National Library News January 1999 Vol. 31, no. 1

Canadian Book Exchange Centre Marks Its 25th Anniversary (1973-1998)

Rick Blouin
Client services Coordinator

It all started with the new National Library Act, which received royal assent on June 27 and came into force on September 1, 1969. Although much of the original act ¹, which was passed in 1952, was retained, a new Section 12 stated: "The Governor in Council may direct that the books in the care or custody of any department, branch or agency of the Government of Canada be transferred from that department, branch or agency and placed under the care and custody of the National Librarian." ²

Joanne Lemieux en action dans la section des pério- diques du CCEL.

When the National Library was established in 1953, the Library’s duplicate exchange program was designed to handle the disposal of the National Library’s own duplicates only. During the year following the new act, the duplicate exchange program grew at an unprecedented rate: its extension and diversification were directly related to Section 12. As word spread through the library community that the National Library was accepting library discards, non-federal government libraries also began shipping their surplus material to the National Library. An ,increasing number of Canadian university libraries also participated in the Surplus Library Materials Program both depositing materials and selecting from the duplicates pool. Some of these libraries stopped their own duplicate exchange programs, instead sending all their duplicates to the National Library for redistribution. The Library’s duplicate exchange program had gradually become a national duplicate exchange centre of operation. The question now was how this rapidly growing service should be handled and regulated.

The National Library’s 1971-72 annual report noted that "the donation of surplus material by libraries across the country has resulted in an embarrassment of riches for the National Library. ... So much material arrived during the first half of the year that the Library was forced to suspend partially acceptance of duplicates; there was simply not enough space or staff to handle them." To address the problem, Jean Higginson, then Chief of the General Acquisition Branch, conducted a management study, which recommended centralizing the duplicate exchange activities under one administration. (At that time, the activities were directed by the Official Publications Division, the Serials Division and the Gifts and Exchange Unit.) The new organization was called the Surplus Exchange Division. In its first year of existence, more than 200 000 publications were redistributed to other libraries.

In centralizing the surplus exchange activities under one administration, the Library was faced with such problems as controlling and coordinating the incoming material, then received and housed at three different locations. The total backlog had reached an estimated 30 to 40 thousand boxes. By the fall of 1973, the new division had to find a suitable warehouse and decide whether to maintain the current duplicate exchange system or establish a new method.

In early winter of 1974, the Surplus Exchange Division changed its name to the Canadian Book Exchange Centre (CBEC) and moved to the warehouse located on Bentley Street, in Nepean, Ontario. CBEC was then faced with organizing the collections, making bibliographical entries with new locations and managing approximately 50 000 boxes of backlog material. The task at hand seemed insurmountable to the 14 staff members. A systematic approach to the problems of such a large operation with such limited staff eliminated unnecessary transactions, superfluous forms and duplicate processes. The Centre quickly grew into an efficient national service.

Between 1969 and 1974, the volume of incoming material increased by 600 percent, from 175 000 to 1 070 440 items. During the same period, distribution increased by more than 800 percent, from 48 400 items in 1969 to more than 400 000 items in 1974 ³.

Besides serving federal government libraries, the Centre increased its clientele by gradually taking over the duplicate exchange activities of several non-government libraries and incorporating them into one central organization. This enabled participating libraries to direct their own employees to other tasks. (This aspect of the operation has been recognized by those institutions which stopped their exchange activities and transferred their exchange collections to the Canadian Book Exchange Centre.)

(1178 institutions)

Three sectors were identified from the beginning: Monographs, Periodicals and Official Publications. CBEC is still organized around this pattern to facilitate the selection and the redistribution of the incoming publications. CBEC regularly prepares and sends lists of available publications to participating libraries.

The Periodicals Unit is responsible for receiving and disseminating documents to all three units. The four-member team, supervised by Bill Rea, is also responsible for the largest part of our collections, some two million items. A new periodical database, developed during 1998 using Microsoft Access, allows us to manage this collection more efficiently.

The Official Publications unit consists of Canadian government publications and a smaller foreign Official Publications collection, both including serials and monographs. Our specialist, Dan Rutt, is able to provide copies of official publications to replace clients’ missing or damaged items. In some areas such as parliamentary publications, the documents date back as far as Upper and Lower Canada, circa 1849. "Since I arrived at the Centre in 1982, the Official Publications collections have undergone numerous alterations such as ministerial name changes, government restructuring involving the disappearance and the merging of departments, space reduction and staff cutbacks," he says. "Despite these changes, the unit has managed to maintain its level of service to participating institutions."

Our Monographs collection is managed by two specialists who are responsible for organizing and compiling lists for distribution. "Each list is made up of varied subject matter selected from the material sent to the centre from institutions across Canada," explains area specialist Rhonda Wilson. "The material is first screened for quality and condition. It is then sorted into general subject categories, using the Dewey Decimal Classification system. Subjects are alternated to ensure that a varied range of material is made available to our participating institutions."

CBEC plays an important role in the vitality of the National Library’s Canadiana collection. It makes any Canadian publications received available to the National Library. Our Canadiana specialist, Greg Stanton estimates that, since the creation of CBEC, we have helped the National Library to acquire or replace more than 925 000 Canadiana items. This represents a substantial monetary value, especially given the escalating cost of library materials over the years.

CBEC relies on its experienced staff to select, organize and disseminate material received from the library community. Their accumulated experience in dealing with "second hand" publications and their knowledge of the value of any type of material shipped to CBEC are vital to the efficient functioning of the unit.

The first survey, 1998 ⁴

Last January, as CBEC approached its 25th anniversary, we conducted a nation-wide survey of our users. Our objectives were:

• to determine client needs and satisfaction in order to realign the Centre’s services with current user requirements;
• to explore alternative methods of providing services to clients;
• to raise awareness of CBEC as an important National Library service.

Some 971 surveys were distributed to CBEC users in June 1998. ⁵ Of these, 531 were completed and returned, a return rate of 54.68 percent. Respondents commented on their level of satisfaction with the number and the frequency of lists in each category of documents, the response time for receiving documents, desired lists and the policy as described in CBEC User’s Guide. The survey results also confirmed who uses the Centre, how it is used, how clients prefer to send and receive documents, and the level of awareness of the Web site, listserv and e-mail address. Highlights of the results include :

• Special libraries made up the majority of the respondents (28.5%) followed by university libraries (16.2%), elementary/secondary schools (13.4%) and colleges (12.5%). Non-federal government libraries (9%), public libraries (8.5%) and hospital libraries (3.8%) made up a smaller portion. The remaining institutions (7%) did not identify themselves.
• Clients use CBEC in many ways. The most common use is to receive documents only (45.9%), then to send and receive documents (38%), and finally to send documents only (5.1%).
• On average, respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the number of lists they received (50%) for each category of documents, while 20% had no opinion and 3% were unsatisfied. The exception was for monographs (French lists) where 14% were unsatisfied.
• On average, respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the frequency of lists (48%) for each category of documents, while 22% had no opinion and 3% were unsatisfied.
• On average, respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the response time for receiving documents (40%) for each category of documents, while 23% had no opinion and 2% were unsatisfied. The exception was for monographs (English lists) where 21% were unsatisfied.
• Although only 1.5% of respondents indicated they were not satisfied with the means of sending material sent to the Centre, even respondents who were satisfied expressed concern with the associated cost. They suggested CBEC should consider absorbing these costs. Other comments indicated that respondents were not satisfied with the method of reimbursement for postage and would prefer an easier method.
• Few respondents had visited the CBEC Web site (13%); the majority of those who have access to the Internet but who had never accessed the CBEC Web site stated that they were unaware of its existence (55%). Over half of the respondents were unaware of the listserv (57%). Only 9% subscribe to it.

To serve clients better, CBEC is implementing e-mail service to receive requests and respond to clients. Clients can also continue to use fax and mail to send their requests. In addition to the publications which will still be sent by mail, CBEC will put the lists on its Web site. We will also address concerns regarding closing dates on English monograph lists.

The Canadian Book Exchange Centre survey confirmed the Centre’s importance in the Canadian library community as a national redistribution centre for surplus documents. CBEC will continue to explore alternative methods to provide better and faster service and ensure equality of access. The Centre wants to raise awareness within the community and encourages client suggestions on ways to improve the efficiency of its service. Visit our rejuvenated Web site at: www.nlc-bnc.ca/cbec-ccel/index.htm.

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Notes
¹ Canada. An Act representing the Establishment of a National Library. Ottawa, Queen’s Printer, 1952, Chap. 330.
² Canada. An Act Respecting the National Library. Ottawa: Queen's Printer, 1969, Chap. N-12, p. 4.
³ Including an interruption of four months during the move and resettlement in the new warehouse.
⁴ The survey is also available on CBEC Web site.
⁵ Since federal departments are obligated to send their surplus material to the National Library, we chose to survey only our "other clientele".