Active Stock Management in
Stirling Libraries :
Taking Care of Business
Robert Ruthven

Background
Stirling Council Libraries
• Population 88,000
• Area 8th largest in Scotland
• Large sparsely populated rural hinterland
• Urban centres mainly south and east
• Diverse mix of affluent and deprived communities
• 16 Libraries
• 2 Mobile Libraries

The problem; declining book
110%
loans
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Stirling All Book Issues Scotland All Book Issues

Trends from 2007
Issue trends April 07 onwards
130%
120%
110%
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
Apr- May- Jun- Jul- Aug- Sep- Oct- Nov- Dec- Jan- Feb- Mar- Apr- May- Jun- Jul- Aug- Sep- Oct- Nov- Dec- Jan- Feb- Mar-
07 07 07 07 07 07 07 07 07 08 08 08 08 08 08 08 08 08 08 08 08 09 09 09
Adult fiction Adult non-fiction Junior Audio visual

Trends from 2007 (6 mth
rolling average)
Issue trends April 07 onwards
120%
110%
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
Apr- May- Jun- Jul- Aug- Sep- Oct- Nov- Dec- Jan- Feb- Mar- Apr- May- Jun- Jul- Aug- Sep- Oct- Nov- Dec- Jan- Feb- Mar-
07 07 07 07 07 07 07 07 07 08 08 08 08 08 08 08 08 08 08 08 08 09 09 09
AF trendline AN trendline AV trendline Junior trendline

What have we done?
• Recognition that there was a problem
• Stock Selection Group
• Display and Marketing
• Stock Promotion Group
• Evidence Based Stock Management: SmartSM

Recognition that there was a
problem
• Declining issues
• Key Copies no longer available
• Stagnant or declining bookfund
• Unfocused purchase of multiple copies
• Too much dead stock

Stock Selection Group
• Involves staff from across the service
• Radically updating stock selection policy
• Focussed attention on stock
• Changed attitudes radically

Selection
• Central Fiction fund
• Staff selecting for whole service
• Bestseller standing orders
• Supplier selection considered
• Experimental fund

Rotation
• Stock moving round every 3 months whether
used or not
• Stays permanently at 6th Location
• Rotation numbers based on issues per library
• Every library heads at least one rotation and is
2nd on another and so on roughly proportional to
annual issues
• Central library heads 7 rotations out 39 in total

Sample Rotations
BAL03 BAN01 BAN02 BAN03 BOA01 BOA02 BOA03 BOA04 CAL01
BAL BAN BAN BAN BOA BOA BOA BOA CAL
CAM CEN BAL DRY MOB1 PLE CEN CAM DUN
CEN MOB1 STR StN CEN BAL MOB1 BAN CAM
MOB1 DUN BOA CEN COW MOB1 STR KIL CEN
StN FAL MOB1 DUN BAN CEN CAM MOB1 KIL
DUN DRY CEN MOB1 STR StN DRY CEN COW
CEN03 CEN04 CEN05 CEN06 CEN07 COW01 DOU01 DRY01 DRY02
CEN CEN CEN CEN CEN COW DOU DRY DRY
DOU BOA BAL StN MOB1 BOA BOA CEN CAL
MOB1 CAL BAN DRY KIL CEN BAL MOB1 PLE
CAL BAL StN FAL DUN PLE STR DUN CAM
BAL BAN BOA CAL CAM MOB1 BAN BOA CEN
FAL StN DUN MOB1 StN DRY CEN BAL BAN
DUN03 DUN04 FAL01 KIL01 PLE01 STN01 STN02 STN03 STR01
DUN DUN FAL KIL PLE StN StN StN STR
CAL MOB1 BAN CEN STR DUN BAN COW CEN
STR FAL BOA STR CAL CAM CEN DUN COW
DRY STR MOB1 BAN BOA CEN CAL MOB1 DUN
DOU PLE CEN DUN BAL STR BOA CEN BAL
MOB1 CEN CAL CAM MOB1 PLE DUN STR CAM

Display and Marketing
• Marketing Team
• Improving library appearance
• Brand image
• Signage and headers
• Less stock but with higher visibility
• Display furniture and face-on display
• Book festival

Display and Marketing: Fallin Library

Stock Promotion Group
• Stock promotion Policy
• Readers’ groups and Wiki
• Targeted groups; emergent readers, ethnic
groups
• Promotional Buys; national initiatives

Pro-active stock
management
• Dead stock
• Grubby stock
• Targets
• Promotion

Evidence Based Stock
Management: SmartSM
• Dead stock and targets
• Grubby stock and targets
• Stock swaps
• Project Plan

Stock WEEK BEGINNING
Stock swaps (weekly
basis)
A N-F
Stock edits
Adult fiction Junior N-F
Stock edits
Junior Fiction
To be
added
A-V
Editing 20-Oct-2008
27-Oct-2008
746-750
796-796.6
Complete LP
deadstock
Schedule
Junior fiction
3-Nov-2008 Deadstock
10-Nov-2008 360-380
17-Nov-2008 914.6-915
25% limit on
stock not
24-Nov-2008 915-917 used in 1 year
1-Dec-2008 917-918
8-Dec-2008 918-920
15-Dec-2008
22-Dec-2008
LP grubby
29-Dec-2008 stock
5-Jan-2009 920s Double week
12-Jan-2009
19-Jan-2009 750-760
26-Jan-2009 000-100
General
Fiction
2-Feb-2009 To be reviewed deadstock
limit lowered
from 20% to
9-Feb-2009 15%
16-Feb-2009

What’s still to do?
• Early stages with Adult Non-fiction
• Earlier stages with Junior
• Large Print and audiobooks
• Audio-Visual
• Start again

The Starting Point; Declining Book Loans
110%
Now Reversed
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Stirling All Book Issues Scotland All Book Issues

The Results of Stirling’s
Efforts: Fiction Loans
110%
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Stirling Adult Fiction Issues Scotland Adult Fiction Issues

Taking Care of Business
Robert Ruthven
ruthvenr@stirling.gov.uk
Data prepared by Andrew Muirhead