Rightsizing the Academic Library Collection by Suzanne M. Ward

 

By Adame, Katelynn

  Ward, S. M. (2015). Rightsizing the academic library collection. ALA Editions, an imprint of the American Library Association.

Summary: 

Ward's Rightsizing the academic library collection provides a new take on the deselection/weeding process. Always a daunting task, the book proposes the solution of rightsizing for academic libraries. The book begins my evaluating some of the challenges faced by academic libraries, including collaborative efforts, instruction design, employee relation, online learning, enrollment consideration, data collection, diversity, and more. Ward points out that libraries, "need to prove not only that their services benefit the institutions students and faculty, but also that these services are an integral part of student and faculty success," (p. 3). Where collections are concerned, issues of space, quality, and usability are all considerations when advocating for the growth of the library and their collections. Collection curation and deselection criteria should constantly be evolving to meet the needs of students, however, predicting the needs can be difficult, leaving library staff trailing behind while students advance. Large, unruly collections can be difficult to maintain and use, posing potential risks to funding and accessibility of the library collection. Ward does cover some traditional methods of weeding, and while these values still have merit, they may not necessarily be the best solution for academic libraries. The concept of Rightsizing requires libraries to assess their collections and evaluate what a suitable collection may look like for their institution. Rightsizing implements a plan that clearly "state the project’s objectives, staffing assignments, available resources, importance and relationship to the library’s primary goals, expected time frame for a large retroactive effort, measures of success, and strategy for ongoing maintenance," (p. 49). Instead of an annual practice, rightsizing transform the practice of deselection into an ongoing practice that is integral to the lifecycle management of an overall collection. The goal is to ultimately utilize space as best as possible while providing a collection that is usable, accessible, and offers students multiple avenues of information access. 

Evaluation/Review: 

As someone who works in a library with an unruly collection, this was an invaluable resource. Weeding has been an ongoing issue for our institution. Our general collection is full of outdated and unused material. While we continue to get new materials, our old materials seem to never leave. This leaves our collection daunting and unusable for students. I believe Ward has posed some excellent solutions through Rightsizing. Her solution of creating a weeding plan and criteria to generate an ongoing process of weeding can be helpful for librarians who do not have the time or resources to complete the laborious task of weeding. Rightsizing offers a means of maintain a collection that is realistic, manageable, and suitable to your staffing and institutional needs. For individuals in academic libraries, balancing collection management alongside other duties as liaisons, instructors, committee members, and more can be daunting. Typically, the practice of weeding gets pushed aside, leaving a collection in less than ideal condition. Rightsizing might be an excellent solution for information professionals who are looking to manage an unruly collection.