Collection Development

Announcements

The Subcommittee recently created a guide for faculty and staff who are interested in donating gifts-in-kind (most frequently books and serials, although it may also include other forms of media) to university libraries. The goal is to clarify expectations and make the process as easy as possible. There are four recommended steps. 

About

The Subcommittee on Collection Development works on projects that are intended to facilitate and inform Slavic and Eurasian studies librarians' collection development work.

Members

Chair: Liladhar Pendse, University  of California-Berkeley, 2023-2025

Andy Spencer, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2021-2023

Christine Dulaney, Library of Congress, 2022-2024

Masha Stepanova, Miami University (Ohio), 2022-2024

Megan Browndorf, University of Chicago, 2023-2025

Charge

In 2010 members of the Committee on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) of the Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) issued a formal and ongoing charge and bylaws for the Collection Development Subcommittee (CLIR-CD). This charge is meant to be broad and  maximally inclusive in a way that will permit the CLIR-CD to engage in a wide range of projects in the years ahead that can be beneficial for collection development in support of Slavic, East European and Eurasian studies (or “Slavic studies” for short).  Official charge and bylaws attached as PDF at the bottom of the page. 

Projects

A Guide for Handling Gifts of Books and Serials

This document was created to guide faculty and staff who would like to donate gifts-in-kind (most frequently books and serials, although it may also include other forms of media) to university libraries. The goal is to clarify expectations and make the process as easy as possible. There are four recommended steps. 

ASEEES CLIR Statement on Collection Development during COVID-19

The Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies Committee on Library and Information Resources (ASEEES CLIR) acknowledges recent statements and resolutions made by our colleagues in the Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials (SALALM), the Middle East Librarians Association (MELA), and the Committee on South Asian Libraries and Documentation (CONSALD) addressing the deleterious effects of library strategies for managing the COVID-19 crisis on area studies collections and their special collections counterparts. These statements address the present unprecedented circumstances, as well as long-standing concerns, about building diverse and discipline-based collections, and sustaining the labor and language- and professional expertise required to support the development, cataloging, and use of such collections. They also encourage fruitful and collaborative relationships between our libraries and those of our international partners. The members of CLIR applaud our area studies colleagues for their vision. We share and echo many of their concerns with respect to our own field.

Read the full statement: ASEEES CLIR Statement on Collection Development during COVID-19

Slavic and East European Vendor Database

A searchable database that provides acquisition information for materials from Russia and Baltic, Central, East and Southeast regions of Europe. Created in 2005.  Currently managed at the University of Washington. 

Collection Overlap Analysis Project

Ongoing project being carried out by the Collection Development Subcommittee. The committee is exploring the use of OCLC's new Collection Analysis software (as well as other tools) to better understand the relative strengths of our Slavic & East European collections as well as to identify potential areas for collaborative collection development partnerships. Documents include graphs comparing holdings by language, from 1989 to 2012, across the three Slavic and East European Library consortia: (1) East Coast Consortium of Slavic Library Collections; (2) Midwest Slavic and Eurasian Library Consortium; (3) the Pacific Coast Slavic and East European Library Consortium. (Documents archived in the Collection Development Archive).

Collection Management Practices, Policies & Responsibilities Survey

This survey, conducted in Spring 2007, documented the collection management practices, policies and responsibilities among Slavic librarians and Slavic & East European collections around the country. We hope that the results will facilitate collaborative relationships and provide Slavic librarians with good data with which to influence their administrations. Documents include:  (1) Academic Institutions Data; (2) Language Overlap.  Documents archived in the Collection Development Documents Archive

ABSEEES Overlap Comparison

Jon Giullian conducted a brief comparison of coverage among ABSEES, JSTOR, MLA and Academic Search Premier. Giullian mentioned that he thought it was important to have objective data on the value of ABSEES to the field. He distributed a table of statistics and results which show that duplicate coverage between ABSEES and the other databases mentioned above is relatively low (ASP = 33%, JSTOR = 5%, MLA = 40%). IK pointed out that ABSEES also does book reviews and abstracts while MLA does not. ABSEES duplicates coverage with Academic Search Premier only for 33% of titles. In general, this survey shows that ABSEES is still a valuable tool for the Slavic profession. See the Excel Spreadsheet here: ABSEES Overlap Comparison. Document archived in the Collection Development Documents Archive.

Book Inflation Figures Project

Wook Jin Cheun, of the Collection Development Subcommittee, has brought together and annotated a number of key online and print resources for tracking Russian book inflation figures. (Document pending)

Gift Collections

Created by Karen Rondestvedt and member of the Collection Development Subcommittee, this webpage provide librarians with information on how to deal with faculty gifts/donations.  Document archived in the Collection Development Documents Archive

Currency Comparison Chart

Also created by Karen Rondestvedt, this chart provides information on the changing value of the currencies of Eastern European & the Former Soviet Union (and the Euro) vis a vis the U.S. Dollar (for 2005-2007). Document archived in the Collection Development Documents Archive

Note

As of 2010, the Subcommittee on ABSEES was discontinued. Its work merged into the Subcommittee on Collection Development.