, labels falling off, etc.

5. Share the report via email

   1. Tap SHARE

   2. Tap Mail icon

   3. Email address: stalesi@lynn.edu

   4. Add the area and letter of the section you did to the subject line of the email, e.g., “Inventory Items Report –A’s”

6. Once the report has been shared, tap “Remove all items” to clear the inventory list, otherwise those items will show up again on the next section’s report.

What is Digby?

Digby is a mobile app that is available as part of your library’s WorldShare Management Services (WMS) subscription. The Digby app is for use by your student workers, volunteers, and staff and provides clear instructions for handling a range of common library tasks from reshelving items to basic inventory, and more. 

Digby combines simplified workflows with an intuitive interface to accomplish common library tasks more efficiently and with greater accuracy. It also enables library workers to use their Digby-activated smartphone or tablet to scan library materials right in the stacks—saving them time and reducing their reliance on paper.

• Read Shelf: Verify that materials on the shelf are in call number order and track materials that are missing, misshelved, damaged, or have outdated cataloging information. Scan an item to view a shelf list of the next 1,000 local holdings records (LHRs) in call number order. Add notes about a material’s condition, cataloging details, etc. Scan an unexpected, potentially misshelved item to determine if it should be returned to the desk or can be conveniently reshelved. Share a shelf reading report with other library staff that includes a list of items found, problem items, and your notes.

• Inventory Items: Scan item barcodes to inventory your library’s collection. As you work, Digby will update the item’s inventory statistics in WMS and alert you if the item was missing, is needed to fulfil an open hold, or requires additional processing. At the end of a session, instantly share a report with your supervisor that includes an activity summary and a detailed list of scanned items, including item barcodes not found by WMS. Each Digby-enabled device will remember the last item inventoried so that you no longer need to maintain paper logs or rely on placeholders in the stacks.

• Reshelve Items: Scan items using the reshelving feature to process a non-loan return and update the item’s soft-issued statistics. Use Digby to scan items that patrons leave on tables or carts and to help staff determine where the item needs to be reshelved or if the item requires additional processing.
• Check In Items: Scan item barcodes to check in those items, clear an item’s status (e.g., Missing, Lost, On Loan), and to be alerted if the item requires additional processing. View a list of items recently checked-in using your device. You may sort the list by scanning order or shelving location.