Communication and Collection Accountability through Clusters

1
Communication and Collection Accountability
through Clusters

• Case studies from two institutions
• Carla H. Lee, University of Virginia
• Meris Mandernach, James Madison University

2
Overview of JMU

• 18,000 FTE
• Comprehensive university with undergrad focus
  part of statewide system
• Collection budget
• State vs. local
• VIVA
• Strengths in areas of Business, Audiology/Speech
  Pathology, Assessment (Psychology), Education,
  Music, Nursing

3
Overview of UVa

• 20,000 FTE
• R1
• Collections budget
• State v. local
• VIVA
• Local strengths include English, History,
  Political Sciences, many programs ranked in top
  20.

4
Why we clustered? UVa

• Clusters an extension of our public services and
  collection administrative structure.
• Reorganization in 2006
• CSG reorganized in 2007
• Representative structure
• Normalization of procedure
• Transparency in decision-making

5
Why we clustered? JMU

• Clusters are a function of the collection
  development committee
• Communication
• Decision transparency
• Budget decisions/recommendations
• Interdisciplinary focus on the rise
• Clusters only apply to collections at JMU

6
What is the structure? JMU

• Collection Development Committee
• Monetary expenditures Dean
• Policy changes Library Faculty
• Composed of 2 permanent members
• Collection Management Librarian
• Associate Dean, ex-officio, for VIVA perspective
• 4 rotating cluster members, elected to 2 year
  positions

7
Structure JMU (visual)
AHS Social Work, Nursing Health Sciences,
Psychology Kinesiology, Communication Sciences
and Disorders
Science Math, Computer Science, Chemistry,
Biology, Physics, Engineering, ISAT, Geology
AH Music, Art, Literature, Foreign Language,
Writing /Technical Communications, History,
Philosophy/Religion, SMAD, Theater/Dance,
Womens Studies SocSci Business, Education,
Political Science, Justice Studies,
Communication, Sociology/Anthropology
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Roles -- JMU

• CDC
• Chair
• Associate Dean
• Cluster Reps
• Clusters
• Collections Admin

9
Function of clusters JMU

• Clusters do..

• Clusters dont

• provide additional information to the CDC during
  budget fluctuations
• Act as advisory groups
• Broad input for general resource decisions

• Make decisions (only recommendations)
• Follow reporting lines
• Focus on any area other than collections

10
Cluster Structure --UVa
11
Roles UVa

• Assistant University Librarian for Public
  Services Collections
• Collections Steering Director-level membership
• Collections Coordinators subject librarian
  level
• Responsibility built into some job descriptions
• Generally not supervisors of subject librarians
• Subject Librarians variety of other roles

12
Collections structure UVa
13
Decision making UVa

• Collections Steering Group
• What will we do?

• Collections Coordinators
• How will we get it done?

• Policy
• Budget allocation
• Communication
• Decision Making
• Supervision

• Operations
• Communication
• Training
• Local Issues
• Advisory

14
Decision making JMU

• Collections Admin
• Set Allocations
• Firm
• On-going (Serials, Databases)
• Funding Lines for special projects, new resources
• Collection Development Committee
• Continuing expenditure decisions
• General collections support
• Liaisons
• Firm orders for AV/monographs
• Departmental approval plans

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Pros / Cons of Clusters

• Pros

• Cons

• Increased Communication
• Buy-in
• Worker Bees
• Representation in decision making

• More meetings
• Extra Layers
• Comparing with other clusters
• Only as good as collection coordinator

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What we have learned from each other

• Having clusters built into hierarchy helps with
  accountability
• Clearly defined roles and responsibilities a plus
• Constantly evolving/Fine-tuning
• Staffing
• A structure. Is it THE structure?

17
Future direction??

• UVa

• JMU

• Clusters likely to remain
• Enhanced training and support
• Digital Collections

• Assess current structure next summer
• Broader Liaison support
• Additional Training by Collection Management

18
Contact information

• Meris Mandernach
• James Madison University
• manderma_at_jmu.edu

• Carla H. Lee
• University of Virginia
• carlalee_at_virginia.edu