The AGID CANADA Book & Journal
Donation Project

The Warehouse Operation

These images of the AGID CANADA warehouse holdings provide a glimpse of the scale of the collection and cataloguing activities.


1. The stockpiled materials, books and journals alike, are housed on combinations of warehouse pallets and high-rise shelving. Appraisal and cataloguing of new arrivals is a table-top affair. Premium catalogued book titles find space on regular book shelving, while journals and other books are boxed and labelled. Book orders are assembled on designated tables for packing and shipping.








2. Books processed to the catalogue would all ideally be physically accessible on regular book shelves, sorted by topic, including the 30-40 themes identified by AGID CANADA volunteers and represented in the current catalogue.













3. Book requests for which a method of transportation has been identified are assembled in table-top piles. They are then packed into boxes and, in the case of large orders, stacked and wrapped on pallets for shipment. The books shown here are ready to ship in late 2001.












4. The catalogue operation runs from a small, dedicated space in the "office" section of the warehouse area. On occasion small collections are catalogued in volunteers' homes and returned for shelving. A single master copy of the AGID database is maintained for the assembly of catalogues and shipping lists.

CURRENT STATUS

The AGID CANADA Book & Journal Donation Project has achieved the following state of development:

1. It has reached a mature stage of acquisition, sorting and storage of materials. The response to requests for materials has been so successful that the emphasis has now been shifted towards the dispersal of the collections.

2. The contacts acquired by AGID CANADA volunteers over the past decade include dozens of worthy recipient institutions worldwide, most particularly in Africa, south Asia and eastern Europe.

3. The warehouse operation of the project has stockpiled numerous small orders for respondents to the last catalogue, and expects soon to receive a further batch of requests from the 2001 catalogue.

4. AGID CANADA is now seeking funding to ship as much of the warehoused stock as possible in the next year. It is recognized that a concerted effort will be required, and, as with larger aid organizations, some paid staff will be required for a limited period to supplement the previous, purely volunteer operation.