Schedule Refinement

When a Library Service emerges from the Assessment Phase into Acclimitisation, it will start to fine tune the schedule further as it begins to understand how much resource and time is required to carry out the activities within the schedule.

For some Library Services, at this point, the frequency of activities within the schedule will be increased and activities that were scheduled for a later date will be brought forward where resource allows, and for others the reverse may be true.

The key change during this Phase however will be that a Library Service begins to experiment with previously unused EBSM Tools - typically the Tools from the EBSM Stock Demand and Stock Refresh Stages which are geared towards increasing stock relevance through evidence based stock swapping and transfer. When a Library Service is satisfied with the results of experimentation, these Tools will be added into the regular schedules to enable repeatable improvement.

The diagram below outlines the EBSM Stock Demand and Stock Refresh Tools that might start to be introduced as a Library Service makes progress through the Acclimitisation Phase.


Note that the Inter Authority Swapping and Transfer Tools have not been included in the above diagram - the methodology suggests that these tools will typically not be introduced during this Phase due to the complexities of arranging the use of a larger set of tools and activities within an Authority. It is likely that the Inter Authority Toolset, where appropriate for a Library Service, will be introduced during the latter stages of Consolidation or as a Library Service moves into the Excellence Phase.

Introducing many of these additional Tools will clearly have a knock on effect on other activities that have previously been scheduled. For instance the purpose of swapping and transferring stock is to try to revive borrowing - combining this with an aggressive stock removal policy would not make sense, as it will take time to ascertain if newly swapped material has revived the interest of customers.

A full discussion on the dependencies between these tools is outwith the scope of this guide, but further advice on this subject can be found via some of the EBSM training courses on offer. See EBSM Training for more details.