Competency F

Core Competency F: use the basic concepts and principles related to the selection, evaluation, organization, and preservation of physical and digital information items.

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Introduction:

To those outside the library field, it may appear that libraries collect materials using a “if it’s available, add it to the collection” mindset. However, there are actually many factors involved in the development and maintenance of a library collection. Nearly all libraries have some form of a collection development policy document. These policies provide an outline for topics such as: sources of funding, the purposes of the collection, how to deal with book donations, and so on. Most importantly, collection development policies act as a standard—so that a library’s collection will still be maintained in a consistent fashion even when collection management duties fall to different librarians within the organization. For this reason, it is vital that collection development policies are considered in all collection management decisions.

Collection management is the umbrella term used to address all processes involved in developing and maintaining a library’s collection (Disher, 2014, p. 3). The four main processes of collection management (which are also usually addressed within collection development policies) are: selection, evaluation, organization, and preservation.

Selection:

Collection development most often involves “the process of selecting material” to add to a library’s collection (Disher, 2014, p. 53). Physical libraries have limited space and funding, so they cannot collect everything. Some of the criteria guiding material selections are: subject, format, quality, cost, and currency (Disher, 2014). Librarians who oversee collection development need to have a good grasp on their community’s wants and needs in order to select materials that will actually be used. Collection development librarians also need to have knowledge of publishers/sellers, and be familiar with the materials they offer. This generally requires librarians to keep up-to-date on new releases by using review journals and directories/bibliographies (Disher, 2014). Additionally, electronic/digital materials such as e-books create new challenges in the selection and acquisition process, due to their higher costs and regulation by complex copyright laws.

Evaluation:

In the realm of collection management, evaluation is defined as the assessment of a library’s collection. Collection evaluation can be conducted through several methods, such as by reviewing circulation data or through shelf-scanning. Collection evaluation is usually undertaken with some sort of objective in mind, perhaps to study areas where a library’s collection is lacking or to determine what materials are not being used. The concept of “weeding” plays an important role in collection evaluation, and refers to the activity of removing library materials from the collection. As mentioned earlier, libraries have limited space. Weeding therefore helps a library make room for new acquisitions. Libraries generally weed physical materials based on the condition of the item, the accuracy or relevancy of the item, and/or usage statistics. Library e-book collections must also be evaluated and weeded in the same fashion (Culley, 2015).

Organization:

A library’s collection would be useless if people were unable to find the information they were looking for. Thus, libraries tend to organize their physical collections using a standard organizational system. The two main organizational standards used in libraries are the Library of Congress Classification System (LC) and the Dewey Decimal Classification System (DDC). However, libraries are also starting to experiment with different organizational styles, such as those often found in bookstores. Libraries may take their fiction books and organize them by genre, or they may create a section exclusively to promote their new materials (Rippel, 2012). Digital materials typically do not follow the same organizational schemes as physical library materials, but they may still be assigned identifiers such as tags or subject headings to make them easier to locate through a computer search.

Preservation:

“Preservation” in collection management refers to “[a]ctivities associated with maintaining library... materials for use” (Evans & Saponaro, 2005, p. 358). This can be seen in the lamination of library paperback books, to protect their covers and increase their structural integrity. Preservation also involves considerations of temperature, humidity, and sunlight; which can have an effect on the longevity of books (Evans & Saponaro, 2005, p. 359). Collection preservation also involves creating safeguards for unexpected disasters such as floods or fires, and protecting against theft. The construction quality of a library’s facilities and the policies a library has in place can help to minimize the damages from these two factors. Preservation is an especially tricky topic for digital items. Due to the current laws regarding e-resources, access to e-books and electronic articles can suddenly be removed by a publisher without warning (Georgas, 2015). As of now, libraries are still in the process of figuring out reliable methods of preserving their digital materials.

Coursework/Experience that Prepared Me for this Competency:

During my time in the MLIS program, Info 266 (Collection Management) was a class that taught me most of what I know now about collection management. Thankfully, I was also able to get first-hand experience with minor aspects of collection management as a library volunteer. My main task as a volunteer is to re-organize library shelves. I am also sometimes asked to help the librarians evaluate the condition of books or DVDs. This has given me experience specifically in collection organization and evaluation.

References:

Culley, J. (2015). I feel the need, the need to weed!: Maintaining an e-book collection. The Southeastern Librarian, 63(1), 2-5.

Disher, W. (2014). Crash course in collection development (2nd ed.). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC.

Evans, E. G., & Saponaro, M. Z. (2005). Developing library and information center collections (5th ed.). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Georgas, H. (2015). The case of the disappearing e-book: Academic libraries and subscription packages. College & Research Libraries, 76(7), 883-898. doi:10.5860/crl.76.7.883

Rippel, C. (2012, March 21). What libraries can learn from bookstores [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.webjunction.org/documents/webjunction/What_Libraries_Can_Learn_from_Bookstores.html

Evidence:

1. Info 266 Collection Development Assignment -- Selecting Materials

The first piece of evidence that I am submitting for competency F is a selection assignment from Info 266 (Collection Management). It is composed of two documents.

The first document is my completed assignment. The second document provides an in-depth explanation of the assignment details, but I also will summarize them here. We were tasked with selecting books for one library branch using certified book review sources, and had to explain our reasoning for our selection choices. We had to take into consideration the demographics of this community, which included customer categories such as “Seekers”, “How-To-ers”, and “Community Builders”. Our spending limit for this fictional scenario was $750. Additionally, we were asked to create a table listing the books that we chose, their cost, and the book review journal that featured them.

Before I looked at any book review sources, I collected some demographic data using online demographic tools. When selecting materials for a library, it is important to understand a library’s community. After I was better informed about the community’s typical age range and income, I selected a number of books from two different book review journals. I made sure that most books selected met at least one of the community’s wants/needs, and that all were of sufficiently high quality. In completing this assignment, I establish my knowledge and ability to use selection-related tools for the selection of materials. This completed assignment also establishes my ability to select a wide variety of books on a limited budget. I submit this assignment as evidence towards competency F to demonstrate my understanding of the concepts involved in selection.

I have included both documents related to this assignment below.

2. Info 266 Library Collection Management and Evaluation (Discussion Post)

My second piece of evidence is discussion post related to collection evaluation from Info 266 (Collection Management). This post was created as a lead-up to a larger group project. My teammates and I were each asked (separately) to evaluate the collection/space of any library we wanted, and to devise suggestions for improvement. We were also asked to provide photographic examples as well as an estimate of the costs involved in improvement. We had “unlimited funds” in this scenario, so we did not have to limit ourselves to a certain amount of money.

Many of my arguments for improvement in this particular library focus on the weeding of old materials and the re-arrangement of collections to make them more easily accessible and visibly pleasing. This establishes my understanding of how evaluation can be used to improve library collections. This also shows that I am aware of the many ways in which libraries can shelve and organize their materials. I submit this assignment as evidence towards competency F to demonstrate my understanding of the concepts involved in evaluation and organization.

I have decided to omit the document featuring this discussion post due to privacy reasons.

3. Info 266 Argumentative Essay -- "Print Books: Not Yet Dead in our Digital World"

My third piece of evidence is an argumentative essay also from Info 266 (Collection Management). In this essay, I chose to examine the print books versus e-books debate. After reading many scholarly articles on the subject, I decided to argue for the selection of print books over e-books if a book is available in both formats. In the years since I wrote this paper, my stance on e-books has evolved slightly, due to the constantly evolving nature of technology. Readers no longer need a device dedicated solely to e-books, as downloadable apps have made it possible to read e-books from tablet and mobile devices. If I wrote this essay now, I would emphasize that librarians should pick the format that they think would be used the most by library users.

Nonetheless, this essay shows my understanding of how U.S. copyright laws and the high costs of subscription packages can make acquiring and preserving access to e-books challenging. This sort of scenario (choosing between a print or e-book format) is also a realistic problem that a collection development librarian would encounter when selecting materials. I also touch upon a few of the unique issues that might arise when maintaining an e-book collection, such as server space considerations. I submit this essay as evidence towards competency F as it demonstrates my understanding of the concepts involved in selection and preservation, especially where electronic/digital sources are concerned.

The essay can be found in its entirety below.

4. Info 261A Professional Young Adult Librarian Toolbox

My final piece of evidence for competency F is a toolbox that I created for Info 261A (Young Adult Services). The toolbox—which is essentially a document featuring a collection of resources in an annotated bibliography format—is intended for young adult (YA) librarians, and contains both print and web resources.

When I was collecting resources for this toolbox, I had to carefully examine each potential resource I encountered. Oftentimes, this required me to read through entire books, look at reviews, or scrutinize websites to check that they were authoritative. This demonstrates my understanding of the concepts involved in the selection of physical and digital content. I also carefully organized the resources I gathered into five general categories, demonstrating my ability to organize resources in a logical manner.

This was a one-time project so I did not have to maintain this collection of resources. However, if I were responsible for maintaining this collection, I would periodically check through all of the physical resources to determine their relevancy in subsequent years. I would also regularly check all the web URLs to ensure that they were still usable. This demonstrates my understanding of the concepts involved in collection evaluation. In terms of preservation, the web links would be my greatest source of concern. In this scenario, I would use archiving tools to create archived versions of the websites I chose for the toolbox. An example of how this would look can be seen. This demonstrates my understanding of the concepts involved in the preservation of digital materials. All of the points mentioned in the above two paragraphs demonstrate my mastery of competency F.

The entire toolbox document can be found below.

Conclusion:

Collection development and management is something I would be happy to specialize in, especially in a public library setting. In my future career(s), I will be sure to use the concepts relating to selection to select interesting and relevant materials for my library. I will use the concepts relating to evaluation to maintain a useful collection, and I will use the concepts relating to organization to make it easier for library users to find the materials they need. Finally, I will use the concepts relating to preservation to increase the longevity of both physical and digital library materials. As libraries collect more and more digital/virtual materials, library management techniques will be continuously evolving. I look forward to learning about these new, emerging techniques.