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31/5/07 Backstage Library Works has been appointed as UEA's preferred supplier for the reclassification project, subject to final contract. Next steps are for us to meet with the supplier to confirm our proposed workflows and timescales and complete a reclassification profile. To inform this process we are also reviewing how to deal with exceptional material which may need to be excluded from parts of the process. To assist this work we have also drafted a statement of reclassification principles which show some of the likely effects on shelf order.

In terms of physical changes to the location of stock on the shelves, we now think it is unlikely that any significant moves will take place before Summer 2008 as automated and manual editing of records needs be completed before the physical re-labelling and re-shelving of stock can begin.

Consultations have been completed with each Faculty Teaching Committee to determine the extent to which they want to be involved in the process following recommendations from the Library & Learning Resources Forum). The Arts & Humanities representative for this is Dr Thomas Otte. The other Faculty that asked for a project representative was Social Sciences but a name has not yet been forthcoming. All Teaching Committees have been asked to have updates on progress and we anticipate sending the next report to them in July 2007.

7/2/07 Look out for the 'Reclassification: See also' signs on the side of stacks and on individual shelves in the Library. These signs are designed to alert you to related sections when browsing. This is especially helpful where dual sequences are emerging on a temporary basis. Also Floor Plans have been annotated.

The overall guidance during the reclassification project is to check the library catalogue for the location of all items.

7/2/07 Can't find a book/classmark? Please let us know - either tell the Library helpdesk or email lib.helpdesk@uea.ac.uk and please do ask us for help.

7/2/07 The Library's Reclassification project group is looking at the impact of shelf ready reclassification on Literature and some other related sections to confirm the best policy for books in these areas. The priority is to maintain shelf order and ease-of-use for our users.

7/2/07 Consultation with Faculty LTQCs continues following instructions from the Library & Learning Resources Forum. This consultation is to confirm the extent to which Faculties wish to be involved in prioritising sections for reclassification. Further information about this is available from nicholas.lewis@uea.ac.uk

7/2/07 Progress on the reclassification tender. We are currently awaiting the initial expressions of interest from a number of international companies that specialise in reclassification projects. The full tender document is being finalised and will be sent out in March 2007. The selection of a supplier should be completed by early May.

27/11/06 We're continuing work to respace parts of the collection to accommodate some of the newly-emerging classmarks (shelf marks). If you can't find the sequence you are looking for, check the 'reshelving shelves' on each Floor as some new items may be there on a short term basis.

19/10/06 Rationale for reclassification project and what it means for our users:-

Many libraries in the UK are moving to acquiring ‘shelf ready’ books from their suppliers in order to improve the speed at which items can be added to stock and reduce the overheads of manually intervening on every book we purchase. ‘Shelf ready’ encompasses two aspects of book acquisition: the physical processing of the item (e.g. labelling and bar-coding) and the provision of the record that you see on the library catalogue.

In order to move to this ‘shelf ready’, libraries have to streamline their cataloguing and classification procedures. We currently have an in-house classification system loosely based on Library of Congress. This is very expensive to maintain and means that we cannot take advantage of cataloguing records produced nationally and internationally.

It also means that our classification practice is inconsistent with other libraries, making it more difficult for users to compare our collections with others. As information provision and sharing is now a global as well as a local issue, we can no longer afford to ‘plough our own furrow’.

Following consultation through the Library & Learning Resources Forum, the Information Strategy and Services Committee, and approval from both the Planning and Resources Committee and the Executive Team, we are therefore changing to standard Library of Congress classification for all new items.

Over the next three years or so we will also be working retrospectively to reclassify the existing stock to standard Library of Congress. Some stock will have to be relabelled and moved as part of this process. In addition, many of our existing local subject headings will be replaced by standard Library of Congress subject headings.

The change will inevitably cause some inconvenience during the transition period which we regret and will make every effort to minimise.  In particular there will be dual sequences in some areas of the collection during the transition period. The advice will be to check the Library catalogue for an up-to-date classmark (shelf mark). All items will still be in alphanumeric order on the shelves and a simplified version of our UEA three-lettering practice will be retained to minimise the impact on users.

Additional guidance for users will be provided as necessary and we will be reviewing the implementation details with the Library & Learning Resources Forum on an ongoing basis. Please make your views known via your library representative should you wish to feed into the consultation on this process.

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