Libraries Never Have Enough

There is never enough space, time, staff to do what we really want to do or have what we really want to have. We are limited in so many ways and with this economy we are becoming even more limited at a time when people really want and need more from us.
This past week I have been shifting collections. I shifted the adult audio book collection, our books on CD have outgrown their space and the books on tape are shrinking due to collection priorities. We are no longer collecting audio books on cassette nor are we collecting VHS tapes. Our children's audio visual collection also needed shifting for the same reason. Throughout the year there are times when people return more items than are taken out, our collections swell and we need to find space for those items us. Between the end of summer and the beginning of fall is one of those times. It is a delicate dance with the only constant being that our physical space only changes when there is a renovation of some sort.
But the big move this week was expanding the space for holds. These are items that customers have requested from other libraries. Last year, I moved the hold shelf from 3 ranges (a range of shelves) to 6 ranges. Then on Thursday morning, I shifted the hold shelf to teen area giving the holds an additional 3 ranges. We moved the teen area to the hold area and part of the classic section. The classic section moved down and around into the reference section. The reference section is being weeded to either get the books into the regular circulating collection or removed from the library. Friday afternoon, I saw a packed hold shelf and got a major headache. Less than 24 hours later and it seemed to have already outgrown its space.
So needless to say, this took a lot of work and right now my reference section is a total disaster. We have a lot of books to absorb into the regular collection
I told the teen librarian that worked with me on this project to not worry about the reference collection because no one really wants to use it anyhow. We can help the few people who might need something out of in the next month find what they need.
Today, I need to work on my classic collection. First I back shifted and then I forward shifted with the unfortunate result that Dickens does not have a home. Dickens was a prolific writer so now I either have to tighten the shelves up on the gamble that more stuff will go out than come in or I can weed the collection down. The classic section is in pretty dismal condition so weeding would theoretical be easy--I could pare it down by at least half but then students often come in needing the book today because they have to read it tonight for the project due tomorrow. My head is already hurting but I can't leave Dickens homeless so I will probably do a combination of both tactics to hedge my bets.