Use the basic concepts and principles related to the selection, evaluation, organization, and preservation of physical and digital information items.
In order to orient a library’s collection to be the most relevant and resonant with its patronage, much thought must be put into what resources are displayed and maintained. Initially, this process may begin with a collection development plan, but the quadruple lenses of selection, evaluation, organization, and preservation allow a much deeper investigation of how to maintain the best possible assortment of materials.
Selection is the base-level process of physical and digital information items: what specific documents and resources should be included in a collection. Such selection is determined by the library’s organizational goals, specific mandates from the state, and/or patron requests. The mission, vision, and values statement of a library can further influence selection (Hibner & Kelly, 2023). However, certain strategies can be implemented to ensure that the process of selection yields relevant results. First, the collection’s purpose and philosophy must be considered. Different types of libraries will gather different kinds of information, and for different users. As Hibner and Kelly (2023) elaborate,
“a public library could state that its collection is intended to serve general interests, lifelong learning, and personal enrichment, whereas a special interest or academic library collection might serve professional interests, academic research, or preservation purposes.”
A library’s mission and intent guide selection – which in turn, is able to influence evaluation of those resources.
Evaluation is the second step in the process of establishing a library collection. Once a mission and general philosophy has been established, and an assortment of items has been theorycrafted, a review phase is necessary. No collection can hold all material in existence, and budget constraints hamper even large libraries. Therefore, evaluation of the potentially useful resources has to be conducted. Are some titles outdated? Are they too expensive to justify purchasing? Is there a leasing option, or an ebook version? All of these questions are part of the evaluation process, which can take the form of suggestion boxes, public surveys, or on the more technical side of things, case studies (Cassell & Hiremath, 2018). Regardless of what tools the evaluation process uses, as a whole, it takes the selected items, and determines whether or not they will be worthy of being added to a library’s collection.
Once evaluation has yielded a collection, the next step in the process of establishing a library is organization. Here, many factors can contribute to library design. As ever, the mission is paramount, and may determine what items are placed in the areas of highest traffic. But determining how to divide a collection has changed much over the years, and can lead to many different designs. The initial Carnegie Model, specifically for public libraries, made only two distinctions within the collection: books for children and books for adults (Velásquez, 2015). More recent designs, such as the Danish Four-Space Model (Jochumsen, Rasmussen, & Skot-Hansen, 2012), emphasize creating spaces that attempt to invoke certain feelings such as experience, empowerment, involvement, and innovation. Each of these perspectives on organization ensure that the library is set up so that users can find the information, experiences, and resources that they are looking for with ease.
The last element of collection development is preservation. This is often one of the most challenging elements to address in a library system, as the purpose of such an organization is to lend items out. While many return in perfectly acceptable condition, accidents do happen, and even just recurring use wears books out. As such, the game of preservation takes several tacks. Firstly, libraries keep circulation records of items – and staying on top of this information allows branches to know what items are in high demand, and which ones they might not need to repurchase. Secondly, specific processes may be implemented to prolong the life of collections: limited viewing hours, protective book covers, and special instructions for access. But the most common method of preserving a library collection is to explore alternative formats. Many libraries have branched out to offer access to digital version of documents that can be checked out more widely, without wearing down physical copies. Regardless, no matter the strategies implemented, the goal is the same: to ensure that the collection as a whole is preserved for the access of all.
Regarding this competency, I have been primarily involved with the organizational aspect of collection development. At the branch where I work, I have been able to have a decent amount of control over how the branch displays and sections are positioned, and have used my observations of patron trends to organize the library into a more effective system. First, I noticed that patrons would always flock to our movie collections, but it was much more difficult to attract teenagers to our manga and graphic novel sections. I reasoned that this was because the teenage section was positioned over near the children’s nonfiction section, off in the back of the branch. Teenagers had to wander over to the kids’ section, and actively seek out the titles we hoped would draw their interest. After learning about how this demographic can be better served in libraries, I realized that a shift was required. Today, the teenage collections have our manga and graphic novels front and center – and they are regularly browsed by our teen patrons! Simultaneously, the movies have moved over to the back corner, where the shelves are wider and there is more seating for easy browsing – and this section has still seen similar levels of browsing.
I have been able to apply the skills that I have learned regarding library organization in my career, and I look forward to advancing to the level of Librarian, where I will be able to implement what I have learned about selection and evaluation as well.
In order to demonstrate my proficiency with this competency, I have assembled three documents that I believe show how I have learned to select, evaluate, organize, and preserve collections in libraries. The first two of these come from INFO 263: Materials for Children. This class endeavored to impart knowledge on how to select and evaluate items specifically for children. I was able to practice my skills in this class through book reviews. The first of these reviews was specifically aimed at board books and picture books. These items for the very young have different criteria than I would consider for older titles, such as the quality and colorfulness of the images, and whether the book is durable enough to survive getting chewed one once or twice. The second review was a media review. Libraries do not only have to maintain their physical collections, but also their digital ones – and so I evaluated a handful of film and shows that could be accessed through our children’s collection. With both of these reviews, I tried to consider how these would be received by the public – but also if we could incorporate them into any programming events. The last document that I have assembled here I feel demonstrates my understanding of organization – not just of the physical items in a collection, but also the physical space. The review of the Oakley Library’s teen space covers the physical, social, and hierarchical dimensions of the library – but special attention is given to how the teen space is organized, and if that organization is optimized.
This book review consists of ten items, five picture books and five board books, that were selected and evaluated for quality, early literacy skills, and general enjoyment. Over the course of this class, I learned how certain elements of early literacy can be included in storytelling events, and better prepare young readers for learning to read and preschool. One of these that I kept a special eye out for in these titles was the element of narrative structure, which conveys the sense of story. Characters experience rising and falling action, and their troubles and triumphs can be (relatively) predicted. By choosing to select titles with strong narrative structure – as well as the other early literacy elements – I was able to evaluate the board and picture book collection at my local library.
As stated above, libraries need to evaluate their entire collections – and this means that the films and tv shows that they have available must also be examined. However, this is not to give any credence to the argument of library censorship – but rather how the collection can be used to draw a wider audience to the library. For this project, I reviewed two feature-length films, and three television programs that were accessible through the library. The two films I reviewed and evaluated were Kung Fu Panda and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Not only were these films enjoyable and well-produced, but I also noted that they could be easily connected to library programming events. Kung Fu Panda would make for a perfect library movie night, and Disney’s version of Victor Hugo’s book could pair nicely with a book club meeting. When considering the films that we have available at the library, I also kept in mind which ones we could show through the SWANK movie license. When I reviewed the television programs that the library had available, I reviewed shows through Hoopla, a streaming service that the library had recently subscribed to. This platform has unlimited free educational shows for children, and reviewing the material that they had available allowed me to see that Hoopla has been a valuable inclusion to the library’s collection of resources.
This paper, the final project for my semester, focused on the organization of the teens space at the Oakley Public Library. For this project, I evaluated the collection, as well as the space and resources that were available to teenager patrons at the Oakley Library, and how well those space and resources were implemented. I found this to be a particularly relevant and interesting assignment for this competency, as it addresses not only the selections of items to include in the collection of the branch, but what programs and resources were selected to put forth as well. Teenagers often have a complicated relationship with libraries, and this paper gave me the opportunity to evaluate how effectively designed the space and collection that Oakley had set aside for them was.
The selection, evaluation, organization, and preservation of library resources is a critical part of the modern library. It allows branches to attune their offerings to their patrons’ needs, and ensure that their mission statements and values are reflected in their collection. While I have at present primarily focused on the organization and evaluation aspects of this competency, I know that the classwork I have accomplished to this point has adequately prepared me to select and preserve titles as I continue in my library career. I feel that my practical work experience has offered me an ideal background to explore collection organization, and my classwork has given me firsthand experience with evaluation. I look forward to continuing to ensure that the libraries that I work at and with have collections that reflect the missions of those branches, and adequately fulfill the needs of their communities.
Cassell, K. A., & Hiremath, U. (2018). Reference and information services : an introduction (Fourth edition.). ALA Neal-Schuman, an imprint of the American Library Association.
Hibner, H., & Kelly, M. (2023). Making a collection count : a holistic approach to library collection management (Third edition.). Chandos Publishing.
Jochumsen, H., Hvenegaard Rasmussen, C., & Skot-Hansen, D. (2012). The four spaces - a new model for the public library. New Library World, 113(11/12), 586–597. https://doi.org/10.1108/03074801211282948
Velásquez, J. (2015). Real-World Teen Services. American Library Association.