This paper examines Providence College’s experience in organizing, creating, and implementing the library’s collection management system, including how and why we chose Microsoft Access®, involved non-periodicals library staff in each phase, worked with existing periodicals information to form the basis for the collection management system, decided which information/fields to include, and retrieved/compiled the necessary information about each title by comparing our existing records to what was physically on the shelf.

We also discuss how we used the collection management system to solicit input into collection management decisions such as cancellations and retention, create detailed reports with a variety of information, provide the information required for the periodicals integration project that combined the previously separate humanities and science collections into one collection as part of the library renovation project, manage the temporary division of the collection into three locations as part of the library renovation project, and assist academic departments in managing periodical titles in their respective areas.