Important news regarding *SOME* new books

This is to expand upon the e-mail from Fred Schumacher sent on 9/18/2015:


Automatically Yours (AY) items will begin arriving with yellow label protectors over the spine labels in the near future.  These orders have been made part of our new Baker and Taylor subscription plan, which will allow us to return unneeded copies as demand for the titles drops over time.  These items should be treated like any other circulating books for customer transactions and shelving.  The yellow spine labels will only make them easier to identify on the shelves when they are recalled to be returned.  The other change you may notice in the processing of these items is that they will no longer have property stamps.  The barcode label will continue to have Houston Public Library printed on it, but the property stamp across the top edge of the pages will be omitted on the subscription items.

This also includes Bluebonnet titles.

 In practical terms, please do not discard these items via the regular procedure. Since they are on loan from B&T, copies in bad condition can be returned to Baker and Taylor. Please send any copies in bad condition to the Float Team (Sara Karow - LMS).

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Collection Development team x31469. You may also e-mail: christopher.hu@houstontx.gov, sarah.bates@houstontx.gov, sara.karow@houstontx.gov or pat.ogea@houstontx.gov.

FLOAT Labels are Supply Items

Just a reminder that the green FLOAT labels for general use are available from the Supply Room, as are the yellow ones for the Float Hubs' use.

There is no reason for anyone to be making up their own versions.

~Sara Karow on behalf of the whole Collection Development Team
x31480

Dotting and Labeling - Standards

On 3/18/2010, Lin Swalley sent out this e-mail regarding a new standard for dotting and labeling paperbacks. Here is the attachment containing the standards that were devised. Please note that these guidelines apply only to uncataloged paperbacks.

Hi. I am writing to advise you of a recent decision to stop, immediately, all labeling practices involving tape, dots, sticky labels, etc., presently being used to identify groups of uncataloged paperbacks, such as romances, mysteries, etc

Some locations at HPL continue to use dots, labels or other materials taped to these books to identify the various subgroups. The problem is, uncataloged paperbacks float and, therefore, do NOT remain in your collection. The inevitable result of such practices is books with multiple labels on them, as they float from location to location.

A committee got together and agreed on a striping system using colored marker pens. The attachment describes the committee’s decision, considerations and the new striping system which should be used system-wide, so that customers and staff can find materials wherever they go. An additional benefit is that striping takes less time. An illustration is provided regarding the striping and the use of lettering for those who wish to alphabetize their books etc.

Note: Some locations do not separate the materials, do not mark books in any way—these locations do NOT need to apply the stripes. If they want to separate and mark the books in the future, they need to use the striping system—not dots, labels, etc.

PLEASE DO NOT WASTE TIME doing retroactive striping. Simply apply this system to materials as you receive them from here on.

Thanks for your attention.

Lin Swalley

Coordinator of Materials Selection

Assistant Chief of Technical Services

Houston Public Library