Page 207 - DLIS003_LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT

Library Administration and Management

Notes of books on shelves. In public library books of fiction, travelogues, biography may be more
popular from the readers’ point of view than the more serious books on literature, sciences and
social sciences. A classification scheme does not provide the sequence of subjects of books on
their popularity.
Besides, reference books like encyclopaedias, dictionaries, year books, directories, etc. should
be kept in a separate place for easy reach and uninterrupted use by readers. Recent arrivals and
books on current interest must be displayed at a prominent place to attract the attention of
readers. Other books must be stacked according to their popular use with reference to the
subjects.

Conservation

The second aspect of maintenance work is book conservation. Only books in good physical
condition should be allowed to stay on shelves. Constant shelf checking would remove torn,
soiled and damaged books from shelves for repair, rebinding or to be withdrawn from circulation.
This is a healthy practice and should never be underestimated.
Another important aspect of conservation is that the stacks must be cleaned regularly to protect
books from dust, dirt and insects. Air-conditioning of stack rooms would be ideal to protect
books from dust, heat and moisture. All these efforts are to aid the fundamental task of locating
a book when it is wanted and returning to its assigned place when it is no longer needed;
maintaining the order of books and taking care of the books that they are wanted again: All
these tasks are usually entrusted to a maintenance section/division in addition to the other
functions.

We shall now discuss these various aspects with reference to the responsibilities of the section
and the more specific functions this section performs.

Areas of Responsibility

The main areas of responsibility of the maintenance section or division are:
Taking responsibilities regarding (a) the method of stacking and type of storage equipment;
(b) the arrangement of the collection, including special arrangement for category of materials –
oversized books, non-book materials, etc., (c) the effective and efficient use of the architectural
features of the building for stacking books:

Maintaining orderliness and cleanliness in the stack-rooms;
Training and supervising the work of the maintenance section/division staff;

Decisions regarding the conservation of material, repair, binding, etc.;
Maintenance of records pertaining to stock control.

Relations with Other Sections

The maintenance section is functionally related to almost all other areas of the library, especially
to the processing section which feeds this section with new additions and the circulation section
which withdraws books from the stacks and sends back the returned books to the stacks. This
section is also related to the reference section, bindery and all other sections in one way or the
other. The relations of maintenance section with other sections are shown in Figure 11.1.

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