I was looking for an organic chemistry book on C Level and saw lots of orange signs hanging up. What’s going on?
You mean the signs in the Science Reference section that say “Don’t Put the Books Back!! (We’re counting.)”?
Yeah, those. Why don’t you want us to put the books back on the Science Reference shelves?
Because for two weeks every semester, your science/engineering librarians write down the titles and call numbers of all of the Science Reference books that are used.
And why do you do that?
For several reasons:
- If we see lots of books on a particular subject being used (like linear algebra or engineering math), we know that we need to make sure there is a good selection of books on that topic on the regular shelves so you can check them out. (As you know, you can’t check out Reference books.)
- We can see which of the heavily used Sci Ref books are getting worn out so we can repair or replace them.
- When we see books being used that we don’t usually see, we know there is probably a class or assignment in that subject, and we can contact the professor to ask if we can offer information or instruction to the class.
Those sound like pretty good reasons.
Thanks; we think so. And doing this also helps us spend our book money more wisely.
So when you use a Science Reference book (it says “Sci Ref” on the spine label), please leave it on one of the carts or set it down somewhere. But don’t put it back on the shelf! At least until the orange signs go away.