Building a Collection from the Ground Up

Leininger, Isis
INFO 266
4/28/2016

Flater, E. (2016). Building a collection from the ground up: Notes from a first attempt at developing a collection for a new master’s degree. Strategic Library. Retrieved from http://www.libraryspot.net/SL/Collections.pdf

Flater, E. (2015, November). From the ground up: Notes from a first attempt at new collection building [PDF poster]. Retrieved from http://schd.ws/hosted_files/2015charlestonconference/1e/poster2dark.pdf

In the midst of all my subscriptions to listservs and newsletters, I found something that is related to this class and that could actually help us with our projects both in school and in our careers. The article was linked through the newsletter and I was able to find the author's online poster so you can look through both the article and the poster. I highly recommend that you read them if you plan on becoming an academic librarian when you graduate.

The article and poster are accounts of how an academic librarian developed a collection to support a new graduate program. The author talks about the funding she had access to, the deadlines she had to meet, and tools she used for collection development. She also talks about the challenges they met through the process, where they are, and where they want to be in the future.
She talks about how they divided their budget to buy new, older, and eBooks. She discusses that her library had to reevaluate expenditures and invest more money on eBook databases for Architecture. E-book collections subscriptions, as she came to realize, became a great way of improving the collection quickly and effectively.
The author also discusses using LOC classification for finding materials in other disciplines that related to the field. She also followed the guidance of other libraries, professional organizations, bibliographies, book reviews, and other resources. In addition, she points out the importance of improving the communication with campus faculty in order to better meet the needs of the campus.

This article and corresponding poster can certainly serve as good guides for us as we develop collections in academic libraries. It is a good overview of what kind of resources we should look into, and what kinds of challenges we might face in collection development. It also serves as a good example of how academic librarians can do collection development under a limited budget. In fact, I have saved the article and poster so that I can use it as a quick guide if I ever have to do this kind of collection development in my career.

Special Libraries and Collection Development

Amy Kumar

Holder, S. (2013). Library collection development for professional programs: Trends and best practices. Hershey, Pa: Information Science Reference.

Summary
This ebook is a great resource available through SJSU's King Library. It is a compendium of essays by special library collection developers, and includes chapters on medical libraries, academic business department libraries, theological libraries, interdisciplinary collection assessment, architecture programs, and much more. The field reports each chapter are headed with an abstract and are readable as stand-alone articles well worth citing in scholarly communications. The various issues are presented from a professional librarian standpoint and are illustrated within the context of each special library environment.

Analysis
I find this ebook to be quite helpful in understanding how all of the issues we have learned about operate in those different environments. I would suggest reading whichever chapter interests the reader, however, as the issues of selection and collection are so similar between libraries that some of the views can seem redundant. Where they vary, however, is how the librarians learn to deal with those issues and the lessons learned. The book also presents reference information specific to each field, and makes for a great resource for those looking for those subject-specific resources. Overall, however, this is an excellent and thorough treatment of the issues in collection development through the eyes of a variety of library professionals.

You Want Me to Select for What?

Rowland, Sarah

You Want Me to Select for What? Getting Started in a New Area [Motion picture]. (2009). YouTube: https://youtu.be/6FiMgZgNwbc?list=PL2FFE2735B171F4A4.

Summary: This is a webinar given by the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services the presenter was Virginia Kay Williams. It started with letting you know the first thing to do is collect background information such as reviewing the collection development policy, reports on missing books, circulation statistics, any surveys that had been done and any existing information on the subject area that has been done previously. Find out the library goals and who the users of the collection are. It really gives a general overview of strategies for selecting in an unfamiliar subject area. Next is making a list of major concepts for the subject area that you are reviewing. This is a list you can refer back to when making selections. Other sources out there that she mentions are to see if your library has a subject specific collection policy, bibliographies or guides, review journals, industry sources, best books list, award lists, media and requests from patrons. If you are working in an academic library you could go talk with faculty and students to find out what they are researching. In other words talk to the people using the collection.

Evaluation: It was a nice overview on what to do when faced with selecting materials in an area that you’re not familiar with. It was nice to see that she started with similar concepts we learned in class about getting to know your community. ALCTS has a nice YouTube channel with lots of webinars dealing with many topics we have covered in class. Highly recommend as review or to learn more about specific areas.