Collection Development: Will They Find Themselves in the Library?

 Houde, L. (2018). Collection development: Will they find themselves in the library? In Serving LGBTQ

teens: A practical guide for librarians (pp. 35-52). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. https://csu-sjsu.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CALS_SJO/1nj5q0c/cdi_proquest_miscellaneous_2133110065 

Historically, LGBTQ+ collections, particularly for teens, in the library used to be “almost non-existent” because LGBTQ+ books were not really being published (Houde, 2018, p. 36). Although the number of teen LGBTQ+ books that have been published has increased exponentially since the 1980s, it must be noted that homophobic/anti-queer stereotypes are still present in some recent LGBTQ+ books (i.e. focusing on queer sex instead of queer love) (p. 37). There is no defensible reason to exclude LGBTQ+ materials from your library’s collection and restrict intellectual freedom. Survey your library’s teen collection to determine if it meets your community’s needs, compare your findings to other libraries in your state, then examine your library’s collection development policy to determine how to proceed in selecting materials and possible challenges. This chapter also covers step-by-step guidelines of how to make an inclusive collection development policy, and various resources to use to order inclusive texts.

Collection Management & Digitization of Art

Sun, C. (2022, August 19). Data Collection and management of digital process of painting and calligraphy based on internet of things. Mobile Information Systems. https://www.hindawi.com/journals/misy/2022/6060115/'

Data Collection and Management of Digital Process of Painting and Calligraphy Based on Internet of Things (hindawi.com)

The process of digitization in collections is a rapidly changing process and field of work. The goal is to make sure that these items are protected and digitized correctly so that they withstand the test of time and become far more accessible to different groups across the world. The article above focuses on the importance of digitizing cultural art such as Calligraphy correctly so that not only is the visual item accessible within the collection, but so is the heart and intent behind it.

AI and Machine Learning

 AI and Machine Learning

Introduction to AI in DAMs

Every year the Digital Asset Management community holds a DAM conference in Los Angeles, New York and London. The frequency of the conference keeps attendees up-to-date on the latest trends and innovations. In March of 2023, the Los Angeles DAM included many hot topics, such as building a DAM and working with AI. Many of the presentations were given by digital asset managers with decades of experience at their institutions, learning to navigate fairly new digital asset management systems. Shared concerns and challenges included choosing platforms, working with vendors, managing massive amounts of assets, migrating assets from one system to another, and learning to use AI to manage digital assets effectively. 

Among some DAM experiences, one digital asset manager shared his experience working with AI. He talked about a video of the Amazon covered in trees, that was consistently misidentified by an automated system. The auto-generated tags identified the top of the trees as “broccoli.” So every three seconds the word “broccoli” appears in the descriptive language. The AI recognized the trees as “broccoli” because of how it was programmed. The incorrect AI required a team member to go in and manually correct each “broccoli” reference, according to the speaker. Although this was a very funny story and a good example of how AI can go terribly wrong, it sounds a bit like an urban myth. Logically, if you have ever used the Word function to replace one word with another in a document, wouldn’t it make sense that you could do the same within the context of a specific video, pertaining to it’s auto-generated tags? Learning to work with AI will soon be as common as learning how to use Word or Excel at work, notes Tenovos. 

Development of AI

Michael Waldron, CMO of Tenovos ask how digital asset managers are currently using AI at work. He used a poll to survey the audience of DAM professionals from across the world on how they are using AI: Some said their DAM does not have AI capabilities, and some have the capabilities but they are not using them, while others use AI in limited capacities, such as to label content and deliver insights. Still, a few express concerns that AI presents some serious risks and potential dangers. According to this brief survey of the audience at this presentation, over 50 percent of the represented Digital Asset Management Systems do not yet have AI capabilities. Less than 10 percent expressed concerns over using AI, and potential negative ramifications of implementation. The presentation attempts to explain both what AI is and what AI is not. Artificial Intelligence can be misunderstood. Over the past decade, AI has meant that humans have programmed machines and systems to provide automated responses, when prompted to give an answer to a question. This lighter version of Artificial Intelligence depends on hard coding by programmers. In other words, the machines merely answer what they are programmed to respond. They are not making any great leaps and bounds in processing communications and providing human-like responses, other than the programmers who programmed them are humans and write code to simulate human interactions. These easier versions of artificial intelligence were dependent on the information provided by the programmer. The AI was not based on any reasoning or logical deduction made by the machine or system to come up with the correct response. The answers were not provided based on deductive reasoning, in a manner similar to how a human responds. 

Evolution of AI

In this recent presentation on the evolution of artificial intelligence, Tenovos defines true AI as “The simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision making, and language translation,” (Tenovos, 2023, April 25.). In the last couple of years, true AI has evolved to include these four capabilities: decision making, language translation, speech recognition and visual perception. With these capabilities, AI helps reduce repetitive tasks that require a lot of time and manpower. AI can be used to automatically tag images and videos, to recognize backgrounds, faces, objects and voices, and to analyze user preferences and enhance content search ability and user adoption. These are features and functions that true AI should be capable of in order to help digital asset managers streamline workloads in their DAMS. 

Advances in AI and Machine Learning 

Part of artificial intelligence is machine learning, which eventually learns human-like behaviors beyond how its programmed.  As MIT Sloan professor Thomas Malone explains, “In just the last five or 10 years, machine learning has become a critical way, arguably the most important way, most parts of AI are done,” (Brown, 2021). Computer programmers agree that the ultimate goal of true AI is to be able to learn human-like decision making without needing a human to program those responses. These learned skills allow machines to respond to their physical environment as a human might. The three main functions of true AI include: Descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive behaviors. (Brown, 2021). 

Analysis of AI

According to Tenovos, key skills required to leverage AI include critical thinking and data analysis. As a digital asset manager, you must “consider the ethical implications of using AI in your DAM; evaluate and analyze AI-generated recommendations and insights; identify potential biases in data; and, make informed decisions on how to optimize workflow and performance based on AI insights,” (Tenovos, 2023, April 25.) Some of those biases include who is inputting the data and what natural biases impact the type of data being programmed into the machine or system. Biases can be built on the programmer’s background, including race, gender, sexual identity, culture and community. This is one reason why advancements in AI benefit from advancements in diversity, accessibility, inclusivity and equity in the Library and Information Sciences profession.  

Tenovos reminds users that AI is a human construct, so biases in the data input can impact the data output. The digital asset manager is responsible for analyzing that output from the AI, and verify that it does not violate any company policies, such as presenting racial biases, harmful language or inaccurate representations. Once programmed properly, AI can work to implement legal perimeters, check for use rights and red-flag any inappropriate or unacceptable content, in text, images and videos, throughout the DAM. AI can approve content based on brand guidelines or identify rights violations, notes Tenovos. AI can be used through out the workflow of an asset, assigning it to teams, authorizing access, auto-tagging metadata, updating metadata language, identifying faces, objects and voices, helping with accessibility issues, verifying rights and distributing assets to partners, for example.  

Training Your AI

Waldron encourages you to talk to your AI on a regular basis. Sign up for a CHAT GPT account. Manage your AI like you would manage someone on your team. How you extract the greatest value from this team member, depends on how well you monitor the results that you are getting from your AI. Tenovos recommends playing with your AI on a daily basis, outside of your DAM. Vendors in DAMS will not always be caught up on the latests technologies in AI. So it will be up to you to talk with your AI and learn  how to communicate with it, because you will need to know how it responds and what it is capable of in its responses. Recommended reading, AI, Machine Learning, DAMS, and the Future of Data.  

Brown, Sara (2021, April 21). Machine learning explained. MIT.

https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/machine-learning-explained

Tenovos (2023, April 25). The impact of AI on digital asset management: Key skills for dam managers to stay competitive

https://tenovos.com/resources/webinars/the-impact-of-ai-on-digital-asset-management-key-skills-for-dam-managers-to-stay-competitive/

Digital Asset Management Issues

DAM, AI and Copyright Basics

Each year HS Events hosts three Digital Asset Management conferences: The Henry Stewart DAM Conferences take place in Los Angeles in March, Europe in June and New York in September. This year the annual Henry Stewart DAM LA conference focused on ‘The Art & Practice of Managing Digital Media - all from the user’s perspective.’ Within the Welcome of the conference in Los Angeles, David H. Lipsey, Conference Chair, notes that “The importance of DAM grows with every year. Trends that will only accelerate with advances in AI, text to voice, voice to text, text to visual and visual to text.” In addition to the increased interest and use of AI, digital rights management issues continue to be critical for use and accessibility. Lipsey notes that “with every advance in technology there comes novel issues in the protection of intellectual property rights; management and corporate responsibilities; talent management; and, leadership roles and responsibilities. For many information sciences specialists and members of the professional DAM community, digital rights issues appear to be very complicated. But as a trained lawyer, I often argue that intellectual property rights are actually rather simple. 

In my Digital Asset Management course, taught by Professor John Horodyski at San Jose State University, School of Information, my classmate articulated that "The complicated entanglement of use, fair use, copyright, rights purchasing, licensing, etc. really makes my mind melt!" I wanted to explain that although these. legal issues can seem complicated, I think that they can be fairly simple to understand. In our discussion on the matter of intellectual property rights, I tried to simplify the understanding of basic copyright law. Basically, a copyright owner has the exclusive right to use, profit and control every bit of the creative work or digital asset that he owns. I like to think of intellectual property as if it’s real property, because the rights should be the same. If I am the legal owner of my home, I own all of my home and have a right to use 100 percent of my home, to lease (or license use of) my home, to allow someone to stay at my home for free, or even to allow to someone to shoot a film on my front porch or a video in my back yard. Under no condition, can some one use any part of my home without my permission. A neighbor cannot sit on my front porch steps for a few minutes, or park their car in my drive way for an hour, without my permission. So, in this analogy, my exclusive rights are not negotiable. We can say the same of intellectual property rights, such as copyrights, patents and trademarks. The owners have exclusive rights. From those exclusive rights come the exclusive right to use, profit from or license the copyrighted material, such as digital assets. Thus far, only the legal owner or an agent of the legal owner has any authority to use, license or profit from the intellectual property. Those rights issues are distinct from fair use. 

Fair use is a legal doctrine that allows for an exception to the exclusive use by the copyright owner. And, indeed, fair use is a complicated legal doctrine. But what is not complicated is who can determine what qualifies as fair use. Only a court of law can apply the legal analysis necessary to determine what qualifies as fair use, and is therefore an exception to the copyright owner's exclusive use and control of his intellectual property. So, this is why I say its simple: Copyright owners have exclusive right to determine use and control of all assets and only a court can apply the legal doctrine to determine what qualifies as fair use. Clearly, the main issue that complicates fair use and legal rights of intellectual property is individuals that want to claim fair use for their own personal benefit, and choose to define it in their own words, to meet their own personal needs. For instance, I know an operations coordinator that licenses music for film, television and commercials at Columbia Records, for Sony Music. Her team manages the rights of all the front-line music (music released within the last three years) for some of the top musicians in the world. She will often receive requests for free licenses, relatively inexpensive licenses ($200-$750), or more complicated licenses, where side artists might be involved, who are not at her label. If she cannot get the licenses cleared by time the use aires, the music use cannot be authorized. There has been more than one occasion, where music supervisors on projects have just blurted out the word fair use. "I think we can find an exception under fair use." But its pretty clear that fair use does not apply to commercial use of any copyrighted material. The best arguments for fair use are when intellectual property is used for an educational purpose to promote open dialogues about the work, such as in criticism of the work or reviews of the material. A film review would be a good example, where it would be valuable to show a portion of a film clip or a still frame, for analysis. 

With the title of the conference, DAM LA 2023 being ‘The Art & Practice of Managing Digital Media - all from the user’s perspective,’ the emphasis on the user’s perspective and experience is critical. And, digital rights management and intellectual property rights licensing and clearances directly impact the user’s access to digital assets. One interesting question posed to the panelists of subject matter experts pertained to copyrights over AI generated content. Again, this can appear to be a complicated issue, and it did stump each of the three panelists presented with question. But both the question and the answer are simple. Who owns the copyright to AI generated content? The entity or individual who paid for or “commissioned” the creation of the AI content owns it. Commissioned is placed in quotation marks referencing basic copyright law on ownership rights for commissioned work. 

Resources

Copyright Basics

https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ01.pdf

DAM Los Angeles 2023

https://www.henrystewartconferences.com/events/dam-la-2023

Art library collections at research universities: Challenges and opportunities for collaborative collection development

 Ricci, G., & Salmon, L. (2022). Art library collections at research universities: Challenges and opportunities for collaborative collection development. Art Libraries Journal, 47(3), 67–74. https://doi.org/10.1017/alj.2022.10

    
    There can be many different types of collections, with different restrictions and issues with each one. This article discusses how art libraries function. According to the author, they are still mainly confined to print. That can lead to difficulties when it comes to circulation. As an example, the two libraries mentioned primarily relied on in person visits and copying materials. This weakness was fully displayed during the pandemic, when they found they could not service their communities well anymore. The article focuses on how the two libraries handled their pandemic problems, as well as discuss the options they found available. The authors disagreed upon the presented options, but recognized the need to work with various other people and plan on measuring the effects of their joint efforts. 

    This article was an interesting one to read, as it discussed several things that can be somewhat taken for granted. First of all, not all institution have been willing or able to transfer their resources online. However, it also gave an interesting view of the collaboration between the two, with the two authors coming from different fields. It is a short article, and worth a read.

Putting the Science Back in Library Science: Collection Development, Diversity Audits, & Understanding Teens – Analyzing Data for Decision Making

 Aleen Houseman 

Citation:
            Jensen, K., & says, A. (2018, March 21). Putting the science back in library science: Collection development, diversity audits, & understanding teens – analyzing data for decision making. Teen Librarian Toolbox. https://teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2018/03/21/putting-the-science-back-in-library-science-collection-development-diversity-audits-understanding-teens-analyzing-data-for-decision-making/ 

Link: Click Here

Descriptions:
            Description: This rescore includes a first-hand perspective of collection developments and diversity audits. Librarian Karen Jensen of the Mount Vernon Public library walks the reader through her process of evaluating/ creating and auditing a collection at her library. 

"They're So Stinkin' Popular, How Could You Say No?" Graphic Novel Collection Development and School Librarian Self-Censorship

Moeller, R. A. & Becnel, K. E. (2020) “They’re so stinkin’ popular, how could you say no?” Graphic novel collection development and school librarian self-censorship. The Library Quarterly, 90(4), 515-529. https://doi.org/10.1086/710262

Librarians often engage in self-censorship pertaining to graphic novels, primarily driven by a feeling of professional insecurity and “fear of their occupational livelihood.” Most of the challenged books are those with school-aged audiences, and several are graphic novels partly because of the captivating images, which are more visceral than words. In addition, a majority of challenged books contain LBGTQIA+ themes. 

A total of twenty elementary and middle school librarians were interviewed for this study, and the following themes emerged from the interviews.

• Librarians are discreetly establishing hidden sections within collections where students must specifically request specific titles to check them out or are labeled to indicate there is “questionable content” contained in the book.

• Some librarians use direct censorship by covering up images to make them “cleaner.”

• Librarians are more cautious in selecting graphic novels for the collection because they find it riskier. 

• Librarians are preempting challenges from the community, especially in more conservative districts. They often rely on other librarians’ advice and experience with a title and warnings from vendors. Unfortunately, few participants used professional reviews when making decisions about graphic novels. 

• Most librarians need help understanding graphic novels and initially thought books with images would be friendly for all children. 

• Some librarians recognize the importance of the freedom to read and the value of graphic novels in improving literacy. 

Librarians who encounter book challenges are significantly influenced in their purchasing choices. Graphic novels are the most circulated materials in the collections and assist struggling readers and visual learners. Therefore, they should be considered an integral component of the library’s diverse reading materials and included in its collection development. We, as librarians, must stay firm on the frontlines of censorship to provide our patrons with the broadest possible range of viewpoints and opinions. 

Parents as Social Influences Encouraging Book Reading: Research Directions for Librarians’ Literacy Advocacy

Merga, M. K., & Roni, S. M. (2018). Parents as Social Influences Encouraging Book Reading: Research Directions forLibrarians’Literacy Advocacy. Journal of Library Administration, 58(1), 674-697. https://doi.org/10.1080/01930826.2018.1514841

School libraries can support parents by providing the most current research insights to inform their approach to supporting reading at home. This journal illuminates the relationships between reading frequency,  gender, and parental encouragement. It also mentions the important role of the library's valuable educative partnerships with families in fostering literacy. As such, this paper seeks to investigate the role of parents as influential social agents in supporting young people’s reading beyond the early years, with a particular interest in the types of encouragement provided and the relationship between children’s gender and encouragement.  It suggests that while encouragement is being focused on the children who need it, infrequent readers, the gender disparity in favor of greater encouragement for girls, who read more frequently in general, is a serious issue worth further exploration and an important point for educative intervention by librarians and other literacy advocates. Librarians can use this research to support parent–child reading initiatives that extend beyond the early years of parents as Social Influences Encouraging Book Reading693of reading skill acquisition and support parents to highly encourage their children.

Informational Texts and our Littlest Library Patrons

Correia, M. P. (2011). Fiction vs informational texts: Which will kindergartners choose? Young Children, 66(6), 100-104.

In this article, Correia makes a strong case for the inclusion of non-fiction materials in primary classroom libraries. We often tend to stock shelves intended for nonreading and emerging reader students with beautifully illustrated fiction picture books. However, access to non-fiction materials is crucial for the development of literacy skills. According to the literature review, early access to informational texts, including books, magazines, and any other print sources, is proven to expand young readers' vocabularies and background subject knowledge. This was a study which sought to determine whether kindergarteners actually preferred fiction over nonfiction. The author found that despite many, including her own, assertions to the contrary, when given good quality options for both, students actually preferred the nonfiction informational genre.

Not Your Mom's Graphic Novels: A 10-year-old Article Still Worth the Read

Article: Jorgensen, A & Lechan, A. (2013). Not your mom’s graphic novels: Giving girls a choice beyond Wonder Woman. Technical Services Quarterly, 30 (3), 266-284. https://doi.org.10.1080/07317131.2013.785779

Summary: School librarians Arianna Lechan and Anna Jorgensen, take readers through the history of comic books and into the current day of graphic novel popularity, while looking through a feminist lens. They "provide criteria for vetting the new female protagonist...positive role models who appeal to all audiences" in order to assist librarians in evaluating and building relevant graphic novel collections (Jorgensen & Lechan, 2013). 

Evaluation: This well-written, peer-reviewed article begins with an evaluation and highlight of comics through the decades:

• 1930s: Tarzan, Dick Tracy and Superman; the portrayal of "the ace girl reporter,"
• 1940s: DCs Wonder Woman, Marvel's Black Cat are created
• popularity of "career girl" comics (Tessie the Typist, Nellie the Nurse, Millie the Model) mock women in the workplace.
• The Archie comics with Betty and Veronica lead to the rise of teen comics as a genre.
• 1950s: "Romantic comics" are created a popularized 
• The "Comics Magazine Association of America" is formed and establishes rules and standards for portrayals of violence, profanity, and nudity in comics. Most comics with "gripping action or horror" are 'gone' by the end of the decade.
• 1960s: Social change with sexual liberation and women's liberation, but comics feature women who have "little opportunity to be a hero."
• 1970s: First all-women's comic It Ain't Me Babe: Women's Liberation depicting real-life issues of women (such as depression and single parenthood); first autobiographical (and lesbian) comic published by Alice Kominsky.
• 1980s: Messaging that women can have both careers and families; Comic book creators seem out of touch with readers, creating romance comics that ultimately fail.
• 1990s: Majority of comics created with an emphasis on the sexual characteristics of women, with "balloon-sized breasts and thighs wider than their waists, posed in anatomically impossible positions" (2013). Female characters are often used as plot devices involving rape, violence, or the murder of a loved one.
• 2000s: The last decade studied in this paper, seen as a "hopeful time" for female authors and illustrators in the comic book industry, although comics are still produced portraying women as sexual prizes. Female writers, such as Kelly Sue DeConnick (Captain Marvel) and Fiona Staples (Saga) are among several women successful in the industry.

    Collection Management: Jorgensen and Lechan believe that historical analysis of female representation in comics is important in building a strong, equitable, diverse graphic novel collection in the library. The last half of the article discusses guidelines for choosing graphic novel titles with consideration to the characteristics of a strong female character, character portrayal, storylines and artwork, with several examples and sources given for each point. Although the article was written in 2013, the suggestions given are relevant and helpful today.

 

Ensuring a diverse collection: promoting equity of access and free expression

Howe, Jackie

ALSC Intellectual Freedom Committee. (2020, June 20). Ensuring a diverse collection: promoting equity of access and free expression. https://www.alsc.ala.org/blog/2020/06/ensuring-a-diverse-collection-promoting-equity-of-access-and-free-expression/ 

Summary & Opinion: 

This article notes the importance of having a diverse children's collection, and the value for all children to see themselves represented in literature. The article noted one example, that the children's library at the University of Wisconsin saw a 34% increase in books published by diverse authors, but only 15% of children's books in the collection were by diverse authors. One of my critiques of this article is that it does not outline or clearly define what a "diverse" author is. While it appears the authors are more specifically referring to race they do not go far enough in further breaking that down for readers, just simply stating "non-white". They wholly disregard the myriad and varied ways that individuals identity can be "diverse". 

Additionally, the second part of the article then helps readers to select a diverse collection. They included helpful links to outside resources, but on the whole did not provide concrete steps a librarian could take in ensuring that their collection is representative of the diverse life experiences children come to the library with everyday. While this article is a good starting point and conversation starter about the importance of developing diverse collections it could dig deeper. 

Why California Schools “May” Have Qualified Librarians

Jaclyn Graham

Article:
Lambert, D. (2022, April 14). Where are all of California’s school librarians? EdSource. https://edsource.org/2022/where-are-all-the-school-librarians/670164

Summary: Teacher librarians have a unique role to play in the education of today's youth. Teacher librarians “positively impact student achievement at all grade levels” (Lambert 2022). They support student learning and foster curiosity. They teach information literacy, digital safety, research skills and providing quality reading materials that connect to classroom content and cater to student interest.  

But still, California schools “may appoint a librarian or librarians to staff the libraries provided they qualify as librarians.” (California Legislative Information, 1990). California schools have the option to hire and pay a qualified skilled teacher librarian or hire and pay a paraprofessional at a fraction of the cost. Because of this non obligatory California students are missing out. And with some of the lowest adult literacy rates in the country, it shows.

The wording in this section of the California Ed Code allows school districts more flexibility with staffing, and contributes to an unstable job market for potential teacher librarians. When budgets are robust teacher librarians are hired, but when funding dries up teacher librarian jobs are easily cut. Credentialed teacher librarians are pushed into classroom teaching or searching for positions elsewhere. Those aware of the optional role of teacher librarian in California schools may see committing time and money towards the extra credential as an unwise investment. This contributes to a low supply of new teacher librarians in the state.

Opinion and Evaluation: I write this as a high school library paraprofessional, afraid to lose their school's teacher librarian. Afraid that the students we now serve will lose the welcoming library that supports their curiosity and growth. Afraid that future students might be pushed into the world unprepared for the glut of information and misinformation. We write letters to our senators and assembly people, we show up to board meetings and every March we cross our fingers, hoping we won’t see any pink slips. This article offers an overview of the problem, but we really do need a solution.

California Legislative Information. (1990). CA Education Code § 18120. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=EDC&sectionNum=18120.#:~:text=18120

Why Focus on Diversity in Children's Collections? 

Jordana Finlay

As I’ve begun to sort through the collection of my school library since I inherited it a few months ago, I have been putting a lot of thought and energy into making sure that we have a diverse collection of children’s materials. The school where I work is dramatically lacking in diversity overall- it is a Jewish school with the requirement that all students be Jewish. Our student body is 98% caucasian and very few students receive tuition assistance. The school has very few resources for students with cognitive or physical disabilities, so students with those needs are not typically drawn to our school.  

A lot of the writing about the importance of diversity in children’s media discusses the importance of children being able to see themselves reflected back. In the case of my students, it is almost more important that they are exposed to other experiences in order to grow empathy and a wider world view. The author of the below linked article points out that libraries are “spaces that welcome children to explore, discover, and connect to the larger world, libraries can play an integral role in helping them develop understanding and respect for other people from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.” Campbell Naidoo talks about the five Fs often used to incorporate diversity into collections and programming: “foods, festivals, folklore, fashion, and famous people of a particular culture.” She notes that in and of itself, introducing new cultures this way isn’t the worst, but truly we should be incorporating diverse stories into everyday themes and displays. I will be taking a lot away from this article as I work to grow my collection.

Campbell Naidoo, J. (2014, April 5). The importance of diversity in library programs and material. Association for Library Service to Children. 

https://www.ala.org/alsc/sites/ala.org.alsc/files/content/ALSCwhitepaper_Importance%20of%20Diversity%20FINAL_1.pdf

Building ESL Collection

Evgenia Sablina 

                                                          Building ESL Collection 

As an immigrant and pursuing a librarian carrier, I have a particular interest in helping immigrant communities. Unfortunately, I could not locate studies on building an ESL collection for adult users. However, there are some studies done on creating such collections in schools or academic libraries. Living in Las Vegas, I choose one that is close to home. The study I found was produced by two UNLV (University of Las Vegas) librarians, Amantha Godbey and Amanda Melilli.

Godbey, & Melilli, A. (2021). Developing a P-12 English Language Learner Collection in an Academic Library That Reflects Its Community. Collection Management, 46(3-4), 273–290. https://doi.org/10.1080/01462679.2021.1910889

                According to Census.gov, 13.7% of the U.S. population is foreign-born. The number of immigrants steadily rises every year. With the increase of newcomers, the need to access materials that would help them to navigate within a new cultural and socio-economical environment is in demand. Apparently, the first and most important step for immigrants is to learn the host country’s language. It seems logical for public libraries to be upfront to provide access to such materials and to have a comprehensive ESL collection to help with this first step. However, the picture, in reality, may not be so positive, as some public libraries may be way behind in meeting apparent demand.

There are no studies that public librarians can use to help them build a proficient ESL collection for adults. However, some studies explore the topic of building an ESL collection for young learners.

Godbey & Melilli's article suggests building an ESL collection in an Academic Library for P-12 English Language Learners and the instructors.  The authors acknowledge that there has been an increase in ESL students at public schools throughout the United States over the past decades. Godbey   & Melilli argue that academic libraries associated with teacher education programs must modify their collections to better prepare teachers for working in these increasingly diverse P-12 schools. In this article, the authors describe how, in support of young ESL learners and teachers working with them, librarians at a research institution in one of the largest school districts in the country (Clark County, Nevada) approached a project to develop such a collection.  Godbey & Mellilli, working as librarians at UNLV (University of Las Vegas), assessed the current collection before purchasing any new material, surveyed literature on ESL collections in other academic libraries, and examined the local school district’s characteristics.  In their study, the authors advocate for using non-English materials to emphasize the value of home languages and culture, as well as the use of alternative youth library formats such as graphic novels or hi-lo books that also could be used in order to encourage a developing level of ESL skills and content literacy.  Libraries must be strategic in creating and promoting collections that offer various formats, topics, reading levels, and languages to meet the unique learning needs of ESL learners in their communities as well as educators.

Although this article concentrates on ESL material for young learners, the study findings can be used for public libraries for both YPL and adult collections.

 

The Need for Diversity Audits

 

Amanda Lawrence

Brilliant, B., Guessford, M.R., Snieg, A.L., Jones, J.J., Keeler, T., & Stephenson, P.L. (2002). Assessing diversity in hospital library collections. Medical Reference Services Quarterly. 41(4), 424-438. https://doi.org/10.1080/02763869.2022.2131185

For Project 6 and my additional reading assignment, I chose to focus my research on diversity audits and why they are an important step in all collection management policies. At a minimum, collection development is the act of selecting new materials and weeding out old ones for your students or patrons. However, without specific collection management policies that are inclusive of diversity, equity, and inclusion standards, a library's collection runs the risk of excluding underrepresented people, their voices, and their experiences.

The article above focused on the need for diversity audits in a library hospital. My coursework and experience has primarily been with public libraries, so it was interesting to see how the idea of collection management works in a different setting. Unsurprisingly, a lack of diverse materials seems to be a common thread amongst most libraries; out of the libraries studied, 3% of collections referred to disability, 8% referred to ethnicity, and 0.37% had any cross-cultural references. This is particularly startling in a medical setting, since patients need medical professionals who are sensitive to their diverse needs and who understand how different backgrounds can affect a person's physical or mental health. On a more basic level, diseases present themselves differently on different bodies, so without diverse representation in medical books, patients may go undiagnosed. This article shows the need to conduct diversity audits on hospital collections; even though it is a long, costly, and imperfect system, it is essential for the library and hospital in order to function and provide proper evidence-based care.

Exploring Collections Centered on Media Fans

 Jenkins. (2006). Fans, bloggers, and gamers : exploring participatory culture. In Fans, Bloggers, and 

        Gamers (pp. 3-49). New York University Press.

    What should library collections reflect? Should they reflect the needs of the library or the needs of information seekers? I truly believe that collections should reflect the needs of the people. The needs of the patrons coming to the library everyday seeking information. The above book is transformative in the sense that it addresses how bloggers, fans, and gamers should seek their own information through the context of library collections. Jenkins (2006) states in his book, "The new participatory culture is taking shape at the intersection between three trends: 1. New tools and technologies enable consumers to archive, annotate, appropriate, and recirculate media content; 2. a range of subcultures promote Do-It-Yourself (DIY) media production, a discourse that shapes how consumers have deployed those technologies…" If the library can capitalize on these trends from participatory culture then libraries can have very targeted collections for media fans. 

    Media fans are constantly searching for answers to their questions based on what they watch and their hobbies. Libraries are meant to serve those information seeking behaviors. Having collections that reflect that participatory culture and having the tools that media fans need will draw in new patrons and new services for this community. This book truly reveals this concept and could really help school librarians and public librarians reflect the collections that media users need. This can include the use of media platforms included with the collections as well. I plan on having a media fans center whenever I am school librarian to encourage students seek out information in the library. I hope others can follow in the same direction.