Pendergrass Library Circulating Collection Condition Report and Results

• 668 items sampled
• 199 monographs
• 345 bound periodicals
• 114 part of a multi-volume set
• 7 dissertations/theses

• Overall Condition of Items
• Excellent - 17.8%
• Good - 54.3%
• Fair - 21.9%
• Poor - 6.0%

• Environmental Damage
• Yes - 46.8%
• No - 53.2%
• Dust was the most frequently reported type of environmental damage

• Patron/Mutilation Damage
• Yes - 19.3%
• No - 80.7%

• Acidity (pH)
• Acid-free or neutral - 26.8%
• Acidic -73.2%

• Brittleness
• Yes - 15%
• No - 85%

• Shelved Correctly
• Yes - 77.5%
• No - 22.5%
• Wrong Location - 1.9%
• Crooked -17.2%
• Too tightly - 4.6%

• Correlation between UV damage and brittleness of paper
• Those books with UV damage were more likely to have brittle paper

• Relationship between overall condition and type of binding
• The "good" category contained a predominance of commercially bound books.
• The "excellent" category was more likely to have publisher binding.

• Suggestion of possible link between the height of the shelf and whether or not the item was shelved correctly
• The data did not conclusively state this, but there was a slight indication that books on middle shelves were more likely to be shelved correctly than those on the top or bottom shelves.

• Shelving type not a causal factor at all
• It had been thought that there might be a difference in books on the stable shelving at Ag and the books on the compact/rolling shelves. It did not make a difference in any category in which we expected it to.

Ultimately, 668 items were sampled out of Pendergrass's 150,000 holdings. That number was arrived at using different sample size calculators. Next, in order to guarantee a random sample, the stacks area was divided up according to a map of its layout. Sections were numbered, along with shelves. Random number generators were used to produce a set of numbers that would correspond with the numbering given to the sections and shelves. When a number proved invalid, the number was not used. At the end of the sampling period, the deficiency in the sample size was corrected using a set of randomly generated "backup" numbers. Three people divided up the sample, with two people doing ¼ each and one person doing ½.

Environmental damage

• Dust is the most commonly found environmental damage. This is heartening, in that dust is easily correctable.
• However, dust is definitely a problem because a correlation was found between dust and the brittleness of the paper. Brittleness greatly affects the overall condition and usability of an item.
• The UV damage, found somewhat frequently, is more troubling. UV damage is easily preventable, through the use of window screens and shades and such, but is not reversible.
• This deserves attention given the found correlation between UV damage and the brittleness of an item.
• The more serious types of environmental damage, such as water, mold, and insect damage, thankfully occurred fairly infrequently.

Patron mutilation

The Pendergrass Library had a small amount of patron mutilation damage, less than Hodges and about average compared to other libraries that have done such surveys.

Overall Condition and Type of Binding

Conclusions

Pendergrass Library Circulating Collection Condition Results