HPL’s collection development and maintenance is semi-centralized and is coordinated through the Office of Collection Development and other departments in the Library Materials Services Division. An overview of the Division’s five departments, their various areas of responsibility, and many useful collection-related procedural documents are found at https://hplnet.hpl.lib.tx.us/depts-tsv.html . The HPL Collection Development policy is found at https://hplnet.hpl.lib.tx.us/policies.html, Section 4, and is updated as needed by the Collection Development staff. The Collection Development Office’s main number is 832-393-1369
.
The NL Manager is responsible for apportioning and monitoring their unit’s annual discretionary budget and submitting adult and juvenile replacement and gap orders, periodicals and standing order adds/drops, plus general collection maintenance. This includes assigning and overseeing ordering and collection maintenance performed by subordinates, including juvenile selectors. Budgeting and adds/drops generally take place in the summer. Routine ordering occurs year-round.
The Collection Development staff offers one-on-one training on collection development, collection maintenance, and ordering procedures to all staff with such responsibilities. System-wide workshops are also offered. Call any Collection Development Librarian to schedule training, ask for advice, or request a unit visit.
Some parts of the materials selection process are centralized, including bestsellers, foreign languages, AV, databases and e-books. Collection Development Librarians do the ordering. Preselection meetings with front-line staff are a vital part of that process. Units send representatives on a rotating basis for monthly adult, teen, and juvenile preselection meetings while established teams meet to discuss Spanish titles and graphic novels. All staff members are encouraged to submit suggestions for centralized orders.
For discretionary ordering, HPL uses Baker & Taylor’s TitleSource3 (TS3) online ordering website, at http://publiclibrary.btol.com . Collection Development staff creates and transfers selection carts (aka “gap lists”) to units’ accounts. Unit staff enters orders in the carts according to their unit’s needs and budgets and then transfers the carts back for approval and merging with other units’ orders. The Collection Development staff provides TS3 training and logins/passwords. All staff members are encouraged to submit suggestions for gap lists.
Routine collection maintenance is expected and the Collection Development staff offers tools such as weeding reports, the CREW Manual, and Collection HQ to aid in that process. Major weeding initiatives are often undertaken by Collection Development staff prior to inventory. All materials considered for possible withdrawal must either be approved by Collection Development Librarians or their designees or must meet pre-approved guidelines. See Discards/Friends Guidelines at https://hplnet.hpl.lib.tx.us/depts-tsv.html for criteria and procedures. Withdrawn materials become the property of the Friends of the Houston Public Library.
Requests for reconsideration of library materials are covered in the HPL Collection Development Policy, which includes the appropriate form. Forms mail be mailed in by a customer or sent through interoffice mail to the Coordinator of Collection Development, who is responsible for the response. If you receive a request, please notify the Coordinator that the form is en route ASAP and cc your Team Leader.