Tools and Tutorials

The following section is an excerpt from Collection and Connection Development Using the Collection Mapping Technique: A Guide for Librarians by David V. Loertscher and Marc Crompton. These are points to consider while including in your selection criteria.

Authority and Accuracy: Great care should be taken to ensure that the information found in any factual source can be substantiated. Because new knowledge is being discovered rapidly, much information in our collection is superseded on a regular basis and needs replacement. Even in the areas of point of view, political concepts, religious beliefs, ethnic cultures, and historical reports, accuracy over unsupported hearsay is required. Recently, librarians have become concerned over fake news and widespread dark web propaganda.

Relevance: Information and materials that target the school curriculum, age, and sophistication levels of the patrons are always to be preferred over just filling shelves or disk drives with “stuff.” A wonderful book about the Civil War too sophisticated for the readers in the library is not a wonderful book. Hundreds of thousands of Internet sites provide only data rather than essential information directly related to the needs of the user.

Content: Good content on topic is always preferred over peripheral materials, particularly when funds are limited. Choose a source that has good coverage of the topic at hand rather than one tangential to it. For example, several good comprehensive biographies of Abraham Lincoln help more than a single book on Lincoln’s law career, unless Lincoln is a subject in an emphasis collection. Begin with core works, then branch out to more specialized sources.

Usefulness: An item that helps real patrons doing real projects or trying to find solid information is appreciated and preferred to materials that may be pretty, “glitzy,” esoteric, or critically acclaimed but don’t “pay their dues” when patrons need help. For example, when information is needed about a foreign place for travel or research, a tourist picture collection source may be attractive and slick but not particularly useful for normal patron queries.

Technical Qualities: Multimedia items, digital materials, and online resources need to be designed and produced in such a way as to be informative and relevant to the type of information your patrons require. Researchers will not get a sense of a time period, a foreign country, or a science concept if the technical quality is so poor that misunderstanding is the result. One thinks of examples ofRevolutionary War films that have telephone poles in the background; costumes not representative of the period; poor quality sound or visuals. Hacked materials are often poor quality such as a video recording done by someone in a movie theater the night of release and then shared.

Patron Appeal: Materials that patrons have interest in are good candidates for consideration. These materials may be considered part of the popular culture but wise librarians start where patrons are and gently lead them to the better materials. In other words, start with the popular because of the demand, but nudge patrons toward the quality sources. This stance, however, does conflict with the idea of selecting only quality. Our patrons may want a large collection of graphic novels. Personally, this genre may be one we don’t connect with, but realize that a collection will draw many patrons to our stacks.

Appeal over Time: Data banks and online information services should have content over time that is easy to find, use, and satisfies user needs. Patrons will need both current and retrospective information. Full-text sources are to be preferred over just “listings” of possible articles. The proliferation of databases, each with their own login procedures, often presents a wall over which many patrons are unwilling to navigate.

Format: Think of the format evolution over the last two decades that has required libraries to rethink what formats they offer their patrons. Phonograph records and reel to reel tapes, eight-track tapes, audio cassettes, CDs, AAC files, on and on it goes. The question becomes what formats will our patrons want, use, and expect? And what do we do with the materials we have in outdated formats? Should a public library have mp3 files that are not compatible with 90% of their patrons who do not have personal computers or portable players? When should Blu-ray begin to replace the previous generation of DVDs? Should the library try to compete with iTunes or Netflix?

With few reliable crystal balls available, we might look around at what other libraries are doing, but perhaps our best solution is a strong and forward-looking advisory committee whose members keep their eyes and ears open, making a regular effort to keep patrons involved. Librarians who are afraid that the book is on the decline must recognize that the patron is really the final determinant of what formats circulate.

Cost: The adage “you get what you pay for” has true implication in information resources. Buying remainders at the book sale may get you quantity, but they often lack quality and may not fit the patron’s needs. Purchasing a more expensive database may provide more resources than a lesser-priced product. Don’t be afraid to justify the high cost if the source delivers a higher percentage of relevant information.

Loertcher, D. V., & Crompton, M. (2018). Acquire the best: Selection criteria. Collection and Connection Development Using the Collection Mapping Technique: A Guide for Librarians (3) (pp. 97-98). Salt Lake City, Utah: Learning Commons Press.

These considerations for creating selection criteria are helpful but could use more information for digital content. Unlike print materials, digital content requires a "medium to store, retrieve, and open the digital data in order for a user to use it" (Hirsh, 2018, p. 296). The plus side is this material can be accessed anytime and anywhere if users have the technology to access it. In selecting eMaterials it is important to understand if the community being served has the capabilities to access this content. (Hirsh, 2018, p. 296).

Hirsh, S. (2018). Information Services Today. Blue Ridge Summit: Rowman & Littlefield.

From the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions Section on Acquisition and Collection Development.