History, planning

1
LIBR 580 Introduction to Collection Management

• History, planning staffing

2
What does collection management mean?

• First the term Selection was used
• Then Collection Development
• And now, Collection Management

These terms tend to be synonymous and, according
to Peggy Johnson
3
What does collection management mean? (contd)
The responsibilities that comprise collection
management can include any of the following

• Selecting materials for acquisition and access
• Weeding or deselection
• Storage and preservation

4
What does collection management mean? (contd)

• Writing and revising collection development
  policies
• Promoting, marketing and interpreting collections
  and resources
• Evaluating and assessing collections and related
  services
• Negotiating with vendors
• Licensing resources

5
What does collection management mean? (contd)

• Community liaison, engagement and outreach
  responsibilities
• Managing budgets
• Liaison with other libraries and cooperative
  collection development
• Soliciting funding to supplement allocated
  collection development funds

6
Collection Management
The emphasis on these points may vary from
library to library but, all imply a knowledge of
the librarys user community
7
Definition of CM

• Simply put, collection management is the
  systemic, efficient and economical stewardship of
  library resources.
• Paul Mosher. Collection dev Collection
  Management 4(4) 45

8
The Alexandrian Libraryc. 280 B.C. 350 A.D.

• Very unusual acquisitions policy

9
Monastic Libraries

• Knowledge throughout the Dark Ages was kept alive
  in books painstakingly copied by hand in
  monasteries and scriptoriums.

A monastery without a library is like a castle
without an armoury. Anonymous monk 1170 A.D.
10
Monastic Libraries

• Famous medieval libraries in the 9th to 12th
  centuries had collections of approximately 200
  manuscripts. Very famous libraries had over 500.

11
Early University CM

• Selection not an important part of a librarians
  job
• Most books came as donations
• Money was donated to buy specific books
• Professors often selected all library books

12
Early Public Library CM

• Most early public libraries were social club
  libraries
• Members paid a fee to join, which paid for the
  books
• Focus on popular reading materials
• The more learned members ordered the books

13
Evolution of collection development

• By the late 1800s, the shift to selection by
  librarians in public libraries had begun
• Shift to librarians in universities was much
  slower esp in NA (post-war)
• In early 1900s, Librarian John Cotton Dana was
  advising public librarians on selection , but he
  was considered irresponsible for saying that one
  should fit the library to its owners, and,
  the worth of a book is in its use.

14
Evolution of collection development

• Following the second world war funding for
  education and libraries grew enormously
• Increased funding for research (aerospace,
  biotechnology)
• Academic libraries interested in collecting
  materials from all over the world
• Educational role of libraries increased

15
Evolution of collection development

• During the 1950s jobbers and vendors began
  offering services that meant librarians were
  buying directly from these agencies
• In the 1960s, materials were supplied through
  approval or blanket orders freeing selectors to
  obtain more esoteric resources
• 1970s collection development/management becomes
  recognized as specialized activity

16
Planning and Staffing

• Planning is a tool for dealing with rapid
  change
• Short-term strategic plans now common
• Follows planning of parent organization
• CM policy and budget important components
• Environmental scans very useful
• http//www.oclc.org/reports/2005perceptions.htm
• Conferences, professional activities important to
  staying in touch with trends
• Hint when applying for a job, read the
  strategic planning material both for the library
  and parent org

17
Planning and Staffing

• Types of planning models (Johnson 67-68)
• master planning
• contingency planning
• democratic planning
• scenario planning
• entrepreneurial planning
• incentive planning
• Type of approach depends on size of library and
  style of administration
• Most libraries use more than one type of planning
  approach to make decisions and allocate funds

18
Planning and Staffing

• A good strategic plan
• Reflects goals and objectives of parent org
• Allows the library to focus on key initiatives
• Defines goals and objectives by priority
• Includes enough flexibility to allow for change
  (eg budget cuts)
• Represents input from the entire library and not
  just management
• Includes clear direction on collection management
  and fiscal objectives

19
UBC Library example

• TREK 2010 A Global Journey
• Phase 1 Implementation Plan
• UBC Library Strategic Plan Furthering Learning
  and Research (2004-2007)
• UBC Library Implementation Plan 2004 - 2007
• First Year Report
• Second Year Report
• UBC Library Operations Plan 2007/2008 (includes
  Services and Collections Plan)

20
VPL example

• Public Library Services Branch Strategic Plan
  for Public Libraries 2004 - 2007
• City of Vancouver budget and planning
• Vancouver Public Library
• VPL Annual Budget
• VPL Strategic Directives 2008 (pdf)
• VPL Annual Reports

21
Planning and Staffing

• CM issues for planning
• Impact of technology
• New skills/retraining for staff
• Local collection development vs collaborative
  collection development activities
• Building collections versus services
• Outsourcing versus in-house
• Preservation

22
Staffing Issues

• ACADEMIC LIBRARIES
• Subject bibliographers less common
• Subject specialists vs generalists
• Collection duties as part of larger skill set,
  including reference and teaching
• Reorganization around collection coordination and
  scholarly communications activities
• Digitization support
• Technical services print to electronic

23
Staffing Issues

• PUBLIC LIBRARIES
• Centralized CM
• Faster response to collection requests
• Good over-all picture of entire collection
• De-centralized CM
• Involvement of most librarians in collection
  building
• Closer tie to a particular community
• Outsourcing selection, acquisition activities
• Staff reallocation
• Staff retraining