September / October 2001 Vol. 33, no. 5

Saskatchewan Provincial Library Donates Large Collection to CBEC

Bill Murphy
Research and Information Services

The first of seven tractor-trailers carrying surplus books from the Saskatchewan Provincial Library arrived at the National Library of Canada’s Canadian Book Exchange Centre (CBEC) on July 13, 2001. Subsequent shipments are scheduled to arrive every three weeks until mid-November.

Created in the 1950s, the Saskatchewan Provincial Library had built up a sizeable collection by the mid-80s. The creation of a regional library system in the province led, however, to decreased use of the Provincial Library’s collection. As the regional libraries developed their collections, the central library collection was used less and less. According to Joy Campbell, Acting Head of the Saskatchewan Provincial Library, only
5 000 items circulated last year, compared with 150 000 in 1982.

This turn of events, coupled with the rise of the Internet, led the Provincial Library to begin a consultation on what its role should be. The response was that the central library should function as a coordinating and facilitating body, thus, the decision to disperse its collection, first to libraries within the province, and then to CBEC for subsequent redistribution.

Before the dispersal began, the total collection stood at approximately 300 000 items, with very little duplication, and included children’s literature, Native studies, fiction, multilingual material, some government documents, many periodical titles and approximately 100 000 non-fiction titles (mostly published in the ’70s and ’80s).

The Saskatchewan Provincial Library first approached CBEC staff about donating its collection of adult non-fiction and periodicals in September 2000. In its 28-year history, CBEC had never received such a huge gift all at once. The Centre receives anywhere from 100 to 200 boxes of surplus material from individuals and organizations every day. The arrival of 9 000 boxes of material from the Provincial Library would pose a significant storage problem. In order to give staff the opportunity to properly sort through each box, the current arrangement of one truckload every three weeks was negotiated with Provincial Library staff.

CBEC’s mandate is to redistribute surplus material to other libraries in Canada. The Centre prepares lists of the periodicals, monographs and official publications in its collection and sends these lists to libraries who then indicate which material they would like to receive. Since there are seldom sufficient copies of each item to satisfy every library’s wish list, libraries may not receive everything they have requested.

The Canadian Book Exchange Centre has redistributed over 11 million items since its inception in 1973. The Centre occasionally also donates surplus material to developing countries in an effort to help fulfill their information needs. All publications are free; only the cost of shipping is passed on to the requesting library.

In keeping with the federal government’s commitment to make all its programs and services available online by 2004, CBEC recently made its latest distribution list for official publications monographs available on the Web. Libraries have the option of responding to a list electronically or of printing the list and mailing or faxing their responses, as before. Electronic lists will allow CBEC to reduce its printing and mailing costs and will give libraries more time to study the lists by eliminating mailing time. Rest assured, however, that as long as responses are returned to the Centre by the deadline indicated at the top of the list, libraries who choose to receive the paper lists will receive the same level of service as those receiving them electronically. If all goes well, we plan to offer our regular monographs lists on the Internet later this year, followed by the periodicals lists. Paper lists will continue to be available to those libraries who want them.

For more information about the Canadian Book Exchange Centre, visit the National Library’s Web site at www.nlc-bnc.ca/cbec-ccel, or call the Centre at (613) 952-8904.