A colleague just pointed out to me an article on stock management in the CILIP Gazette dated 28 Jan. written by Susan Wills , Stock Development Manager at Kensington and Chelsea. It contains some very good ideas:

1. monitoring reservations as a clue to demand,
2. monitoring supplier selection with an annual update of specification in the light of a stock audit
3. Use of a council geo-demographic service (Mosaic) to analyse borrower postcode distribution

More important than this however, Susan Wilks describes a management culture predicated on data rather than opinion. It contains the classic line:

“We need to be much more proactive in the way that we respond to customers by considering what information we can use to improve predictions of what they might want – before they ask us”

A brilliant article. It is on page 4 of the Gazette.