The reasons why SSL staff are happy to re-shelve items you have used in the library

A staff member shelving a book in the SSL

Rather than returning an item you have used in the library to the shelves, SSL staff are happy to re-shelve it for you. In fact, we prefer to do so and there are benefits to us doing this:

It ensures that books are returned to their correct home on our shelves, which allows future borrowers to find them quickly.

For Library Use Only books that have been consulted in the library, we monitor their usage by taking daily statistics of those that we find on our re-shelving trolley. This then means we can see which items are frequently used and purchase extra copies, which we can make loanable. If you return these items to the shelves, we don’t know you have used them!

So to make staff and library users happy:

The row of re-shelving trolleys in the SSL

  • Check the shelfmark of the book you have used in the library and put it on the correct alphabetical re-shelving trolley.

The Library Use Only shelving trolley in the SSL

  • If the book you are consulting has a yellow Library Use Only sticker on it, place it on the ‘Library Use Only’ re-shelving trolley (the first trolley in the row)