Hot answers tagged collection-development
11
Many libraries are entering into cooperative agreements with other libraries in their region such that one library will keep a print copy as a backup and other libraries will discard theirs.
Some libraries discard back issues of journals when
the online archive is backed up in Portico or CLOCKSS
the online copy is the version of record/official version
...
10
First, early-to-mid 20th Century books are not usually considered "very old"; very old books are usually stored in special collections.
Many libraries (including both Brown and MIT) store older, low-use materials in offsite, high-density storage facilites. Others, without the budget to do so, may choose to discard these books, particularly if they're widely ...
9
It's hard to predict the future, and what people in the future would find useful. I think orienting preservation activities around what your library users find useful now can be helpful to retain your sanity. To do this, you inevitably need to measure and analyze what collections and content are getting used. The study of archival appraisal offers a lot of ...
9
Weeding lends itself to acronyms, for some reason, as you doubtless already know:
CREW: Continuous Review, Evaluation, and Weeding
MUSTIE (part of CREW): Misleading, Ugly, Superseded, Trivial, Irrelevant, or Elsewhere
WORST: Worn out, Out of date, Rarely used, System cannot support (e.g. outmoded delivery systems like CD-ROMs), Trivial
In your specific ...
7
Funny you should ask! When our institution was contemplating an electronic theses and dissertations program, I (as library representative on the ETD working group) was sent to ask our collection developers this very question.
The answer was a resounding "huh?" Nobody I talked to considered this even a remote factor in collection-development decisions. In ...
7
The 80/20 rule generally applies here: 80% of the library's collection is used 20% of the time, and vice versa. It can vary depending on the focus of the collection and the relevance to user needs. A general research library is more likely to collect on a "just in case" model, whereas a more focused specialized library is going to collect a narrower range of ...
6
Collectively, libraries are investigating their collections for unique and rare items, to be sure that enough copies exist to keep them available. This is known in the field as the "last-copy problem."
You may be interested in the Ithaka report "What to Withdraw?" which asks when the availability and quality of a digitized version of a print item warrants ...
6
Speaking from school and public library experience, I'd start with the original selector - the person responsible for the item being in the collection - and a supervisor (department head, school principal). Every item in a collection should be justifiable, according to selection criteria already in place, so it shouldn't take a large committee to defend, but ...
5
A group of libraries in my area has started a shared google document that allows libraries to post multi-part sets with missing parts. The library posts the item title, what is missing, and whether they prefer to give it away or receive other sets to make it a full set.
There are over 40 items listed but I am not sure whether or not any matches have been ...
5
This is a highly individualized decision that depends on a number of things:
Real estate: Is shelf space at a premium in your DVD section? Maybe you'd rather use the space for something more popular/newer.
Budget: Maybe you'd prefer to use your budget for something more popular/newer.
Requests: How often is the material requested? Look for the break-even ...
5
I don't know if this would also apply to DVDs as I don't currently know of a vendor or publisher that does this, but some audiobook companies sell library-specific editions and will replace missing discs for free (if under contract) or for a reduced fee (something like $10 a disc).
Alternately, it could be possible to find the individual disc for (re)sale ...
4
My library allows magazines to be checked out, including the current issue. This allows for some circulation data, though it doesn't account for in-house use. When evaluating our magazine collection for purchasing decisions, we attached a small 'survey' to the cover of each: basically if a patron used it, they were encouraged to make a tic mark or initial ...
4
Playing my Not A Gifts-and-Acquisitions Librarian card before I try to answer...
In general, library gift/donation/bequest policies make crystal clear that the library is in no way obligated to accept, much less keep, much less preserve, any gift or bequest of books given it. If libraries had to keep every bequest of a library-lover, we'd drown in ancient ...
4
Computer stuff changes so fast, I don't know if canonical is possible. However, when I am trying to develop a part of the collection, one thing I do is look to see what other libraries have:
Go to the World Catalog and do an advanced search
(http://www.worldcat.org/advancedsearch/).
Search for dd:004* as a keyword, and limit your publication dates
(maybe ...
4
The others have mentioned weeding policies, but the question could also cover 'how to dispose' of the back issues.
My current place of work's institutional library has a policy of what they'll do with materials no longer needed. I'm working from memory, but it includes giving stuff to other departments, local universities, and even individual employees.
...
4
A long time ago we learned a lot about vertical files in library school. We organized the information alphabetically in folders. Once a year we went through and weeded the folders. What I found as a school librarian in later years was that what is relevant is information not found on the Internet - especially local history and local information. I would ...
3
Do you mean "one of a kind", or just rare?
Access policies should be based around donor intent. If the donor may not want material to circulate, or may not want parts of the collection to be made available before a certain date, you should capture and implement those policies.
Even if the works are non-circulating, you may be able to provide and ...
3
Our collection development policy guides which journals we keep and which we recycle. Newstand-type and pleasure-reading get recycled after six months; journals covered heavily in .pdf full text in our databases go after a year. We only keep journals that are not covered in the databases. Perhaps someday the library staff will have to revisit this policy if ...
3
At our library, any Patron may suggest books for acquisition through a request form available directly from the home page.
In his request, the patron can choose if he wants to be noticed about acquisition, and if he wants to borrow the book once it's available.
The librarian responsible for that field of interest checks the request:
The book might ...
3
Most of the time, you'll find that you really only need the SU license. My recommendation is to pay attention to turnaway reports and if you see titles getting a high number of turnaways, then look into purchasing a copy with an MU license or upgrading if your vendor will allow it.
I haven't heard of any plans that would allow for a bump in SU for a set ...
3
We're a research university, not a huge one - about 15,000 undergrads. Our collections budget has been cut about 30% in the past 3 years. As a rule do not buy things we know we have alternate access to - through a package, or because it's freely available online. Places with a rosier budget picture may well have different options.
Having said that, for ...
3
At this point, I am still buying print books, even if they are available online. I'm a small branch library within a large university (with my own budget), and in two cases I can think of, I have acquired the print version of an online book. And in both of those cases, I know that the print book has circulated within the past 2 years. One book is open access ...
3
To get multiple awards, you may be able to try a reader's advisory database, such as Novelist, if your library subscribes to one. They often let you browse the awards, or, in looking up a book you can see if it's won multiple awards.
Right now, a similar database, the Reader's Advisor Online is available online for free and their "browse" feature allows you ...
3
The Horn Book has good reviews & guides and they also have the annual Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards. Many states or regions (as dsalo points out with Wisconsin) have awards or reading lists or guides. For example, the Massachusetts Book Awards has a children & YA section for their award. You could also consider awards given out by other groups, ...
3
I don't have experience with Montessori teaching aides, but taking a look at Deakin University they appear to have shelved their Montessori collection using various combinations - but a common one is the use of a secondary alpha set that takes the first letter of the first three words of the title.
E.g. Montessori education: yesterday, today and tomorrow ...
3
Every community is different, but at the last library I worked we moved short stories out of Dewey literature and into fiction, and circulation increased. An Emma Donoghue fan may try her short stories if they are sitting next to her novels but is unlikely to browse in the literature section for such. In our community, we do not seem to have a lot of ...
2
Unless there are summarizing articles or thesis about "print on demand books in libraries", I doubt that one can give a full answer to this general question. The answer to the first question, whether libraries have purchased print-on-demand books, is yes: just search for known PoD publishers in library union catalogs, for instance:
Books on Demand in GBV
...
2
My institution acquires the records of faculty members. We have an donor sheet that we give to faculty members who may be moving institutions or (more commonly) retiring. Although we have the mandate to collect such material, we also have our larger acquisition mandate that highlights areas of research strength, so we have some wiggle room to say "no ...
2
The Award Annals website collects lists of awards and ranks books based on how many they've received. They have sections for different genres including Young Adult, so it may be helpful for your purposes.
2
The British library organization, Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CLILIP) has its own awards, you can see winners here:
http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/home/
Also, many states' library associations have their own YA awards, not sure if there is any one place to see them together, might have to do a state by state search? ...
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