The Influence of Sloping Shelves on Book Circulation

Abstract

T NWO problems were considered in a study of use of shelving made at the Gary Public Library: (i) Does tilting of the lower shelves effect any change in the distribution of book selection over the seven shelves of a section? (2) Does tilting of lower shelves make it easier to find a particular title? A series of tests extending more or less continuously over three months is reported herein as a contribution to the solution of these problems. To determine the effect of tilting of shelves on the distribution of selection, several sections of shelving in the fiction-room were subjected to investigation. Conditions were varied, controls were set up, and so far as investigation in one library over a comparatively brief period can be taken as indicative of general conditions, rather interesting results or indications were obtained. The of determining the source of books circulated that has been used heretofore might be termed the circulationcount method. By this a section of the collection is selected for test, such as the 8oo's, or fiction, or some other class, and each day the cards for books circulated in that class during the day are checked against the shelves to determine from which shelves the books may have been taken. This was considered too uncertain, because books taken from the stacks, from exhibit shelves, and special shelves-such as mystery stories, western stories, and the like-may incorrectly be credited to circulation from the regular array of wall shelving. A which might be termed the shelf-count method was developed. The sections selected for test were read before nine o'clock each morning and books were shifted so that there