ABSTRACT
Shelving is an important task in the work flow of the library. Books must be quickly and accurately reshelved in the stacks for optimum patron usage. The Brigham Young University shelving study had three purposes: (1) determine if shelving speed influences the accuracy with which books are returned to the shelves, (2) determine if the day of the week influences accuracy, and (3) determine if the length of a shelver’s employment influences accuracy. Call numbers were written down from the shelver’s cart after it was sorted. Later, after the shelver left for the day, each call number was checked and marked as shelved correctly, shelved incorrectly, or not found in the stacks. All test results on data revealed no interaction among the variables. The data provides some evidence, however, which suggests that job standards and evaluation may be the interacting variables with accuracy percents. Further data is needed to fully study these relationships.
