Collection Development Policies in Community College Libraries

Verdin, Andrew

AV

Mesling, C. F. (2003). Collection development policies in community college libraries. Community & Junior College Libraries, 11(2), 73-88. doi: 10.1300/J107v11n02_07

             Community college and other academic libraries need collection development policies, if one is not already in place, for reasons including communication between those involved internal and external to the library. While the process of creating a new policy might seem daunting and troublesome, this article provides insight on policy components and developing the policy, as well as excerpts of policies to facilitate the drafting process.

Is Ther a Future for Collection Development Librarians?

Clark-Collier, Kelsey

Thomas A. Karel, "Is There a Future for Collection Development Librarians?" (2013). Proceedings of the Charleston Library Conference. http://dx.doi.org/10.5703/1288284315257

How has the development of the E-Book and other digital resources impacted the role and purpose of the collection librarian? This is the core question that Thomas A.Karel seeks to discuss and address in his article titled Is there a Future for Collection Development Librarians? Reflecting on his career as an academic librarian, which required a great deal of collection development responsibility, Karel discusses how factors such as changing acquisiton plans combined with a lack of available space for the thousands of journal databases and 500,000 book titles housed within his library has resulted in an increasing number of demands being placed on the institution to develop an effective collection development and management policy. 

Following this, Karel touches upon his main critical point, which is the effect of the introduction of E-Books into his library's collection. He argues that the expertise of librarians regarding selection is considerably diminished when it comes to digital materials, a concern shared and supported by a wide  variety o recent literature. Karel goes onto list factors that pose threats to the collection librarian (such as E-books, diminished interest from faculty in ordering materials and the ever incresing demands from students regarding information needs) as well as potential opportunities (establishing closer relationships with vendors, working more closelywith faculty to select materials, and taking the opportunity to update exisiting collection development policies). Karel concludes by reflecting upon a teaching session he attended withother librarians where themes affecting collection development were discussed, along with varying degrees of concern and hope regarding the future of collection development in all different types of libraries.

This article stood out to me for a variety of reasons. While the impact of digital resources and technology on traditional print library collections is a complex topic that I have expierenced in prior courss, it is my belief that the notion of digital materials replacing print materials is somewhat overestimated, especially in school and public libraries. That's not to assume that patrons have been reluctant to adapt to new forms of technology and digital services. Rather, I feel that libraries as repositories of print and tangible resources is a deeply ingrained concept that spans thousands of years, and is likely not going away anytime soon. As Karel discusses however, the real core questionp is not whether digital materials will overtake print materials, its to what degree are which librarians in the present day willing and able to incoporate digitial materials innovatively into their institutions in such a way that benefits both library users and potential non-users. He takes it one step further by providing three excellent questions that serve as solid foundations for discussion and debate regarding the topic:

1.) What does a Collection Development librarian do?

2.)What tasks can be effectively carried out by other staff? 

3.) What, ideally, might be the role of a Collection Development Librarian in the new electronic enviornment?

These questions serve as excellent foundations for further discussion and debate because they provide an opportunity to gain insight not only into the current role and purpose of collection development librarians, but also the factors that are affecting this particular position both here in the present and in the future. 

Libraries of Things: A Movement

Westa, Emily


Robinson, M. & Shedd, L. (2017). Audio recorders to zucchini seeds: Building a library of things. Santa Barbara, CA. ABC-CLIO.
Preview found here!


While this link leads not to an article, but rather to the first few chapters of a book, I feel that these few chapters give a great introduction and insight into the rising Library of Things movement. Many libraries in the Boston area (where I live), have been expanding their collections to include significant Library of Things (LoTs) collections and I’ve been noticing a rise in community engagement and excitement surrounding these new collections. This movement is nation-wide, and even international, and I believe it will continue to grow until LoTs are a staple in every major library. Let me know if your library has a LoT or is thinking about adding one!


Summary:

Beginning with a comprehensive history of the Library of Things movement and moving into case studies of LoTs in both public and academic libraries, Audio Recorders to Zucchini Seeds provides an engaging and complete overview of the movement as it has grown, how it looks today across the U.S.A, and what it could become as it continues to grow. The Library of Things movement has its roots in Curriculum Material Centers, offering real classroom materials for training and use by teachers-in-training, Tool Libraries, and other specialized collections, such as those with toys & games or multimedia collections. Today, many of these materials and objects are still a significant part of LoTs, but the possibilities of what can be included are both “diverse and limitless” (pg. 22). In Part II, we are presented with six case studies from public libraries with LoTs focused on everything from, bicycles to seeds, which people borrow, plant, and replace with new seeds grown in their plants during the next season. Part III focuses on academic libraries- providing us with seven case studies of LoTs with gaming consoles, video equipment, scopes, curriculum materials, technology and more. Although I haven’t read the end of the book (yet!), I know from the introduction that the last couple chapters focus on a special library in Alaska and an offering of best practices for libraries to consider and adopt when building their own Library of Things!


Evaluation:

Well written and extensively researched, Audio Recorders to Zucchini Seeds provides the most in depth discussion of the Library of Things movement that I could find online or in print. The introduction and history given in this book are comprehensive and clear. I especially appreciated the analysis of social movements, including the community sharing economy, that have supported LoTs and allowed these to move from specialized, unique collections to being more of the norm and expectation at many libraries across the U.S.A. The editors’ inclusion of case studies as the major content of this book brings in critical real-world experiences- successes and challenges. While I had only heard of LoTs at public libraries, the section on academic libraries opened my eyes to even greater possibilities for this type of collections as spanning across library types. Someday soon, LoTs could even exist in school libraries, supported the success of both students and school libraries. Overall, this book was well-written, engaging and incredibly informative. I would definitely recommend checking it out and at least reading the introduction, which provides an overview of each section. Let me know what you think!

E-books: Are We on the Same Page?

Ogden, Kaylene

Bozarth, S., & Zhong, Y. (2016). E-books: Are we on the same page?. Journal Of Electronic Resources Librarianship, 28(4), 232-253

Summary:

EBooks are increasingly popular throughout all types of libraries. In order to effectively include eBooks in an academic library's collection, it is important that the library first determine students wants and needs so that the library does not spend its budget frivolously.  

For this study, a survey of students, staff and faculty was sent out, with a response of 630, the majority of which were student responses.  Demographic data was also gathered.  The study found that 62% of students had read an eBook compared to 84% of faculty, with the most common use of eBooks for students being personal, class assignment, and required text.  48% of students found eBooks through and internet search, compared to only 23% who used the library catalog.  Across all three categories, most respondents learned about the eBook collection from the survey itself, followed secondly by an instructor or librarian.  Use of eBooks was overwhelmingly done through Amazon.  The most common reasons for using eBooks were 24/7 access, extra features such as highlighting, price, and ability to search within the books.  In comparison to print, students were more likely to prefer print for required texts and digital for research.  While many respondents were not aware of the eBook collection, faculty said they were more likely to recommend eBooks to be purchased.  A major takeaway from this study is that the library's eBook collection needs better marketing.

Evaluation:

This article is a great example of how important it is to do research on current and potential users when trying to develop a collection.  A huge part of collection development is marketing, that means both knowing your market (the students, faculty, and staff) and promoting to them as well.  The findings about what kind of eBooks students and staff are most interested in will be useful for this particular library's collection.  It may have been more prudent to start this kind of "market research" before purchasing eBooks, in order to use the library's budget more effectively.  This research can't be generalized, but the idea is a great one that can be used by school, public, and academic libraries alike when deciding what sort of eBook collection to develop (or if they are going to develop one).  

Beyond the Library of Congress: Collecting Practices of South Asia Area Specialist Librarians

1. Seppi, Greg
2. Thacker, M. (2015). Beyond the Library of Congress: Collecting Practices of South Asia Area Specialist Librarians. Library Resources & Technical Services 59(2). http://dx.doi.org/10.5860/lrts.59n2.72
3. The main thrust of the article is identifying to what extent Southeast Asia area librarians “rely on” the Library of Congress’ Cooperative Acquisitions Programs (LC CAP in this article), with the goal of identifying best practices. The survey attempts to identify the benefits of working through the LC CAP, whether it is worthwhile to use other selection methods, and identifying what kinds of materials are impossible to collect regardless of methodology (p. 2).

The literature review surveys other collecting areas, noting a number of approaches to collection development in different areas of geopolitical collecting. Thacker writes:

There is a rich literature on building area studies collections, and much of it is centered on cooperative collection development, foreign language collections, and challenges associated with working with overseas vendors.:l These topics are ancillary to a larger question: what methods do other area specialists use to build collections? Given the idiosyncrasies between different geographic areas, what methods work across areas and what is unique to a particular region? (p. 2).

Nine institutional bibliographers responded to the survey, which seems like a problematically small sample size (p. 4). That being said, the data gathered was still interesting. Respondents “praised the efficiency of using LC’s cooperative plans,” though they noted that following such acquisitions plans to the letter resulted in homogeneity in collections, lack of flexibility, and inability to acquire out-of-print items, local and micro-histories, pop culture-related publications, and other nontraditional or rare media.

A wide variety of additional sources were used to supplement LC CAP, including an Indian acquisitions firm, D.K. Agencies, as well as input from students, faculty, and outside researchers and a number of websites. Local contacts were used by at least one organization. In terms of difficult materials to acquire, Columbia had a hard time getting religious ephemera, Yale was interested in Buddhism in Bangladesh, and other librarians reported additional difficulties in acquiring ephemera from Southeast Asia.

Thacker concludes that SE Asia collection developers are too reliant on a small number of sources for the bulk of their texts, probably resulting in large amounts of duplication between universities. He suggests a follow-up study to examine the “scope of collections” at different universities, and how these collections are organized and defined (p. 6).

4. The study surveyed bibliographers belonging to CONSALD, the South Asia bibliographic professional organization. The sample size was rather small—only thirty-two bibliographers at twenty-eight institutions were represented, and they were hit with forty-seven questions! That seemed a tad excessive to me, especially since Thacker reported that some questions were confusing (p. 3). Overall I consider this article very informative but niche in its subject matter.

5. 

Collection development as a marketing tool

Lara, Veronica

Fought, R.L., Gahn, P., & Mills, Y. (2014) Promoting the library through the collection development policy: A case study. Journal of Electronic Resources in Medical Libraries, 11(4), 169-178. DOI: 10.1080/15424065.2014.969031

            This article summarizes a study and marketing experiment done by the Health Science Library ant the University of Tennessee Health Center.  After years of budget stagnation forced staff to make cuts to the collection, they decided they needed to proactively prove the library’s relevance to stakeholders on campus. 

            To do this, they decided to update an outdated policy and market the changes to stakeholders.  Since the college had recently gone through an accreditation review, the library updated their collection development policy to more accurately reflect the goals of the school.  The library’s Electronic and Collection Services department headed the project that began with an inventory of the library’s current holdings.  This process allowed staff to weed the collection of unusable materials.  It also allowed them to identify weaknesses in the collection. 

            They then surveyed both students and staff to determine what kinds of materials and subjects were wanted and needed.  The survey showed three levels of collection goals: Research, clinical/instructional support, and minimal.  Each level contained various subjects that they hoped to grow in a certain way.  For example, they hoped to offer more research data in the subjects of neurology and neuroscience or more instructional support material in the subject of occupational therapy and family medicine.  The decision was made to offer only minimal materials in other subjects, such as nutrition.  These choices were based on an analysis of the date and recommendations of participants.

            After they analysis, access was increased to many core titles available through databases.  The library invested in an EBSCO Discovery system that would simplify the search function.  Also, the library implemented a pay-per-view subscription to databases, which would increase access to items based on need.

            The final step in their project was to publicize the results of the study through as many avenues as were available.  The library also publicized the increased access to databases.   This included facebook posts, listservs, emails to faculty, and newsletter articles.  Because of this, the library saw in increase in use and positive feedback from the community.

            This article is a perfect example of what a powerful tool collection development can be.  With no resources, libraries can make a compelling statement to stakeholders about what they hope to accomplish.  This is especially true if the library outlines how they will be accomplishing their goals.  In the Health Science Library’s case, they were able to implement changes immediately.  It shows incredible foresight and a clever use of limited resources to garner more support and resources for their library.

            What I found most intriguing about this article was how familiar it all sounded.  The steps the Health Science Library took to develop their collection have been steps we have taken as students in our individual studies.  Like HSL, we began with an inventory of not only the collection, but the community as well.  We were then able to analyze the results, looking for discrepancies or inconsistencies.  Through analysis, we identified weaknesses, and proposed a collection development policy that would help bridge the gap between those discrepancies.  If nothing else, this article made me feel more self-assured of my capabilities after taking this class.

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.

Using Outreach Efforts to Acquire Documentation

Christina Perris
INFO 266
Fall 2015

Using Outreach Efforts to Acquire Documentation

Hughes-Watkins, Lae'l. (2014). Filling in the gaps: Using outreach efforts to acquire documentation on the black campus movement, 1965-1972. Archival Issues: Journal of the Midwest Archives Conference, 36(1), 27-42.

This journal article focuses on the Department of Special Collections and Archives at Kent State University’s efforts to develop their collection of documentation on the Black Campus Movement, 1965-1972.  The archivist opens by presenting a brief history of the black campus movement: first, on broad, national scale; then, in the context of how it was on the campus of Kent State.  The archivist discusses the efforts she undertook to assess the deficiency in the department’s collections through a survey of the holdings, and then how she creates a collection development plan to address these shortcomings.  The archivist goes on to explain how she reviewed the outreach strategy and brought it into alignment with the new collection development plan.  She then explains how she went on the acquiring the collection focused on the black campus movement and black student life.

This article is an probably one of the most ambitious, thorough and detailed accounts of what it truly takes to acquire a representative collection – whether it is specifically targeted to a special collection department, a special collections department with an archive or an archive alone – in your repository.  Whether you work in an academic library of a state-run university with a special collections department or a local historical society’s community-based archive, it might be advisable to be somewhat versed in the history of the United States educational system as it relates to state-run universities (at least, the “major events” in the system, such as the passage of Civil Rights legislation, students rights movements, etc.) or the basic history of the community.  Knowing the history – preferably from unbiased, academic sources – will allow to assess where “gaps” in the existing collection lie.  Once you identify these gaps, as the author did, you can then determine how to “remedy” them and present a more complete – and therefore, accurate – representation of the history of the institution or community.      

 

Reinventing the Library for Online Education: Chapter 6

Stielow, F. J. (2014). Redefinition Commentaries. In Reinventing the library for online education (pp. 139-168). Chicago, IL: American Library Association.


Summary:

This chapter  discusses the need for redefining acquisition, audio collections, collection assessment, collection development, video collections, and weeding for online education. In this section it reviews the need for redefining the process of acquisition in the twenty-first century.This is a scholarly work written by a library administrator with a doctorate in the field of library science. This chapter is a guide to redefining acquisitions and collection development for libraries working with distance learners. The author explains that copyright concerns, cost, and licensing issues are prominent concerns in virtual libraries. The author addresses the issues with consortia and rental packages are that they come with time limits. He also states that there are also often limits on the number of users with digital materials. The author believes that this means when using materials in a virtual classrooms libraries need to consider classroom size and proper licensing number/type. The author reveals how copyright becomes a bigger issue when materials are downloaded in library catalogs or embedded, LMS, or library support pages. This work is a clear concise manual of the issues that arise with libraries supporting online education. The work is well-investigated and well thought-out look into the future of libraries in an online education environment. This trend for colleges to offer online courses is increasing and this knowledge will be important to current and future librarians in academic environments.