About SCS
Sustainable Collection Services (SCS) sprung from the desire to solve a single problem. In 10+ years of doing workflow consulting for academic libraries, Rick Lugg and Ruth Fischer of R2 Consulting had the opportunity to see any number of problems confronting these libraries as they made the transistion to an increasingly digital future.
As consultants they could advise on a great many topics but once a library was in their rear-view mirror, they could never be sure which problems actually got tackled. They longed for a simpler life with a more clearly defined problem.
This problem began to present itself back in 2007. In one library after another, they observed shelves that were full to overflowing, in many cases with books that weren’t being used. The simple truth was that libraries weren't doing enough deselection work. There have always been good reasons to weed collections, but it hasn’t been done with anything like the effort or attention that it deserved.
In 2008, they wrote an article titled “Weeding: The Time is Now” in Against the Grain and thus began an “unhealthy obsession” with weeding. The concept for Sustainable Collection Services was developed in subsequent workshops and focus groups, leading to the formation of the company in early 2011.
The Team
Rick has worked with academic libraries since 1983. As a consultant and vendor, he has written approval plans, streamlined workflows, evaluated collections, and designed library-friendly products and services. He holds an MLIS from Simmons College. In 2007, Rick saw a growing need to weed monographs collections—responsibly, intelligently, and efficiently. His interest in this unlikely topic is partly karmic: having spent the first half of his career putting books into libraries, he must now spend the second half taking them back out.
Ruth was born in Washington, DC. She graduated from Earlham College with a B.A in American Frontier History and she holds a Masters in Education from Penn State. For ten years prior to founding R2 Consulting, Ruth was a key contributor at YBP Library Services in the design and implementation of approval plans, cataloging and shelf-preparation services, profiling decision support tools, and GOBI. Ruth has two grown children; an artist and an engineer.
Eric has worked in the IT field for 28 years. He has focused on data, information architecture, and search technologies that power customer facing applications. Before joining Sustainable Collection Services, Eric worked at Blackwell North America for 24 years. His most recent roles there were Chief Architect and Director of Engineering and Information Technology. He led the development of Blackwell’s Collection Manager 7 web application. Eric lives in Portland, Oregon. He enjoys cycling, reading, and listening to good music - especially jazz.
Andy has spent the past 15 years developing content-management, web, and search solutions for libraries and their users. His experience spans Fortune 100 companies, start-ups, and universities. His interest areas include product design, user experience, visualization, and personal information management. He holds an MLIS degree from Simmons College. When he isn’t working or enjoying life in Watertown, Massachusetts, Andy can be found on his bike or hiking in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.
