collection management

Use the basic concepts and principles related to the selection, evaluation, organization, and preservation of physical and digital information items.

STATEMENT OF COMPETENCY

Collection management comprises a set of practices by which librarians assess, acquire, maintain, and preserve books, eBooks, multimedia materials, subscription databases, archival materials, and other physical and virtual materials for incorporation into library collections. Depending on the size of a given library, the staff may include dedicated collection management personnel; subject librarians commonly engage in collection management, as well.

Assessment

Assessment practices concern not only potential materials and their content, but the library’s usership as well. As such, Disher (2022) indicates the importance of strategic planning within the context of collection management, so that librarians can recognize changes in user needs, and adjust collection development practices accordingly (p. 336). Evans and Greenwell (2018) note additional means of assessing shifts in user needs within academic library settings, which include looking for changes to course syllabi and departmental requirements, noting expectations and backgrounds of faculty, joining campus-wide committees and frequenting events, and regularly consulting select journals and review publications to keep track of shifts within academic disciplines (p. 199). An academic library collection should additionally reflect its institution’s specific balance between disciplines: this might yield disproportionate investments in journal subscriptions for the sciences and social sciences, or monograph purchases for humanities disciplines (p. 202).

Development

Collection management personnel can engage in a range of methods for acquiring materials, depending on budgetary allowances, physical shelf space, and user demands. Standing orders typically apply to serials, and function to automatically request new titles published within series of interest; approval plans resemble larger-scale versions of standing orders, by which librarians receive shipments of titles according to relevant disciplines, and can return unwanted titles; blanket orders bear the greater scope of approval plans, while containing nonreturnable materials (Uziel, 2017; Evans & Greenwell, 2018). Subscription-based acquisitions imply temporary access to materials, as opposed to full ownership in perpetuity, and typically apply to digital content; academic libraries may subscribe to individual journals, bundled journal packages, or “big deal” packages, to which vendors apply volume discounts (Uziel, 2017; Evans & Greenwell, 2018). Despite the attractive pricing structures of “big deals”, the inflexibility of their content can pose conflicts to collection managers, depending on the number of irrelevant titles contained in a given package (Levine-Clark, 2014, p. 434).

Demand-driven acquisition (DDA) presents a model by which collection managers assemble a “pool” of eligible titles, and allow users to select them for rental or purchase within the OPAC, at the library’s expense; incorporating this model enables collection development practices which quite literally mirror user demands, while assuring that irrelevant titles within the pool are not purchased (p. 429).

Through partnerships with institutions on a regional scale, or within a greater university system, libraries can form consortia for the joint purchasing of shared digital subscriptions, or physical materials to be shared via interlibrary loan; consortia present increasingly crucial arrangements for extending the purchasing power of libraries amid shrinking budgetary allocations (Uziel, 2017; Evans & Greenwell, 2018; Disher, 2022). Collaborative purchasing models additionally allow libraries to devote more time and resources to the acquisition of archival materials in special collections, which can contribute to their unique identities and reputations (Levine-Clark, 2014; Disher, 2022).

Other cost-effective forms of acquisition involve prioritizing freely available open access content and open education resources (OERs) over similar paid materials which demonstrate comparable subject content and quality standards (Evans & Greenwell, 2018, p. 193).

Maintenance

Collection maintenance involves routine evaluation of existing materials, against available shelving and storage space, as well as ongoing relevance and demonstrated user interest. Offsite storage facilities can be used to hold physical materials which rarely undergo circulation, are sufficiently old, or are replicated in digital collections, especially as library shelving space is continually converted to make way for social spaces and emerging technology applications. (Uziel, 2017; Evans & Greenwell, 2018). Libraries can fully remove items from their collections via weeding, and the Western Regional Storage Trust (2022) offers a working model by which member libraries can transfer their weeded materials to the holdings of a shared repository.

Preservation

Through preservation methods, libraries can uphold the condition of materials in their collections, and ensure their longevity. Evans and Greenwell (2018) note that librarians can maintain standards of preservation for physical collections by auditing worn materials for rebinding, addressing environmental problems posed by mold and insects, and—in cases of rare books or archival materials—deacidifying or strengthening fragile paper which shows signs of flaking (pp. 206-207). As for preservation of digital materials, librarians must account for the ability of storage systems and file types to deteriorate, corrupt, and become obsolete, as well as maintain hardware, software, internal networks, and operating systems, in order to keep OPACs and other applications running (p. 208). Additionally, given increasing reliance upon digital materials via subscription, libraries should prepare for instances in which vendors decommission content determined to be irrelevant or obsolete (p. 208).

COMPETENCY DEVELOPMENT

My competency in this area emerged during INFO 210 (Reference and Information Services), as this course largely involved evaluating subscription databases, and justifying their inclusion and exclusion within given library collections. INFO 230 (Issues in Academic Libraries) introduced me to collection management issues specific to academic libraries, including subscription packages, consortial agreements, open access, and DDA. INFO 281-20 (Building a Critical Culture) offered insight regarding the necessity of building collections which reflect the perspectives and lived experiences of marginalized people. Additionally, INFO 256 (Archives and Manuscripts) improved my understanding of collection management practices within archives and special collections.

SELECTED ARTIFACTS

Through the following pieces of written work, I seek to demonstrate my understanding of collection management in library settings.

INFO 210 - Annotated Bibliography of Core Reference Resources copy.pdf

INFO 210 – Annotated Bibliography of Core Reference Resources

This annotated bibliography compiles 25 digital and physical reference resources, and justifies their subscription and purchase for use by reference librarians at Oakland Public Library’s central branch. The bibliography is preceded by a community analysis of the city of Oakland, which includes a demographic breakdown of the library’s potential user base. As such, this collection is proposed with its target population in mind, and demonstrates an understanding of assessment practices within collection management.

INFO 230 - White Paper #2 - Taylor Kaplan copy.pdf

INFO 230 – White Paper #2: “By Popular Demand: Merits of Demand-Driven Acquisition Models Within Academic Library Collection Development Practices"

This white paper is written from the perspective of an academic librarian aiming to inform library administrators of the benefits, and potential pitfalls, of implementing DDA measures within its collection management policy. Given DDA’s status as a user-centered form of collection development practice, this paper demonstrates an understanding of emerging acquisition methods, as well as the importance of responding to community information needs.

INFO 281 - Issue Brief - Taylor Kaplan copy.pdf

INFO 281-20 – Issue Brief: "All Points of View?: Intellectual Freedom vs. Social Justice in Library Practice"

This issue brief is written from the perspective of a librarian, aiming to convince administrators to adjust their existing interpretation of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Library Bill of Rights (2019): specifically Article II, which maintains that library collections should reflect “all points of view” regarding past and present issues. The brief argues that collection managers may justify the acquisition and maintenance of hate literature, and other materials which compromise the safety and well-being of marginalized populations, in the name of values of neutrality and balance. Measures for balancing intellectual freedom concerns with the concerns of marginalized people are discussed. As such, this brief demonstrates an understanding of collection management practices, specifically as they weigh community concerns against ethical obligations.

CONCLUSION

Through the continual assessment, acquisition, maintenance, and preservation of physical and digital materials, collection management personnel within academic libraries fulfill the information needs of users, supply academic departments with the knowledge base they require, maintain previously acquired materials which remain relevant, and preserve the integrity of all these materials for future generations. By competently engaging in each of these components of collection management, librarians can provide students and faculty with the most cutting edge information pertinent to their chosen disciplines, intentionally curate important historic materials for valuable context, and build their institution’s cultural memory through the provision of rare materials and special collections.

REFERENCES

Disher, W. T. (2022). Managing collections. In S. Hirsh (Ed.), Information services today: An introduction (3rd ed., pp. 332-341). Rowman & Littlefield.

Evans, E., & Greenwell, S. (2018). Academic librarianship. ALA Neal-Schuman.

Levine-Clark, M. (2014). Access to everything: Building the future academic library collection. portal: Libraries and the Academy, 14(3), 425-437. https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2014.0015

Uziel, L. (2017). Collection development. In T. Gilman (Ed.), Academic librarianship today (pp. 101-114). Rowman & Littlefield.

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