Background Essay on Collection Development, Evaluation, and Management for Public Libraries

Huynh, A. (2004). Background Essay on Collection Development, Evaluation, and Management for Public Libraries. Current Studies in Librarianship, 28(1/2), 19–37.

Timothy Wager

Summary:
    The author surveys the history of the philosophy of collection development from the early 20th century to the beginning of the 21st, focusing on public libraries and examining seven influential monographs. Huynh points to the general shift over this 100 year period away from selecting “great” literature in an effort to educate the public to acquiring books that circulate more frequently, meeting public demand. Furthermore, she outlines the transition of library acquisition philosophy from book selection in the early 20th century (selection policies and processes derived from community assessment), through collection development in the 1960s (which includes activities like budget management, community outreach, and collection analysis), and eventually from the 1980s onward, broadening to collection management (which includes acquisition, weeding, storage, preservation, marketing, and organization). The article points out that the librarian’s role, then, has evolved from selector and keeper of books to a manager of items, information, and systems, including electronic resources.
    Huynh provides a brief history of public libraries in the US, pointing out that the Boston Public Library (the very first major public library in this country) was founded with the goal of providing an education for those people who could not afford it. Most libraries that were founded in its wake held the same principle as central to their mission, and book selection was consequently focused on choosing “great” books that would provide some form of educational uplift. As a secondary education became more readily available to the American populace, several influential mid-20th century librarians argued that a library’s purpose was not to educate, but to meet the demand of its patrons, making itself useful to the public at large. Later, by the 1970s, the philosophy of the “great” books was rejected as elitist, and so a librarian’s service to the public shifted to meeting its demands.
    Huynh broadly and briefly summarizes how libraries have traditionally worked up their collection development policies, beginning with a needs assessment of patrons; continuing with identifying resources and constraints; and developing written policies based on these factors and the driving philosophy behind the library (educating the public with “quality” resources or responding to public demand, or perhaps a combination of the two). Early collection development policies, based on selecting the best books, were time consuming and demanded that librarians know literature broadly and deeply. As policies shifted to meet public demand (and more and more books and materials were published), librarians began to rely on market-driven data provided to them by contracted services or gathered from periodicals and newspapers to make buying decisions. Earlier librarians needed to know books to fulfill selection policies; current librarians need to know their readers.
    The author then runs through each of the seven monographs’ stance on acquisition, de-selection, and evaluation, illustrating how the purported purpose of a library has always been a strong guiding principle in decision making about collection development. She concludes by noting just how much competition there is in the information marketplace, and that libraries need to define and advocate for their relevance, and collection development has a large role to play in accomplishing this goal.

Evaluation/Review:
    This is an excellent summary article, written when the author was a graduate student in a collection development course. While it may seem basic to veteran librarians, as a primer for students or new librarians, it provides a valuable introduction to the history of and philosophies behind collection development. To a degree, Huynh drives the central point — the shift from education to entertainment as the main purpose of library collections — into the ground. This point is repeated multiple times, but it is, while perhaps simplistic, interesting and applicable. Overall, she does a very good job of summarizing the publications she covers, each of which she treats as representative of an era in library history. Whether these monographs actually are representative I leave to others more versed in collection development history. While it is isn’t really an entertaining read, it is informative and well structured. This would make a great article to assign in a collection development or collection management course.

Info 266- The Collection Development Policy

 Anna Nicholson

Sullivan, M. (2013). The collection development policy [for children's services]. In M. Sullivan (Ed.), Fundamentals of children's services (2nd ed., pp. 45-54). ALA. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/sjsu/detail.action?docID=3001691 

Summary: In this chapter, the author explains the purpose of a collection development policy, defines policy, and explains the different pieces that make up this policy- particularly in children’s services. The chapter then expands upon the importance of aligning the policy with the organization’s mission and vision statements. Next, the chapter explores how service roles and selection criteria and responsibility need to be reflected in the collection development policy. Finally, Sullivan explains how to break down a collection by topics and subsections to determine what resources are needed, where they should be placed, and how the collection supports intellectual freedom. 

Evaluation: This was a useful chapter because it did a good job explaining the purpose of a development policy and how to create and use one. In addition, I appreciated that this resource was specific towards children's services because it helped me understand the different concerns and issues that I should be aware of when making a collection development policy for a school library. Ultimately, this was a clear, concise resource that I would recommend reading for more information about the roles information professionals play and the criteria that should be used when selecting or deselecting children's materials. 

Solving the Self-Published Puzzle.

Macchio, Monica

Landgraf, G. (2015).  Solving the Self-Published Puzzle.  American Libraries, 46 (11/12), 44-47.  Retrieved from http://libaccess.sjlibrary.org/login?

 Summary

     This article from 2015 highlights the problems that public libraries are faced with when local authors want to have their items included in collections.  One of the public libraries mentioned is in Canada.  The staff at the Glen Ellyn Public Library has decided to include some self-published books only if they don’t have books on those topics.  The library launched a makerspace area to facilitate the creation of these materials. 

     Another library profiled is Mulnomah County Library in Oregon.  This library partnered with an e-book self-publishing platform called Smashwords.  Since Smashwords has a partnership with OverDrive, the library’s e-book vendor, it helps make purchasing these titles easier and less time-consuming.  In 2015, about 2,000 people were visiting the library’s Overdrive site per day.  Another stipulation that is placed on the self-published author is that these items must be donated to the library.  Librarians will then provide original cataloging to provide bibliographic records for these self-published works.  The library had 300 requests per year from self-published authors, but it accepts significantly less works. 

Evaluation

     The author, David Landgraf is a regular contributor to American Libraries magazine.  I liked his use of typewriter graphics because it was a reminder that not all self-published authors know the latest tools to use when creating their works.  I liked his touch of including the hot topic of Makerspaces to showcase the partnerships created between Public Libraries and the communities these writers live in.  He used quotes sparingly yet effectively to engage my attention. 

Unnatural Selection: More Librarians are Self-censoring

Mathenia, Aimee

Jacobson, L. (2016, September 26). Unnatural selection: More librarians are

    self-censoring. Retrieved April 10, 2018, from https://www.slj.com/2016/09/

    censorship/unnatural-selection-more-librarians-self-censoring/

Summary:

“Unnatural Selection…” provides results from the “Controversial Books Survey” conducted by School Library Journal in March 2016. The article notes that 40% of librarians have dealt with a challenge on the appropriateness of a particular book in their collection. The article also reports that 90% of school librarians have avoided adding books to the library collection that might be seen as controversial. In effect, the librarians are self-censoring books whether they are doing so purposefully or subconsciously.

This article also reviews the differing policies and procedures that vary from one library to another to purchase books to add to a school library collection, with 44% of middle school and 32% of high school libraries reporting a complete absence of a policy to purchase books for a collection.

Evaluation:

Particularly at the middle school level, it is a challenge to purchase books to add to the library collection. Some students and their families show a lot of latitude in what to read and gravitate towards books like 13 Reasons Why or the latest John Green YA novel. At the other end of the spectrum, some students aren’t ready to read a Wendy Mass book that mention a girl wearing a bra for the first time.

What I take from this article is the importance of being aware of self-censoring books. It is also important to have a clear policy in adding books to a library collection. One librarian stated her library has a policy which requires two reviews from School Library Journal, Kirkus, Common Sense Media etc. for the appropriateness of a book before it is purchased and added into circulation.

Equally important is that libraries have a clear procedure for how to proceed when books are challenged. To have this policy established is a good step to proactively address any challenges that may arise.

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.

Establishing a Mobile Resources Collection Development Policy

Chase, Matthew
Fall 2016

Citation:

DeRosa, A. P., & Jewell, S. T. (2014). Establishing a mobile resources collection development policy. Journal of Electronic Resources in Medical Libraries, 11, 144-154.

Summary:

This article focuses on the collection development process for mobile resources in medical libraries. Specifically, the authors addressed the policies to be created on the evaluation and selection of these applications. Several criteria need to be established for these decisions such as user relevance, content quality, cost, and access. The article also discusses marketing strategies unique to a mobile resources collection as the library should utilize LibGuides, social media, and its website as prime promotional opportunities.

Evaluation:

 I found this article very relevant as my own library recently curated and marketed a collection of free educational apps for faculty and students. Following the guidelines and criteria provided would have made such an endeavor much more effective. As the authors indicated, clear channels of communications among curators is essential which makes it all the more important to establish a policy on the collection process. The marketing tools included also highlight the value of selectors in knowing how to effectively promote a unique collection.

 

Smaller Libraries & Ebooks

Tracy, Anna

INFO 266, Fall 2016

Lukes, R., Markgren, S., & Thorpe, A. (2016). E-Book Collection Development: Formalizing a Policy for Smaller Libraries. Serials Librarian, 70(1-4), 106-115.

This article delves into research of whether or not collection development policies are necessary in regards to Ebooks and why.

There is much discussion of policies and the work that goes into policy decisions regarding the difference in Ebook acquisitions and book acquisitions. What a dense read, unless you’re into that sort of thing. I did find the section on patron driven acquisitions interesting, though the conclusion of this article would contradict my statements. It is nice to see collection development that is based upon patrons wants and needs. I so often have run into beautiful and amazing collections that never circulate, because though they are wonderful titles, it is of the interest of the purchaser and not that of the community in which they serve. At the end the article discusses a need for librarian roles to morph and merge and suggests a balance that I think we should all be striving to achieve throughout our careers in librarianship.

The Death and Resurrection of Collection Development Policies

Bishop, Andrew

Pickett, C., Stephens, J., Kimball, R., Ramirez, D., Thornton, J., Burford, N. (2011). Revisiting an Abandoned Practice: The Death and Resurrection of Collection Development Policies. Collection Management, 36(3), 165-181, DOI: 10.1080/01462679.2011.580426

Using Texas A&M University Library’s process to create a new, up-to-date collection development policy following at least ten years of not having updated or even consulted one as a lens, the authors examine the reasons libraries abandon having a written collection development and maintenance policy and how and why to return to having and using one.  The literature review found that many libraries do not have written policies, or have not updated them in several years.  The policies that do exist vary in the level of detail.  The studies cited say lack of budget and manhours is the main reason a policy does not exist or is not maintained, although there is some lack of understanding as to “the lack of precise definition of what a written policy is as opposed to what it does” (168) can also be a reason no codified policy exists.  Proponents of formal policies in the literature say written policies provide a guide for acquisitions, as well as a “rationale” for development decisions that helps protect against censorship.  Opponents say the policies limit selector freedom and can be inflexible.  Policies focusing on content were found to be more flexible as electronic resources became more prevalent.

Texas A&M’s Collection Development Committee began their revision and updating of the policy by reviewing the current environment by reviewing the university’s statistics listing not only all the majors, but the enrollment and number of courses for each college and department.  They also reviewed the university’s strategic plan for the new century and several ALA publications relating to policy creation.  They also looked at the websites and catalogs of the libraries from comparable institutions throughout the country, looking specifically at their collection development policies.  The committee determined each subject would have its own, specific policy, based on a committee generated template, while the overarching policy would deal with management issues such as storage and consortial membership.  The authors concluded that collection development policy creation and maintenance require clear purposes and goals.  Texas A&M needed a new policy, for example, because collection development “lacked coherence” (172) and the mandates articulated in strategic planning needed more planning to implement. 

The authors’ final conclusion was that the policy creation process was overall a success due to the committee’s organization, level of study, quality control given to the subject groups, standardization, and recognition of the fact that if the collection development policy needed to remain updated and in touch with the curriculum in order to keep the libraries relevant to the campus community.  The resurrection of the policy helped bridge the gap between the strategic plan and daily collection development practice in a way that supports the subject selectors’ efforts.

Evaluation

A good in-depth look at one method of policy creation in action.  While the method of determining current needs isn’t explicitly explained, given the committee’s review of the curriculum and the recognition that some majors and certification programs were undersupported, it sounds like they used collection mapping or some variant in their process.  For a large, multi-disciplinary institution such as the A&M libraries, creating umbrella subject groups with their own specific policies as well as an overall university policy seems like a good way to combine solid guidance with flexibility and adaptability.

Reexamining the Documentation Strategy of Archival Acquisitions in a Web 2.0 Environment

Hamby, Megan

Thomas, L. M. (2012). The Embedded Curator: Reexamining the Documentation Strategy of Archival Acquisitions in a Web 2.0 Environment. RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts & Cultural Heritage, 13(1), 38-48.

This article introduces the term “embedded Curator” which is essentially someone who documents a specific community using a collection policy while also serving as a resource to that community. With the ever developing digital age we live in, the article discusses the need to find ways to archive digital material using collection development policies and the struggle with preserving digital records in time before they no longer become available. These curators can use a something called More Product Less Process (MLPL) which helps with community and donor relationships and the collection or they can speak directly to their donors early on before records are gifted to an institution. Thomas stresses the importance of sharing archival processes with donors and communities so that these communities might be better informed in how they can back up and preserve important files for archiving.

I found this article interesting because it focuses on how important it is to implement a solid collection development policy in order to archive important and relevant digital materials from various communities. According to Thomas, “well-designed collection development policies and deeds of gift can provide curators with tools and documentation to allow them to change their minds about the direction of the collection…should they need to do so” (p. 40). These embedded curators can also impact the collection and archival processes by speaking to the donors about the importance of maintaining their records for future archiving. This was interesting because often I hear of stories of archival records coming to repositories in boxes without any arrangement or order. By speaking directly to important donors whose records are anticipated being gifted, curators and archivists would be able to satisfy their collection policy much easier. 

Elements of a Collection Development Policy

Asuman Tezcan 

INFO 266

Fall 2015

Evans, G., & Saponaro, M. (2005). Elements of a Collection Development Policy. In Developing library and information center collections (5th ed.). Englewood, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited.

Elements of a Collection Development Policy

In this chapter, G. E Evans and Saponaro explain the importance of having a written collection development policy. Even some librarians use the terms interchangeably; the authors distinguish collection development from selection and acquisition plans. According to them, collection development policy is a broader term and covers latter two. Today many libraries either do not have a written policy, or they do not update for a long time. Some librarians believe that since the situation changes, a written policy always faces with being out of date. They emphasize that a policy reflects long-term goals and strategic plan. A written guideline helps to maintain consistency and eliminates to weaknesses of the collection. According to Evans and Saponaro, a development policy informs people the nature and scope of the collection, makes clear the priorities, generates some degree of commitment to meeting organizational goals, set standards for inclusion and exclusion, reduces biases of selectors, aids in weeding and evaluating the collection. A powerful policy statement requires large quantities of data about the weaknesses/strength of selection, knowledge about the community, and other resources available for your patrons.  The authors refer to different models like conspectus model and RLG system to prepare a policy statement.  

Evaluation: I found this textbook very well organized and inclusive. The authors cover many issues step by step by referring rich resources.