The purpose of this course is to examine the theoretical and practical aspects of the selection, acquisition, evaluation, management, and use of resources to meet the information needs of clientele in libraries and other institutional environments. The main objectives are:

• To identify the nature and significance of the relationship between the community and the collection development and management processes;
• To introduce the main elements, principles, and techniques of collection development and management;
• To examine the problems and challenges of collection development and management;
• To develop insights and methods for dealing with issues pertaining to collection development and management; and
• To identify the opportunities and challenges posed by electronic materials.

These objectives will be achieved through lectures, readings, discussions, exercises, and the examination and use of key collection development tools and sources.

Projects to be assigned during the semester include:

• Collection Development Policies - September 17 (10%)
• Community Paper - October 1 (10%)
• Evaluation of Periodicals Collection - October 15 (20%)
• Collection Evaluation Methods - Group Presentation - November 5 (10%)
• Selection Project - November 19 (40%)
• Attendance and meaningful participation (10%)

• This course depends heavily upon student participation, therefore, students must attend every class to get full benefit from the course. In the unavoidable event of an absence, students should make arrangements with other students to pick up class notes and handouts. As an attendance policy for this class, the following regulations are adopted:

  Regular class attendance is a student obligation and a student is responsible for all the work, including texts and written work of all class meetings. No right or privilege exists which permits a student to be absent from any given number of class meetings (exceptions are listed under Section 224-a. of the Education Law: 224-a. - students unable because of religious beliefs to register or attend classes on certain days). If a student misses more than three class meetings, s/he will be asked to drop the course. The instructor will deduct two points from the final grade for each absence.

• Active and meaningful participation is expected. Such participation will contribute to a student's final grade by increasing it slightly (for example from a B to a B+).

• Late assignments will lose one letter grade from the grade they would have gotten had they been turned in on time. In the event of an illness, please contact the instructor before the due date. An "Incomplete" will be given to students who fail to submit their final projects before the end of the semester. Incompletes will be considered late assignments.

• Well written papers and assignments, attendance, participation in class, cooperation with others, are all worth a great deal to evaluation, but none is more important than another in delivering a grade.

• Please note that this course demands a HEAVY commitment of your time. It is expected that you will spend an average of eight hours each week on readings and assignments. Much of this time will be spent in campus libraries.

• A       Excellent work. Numerically, A = 95.

• B+     Very good. Numerically, B+ = 90.

• B       Good work. Numerically, B = 85.

• C       Below graduate-level work. Numerically, C = 75.

Each student is expected to have an e-mail account and to subscribe to the course's listserv. To subscribe to the list, send a message to listserv@listserv.albany.edu. In the body of the message, write: subscribe ISP606 your-first-name your-last-name. Click on "Send." In a few minutes, you will receive an e-mail asking you to confirm your subscription. Please do so.

Students should check their e-mails at least twice a week. This is the best method of communication with the instructor concerning assignments, questions, and readings. Call me or come to my office hours if you think it will take too much time to explain over e-mail.

Students should also subscribe to COLLDV-L. Collection Development Listserv. Los Angeles: University of Southern California, 1991-. To subscribe, send the following e-mail message to listproc@usc.edu: subscribe colldv-l [your first name and last name]

Textbook:

• Evans, G. Edward. Developing Library and Information Center Collections. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2000. Although not obligatory, copies for purchasing are available at the University Bookstore. A copy is available on Reserve in DEWEY Library.

Articles (Available on ERes. You will be given instructions in class on how to access them):

• AcqWeb: A web site providing links to information and resources of interest to librarians with acquisitions or collection development responsibilities.

• ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom. Quick and Easy Guide to the Office for Intellectual Freedom's Pages. Chicago: ALA.

• Albitz, Rebecca. "Video Reference Tools and Selection Aids." In Video Collection Development in Multi-type Libraries: A Handbook. 2nd ed. Edited by Gary P. Handman, pp. 343-355. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002.

• Asheim, Lester E. "Not Censiorship But Selection." Wilson Library Bulletin 28, no. 1 (September 1953): 63-67.

• Association of College and Research Libraries. College Libraries Section. Standards Committee. "Standards for College Libraries: The Final Version, Approved January 2000." College & Research Libraries News 61, no. 3 (March 2000): 175-82.

• Atkinson, Ross. "Preservation and Collection Development: Toward a Political Synthesis." Journal of Academic Librarianship 16, no. 2 (May 1990): 98-103.

• Becker, Beverley. "Before the Censor Comes Essential Preparation." In Intellectual Freedom Manual, 6th ed., pp. 331-346. Chicago: American Library Association, 2002.

• Brin, Beth L. "Building a Library Collection to Support New Engineering Programs." Science & Technology Libraries 19, no. 3-4 (2001): 19-37.

• Butler, A. Hays. "Cooperative Collection Development Programs in Law Libraries: Barriers and Benefits." Legal Reference Services Quarterly 20, no. 3 (2001): 13-25.

• Clayton, Peter, & G. E. Gorman. "Updating Conspectus for a Digital Age." Library Collections, Acquisitions, & Technical Services 26 (2002): 253-258.

• Hewitt, Joe A. "On the Nature of Acquisitions." Library Resources & Technical Services 33, no. 2 (April 1989): 105-122.

• Intner, Sheila S. "Impact of the Internet on Collection Development: Where Are We Now? Where Are We Headed? An Informal Study." Library Collections, Acquisitions, & Technical Services 25, no. 3 (2001): 307-322.

• Intner, Sheila S. "Ten Steps to Great Collections." Technicalities 22, no. 4 (July-August 2002): 1, 5-7, 24.

• Line, Maurice B. "The Case for Retaining Printed LIS Journals." IFLA Journal 24, no. 1 (1998): 15-19.

• McCook, Katheleen de la Pena. "Reconnecting Library Education and the Mission of Community." Library Journal 125, no. 14 (September 1, 2000): 164-165.

• Metz, Paul. "Principles of Selection for Electronic Resources." Library Trends 48, no. 4 (Spring 2000): 711-728.

• Metz, Paul, & John K. Stemmer. "A Reputational Study of Academic Publishers." College & Research Libraries 57, no. 3 (May 1996): 234-247.

• Neal, James G. "Copyright Is Dead ... Long Live Copyright." American Libraries 33, no. 11 (December 2002): 48-51.

• Nisonger, Thomas E. "The Internet and Collection Management in Academic Libraries: Opportunities and Challenges." In The Role and Impact of the Internet on Library and Information Services. Edited by Lewis-Guodo Liu, pp. 59-83. Wetsport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2001.

• Nisonger, Thomas E., & Gloria Guzi. "Approaches, Techniques, and Criteria for Serials Evaluation in the Electronic Environment." The Serials Librarian 40, no. 3-4 (2001): 393-407.

• Schmidt, Karen A. "The Ordering, Claiming, and Receipt of Materials." In Technical Services Today and Tomorrow. 2nd ed. Compiled by Michael Gorman and associates, pp. 9-20. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1998.

• Scheschy, Virginia M. "Publishers on the Web: From Addison to Ziff." Library Collections, Acquisitions, & Technical Services 23, no. 1 (Spring 1999): 73-78.

• Alabaster, Carol. Developing an Outstanding Core Collection: A Guide for Libraries [public libraries]. Chicago: American Library Association, 2002. [Z 687.2 U6 A43]

• American Library Association. Subcommittee on Guide for Training Collection Development Librarians. Guide for Training Collection Development Librarians. Chicago: American Library Association, 1996. [Z 687.2 U6 A48]

• American Library Association. Subcommittee to Revise the Guide for Written Collection Policy Statements. Guide for Written Collection Policy Statements. 2nd ed. Chicago: American Library Association, 1996. [Z 687 A518]

• Association for Library Collections & Technical Services. Guide to Library User Needs Assessment for Integrated Information Resource Management and Collection Development. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2001. [Z 687 G847 2001]

• Association for Library Collections & Technical Services. Guide to the Management of the Information Resources Budget. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2001. [Z 689 G86]

• Association for Library Collections & Technical Services. Guide to Review of Library Collections: Preservation, Storage, and Withdrawal. 2nd ed. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2002. [Z 687.2 U6 G64]

• Association for Library Collections & Technical Services. Guide to Collection Development and Management Administration, Organization, and Staffing. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2001. [Z 687 G845 2001]

Additional Readings (DEWEY Library):

Sept. 3 - Introduction (Evans, ch. 1-2; Intner 2002; McCook)

• Self-introductions
• Introduction to the course
• Concepts and terms
• Mission of libraries
• Library community
• Assessment of user and community information needs
• AcqWeb

Sept. 10 - Collection Development Policies (Clayton & Gorman; Evans, ch. 3)

• Why a collection development policy?
• How to develop a collection development policy and who should be involved in the process?
• What are the essential parts of a collection development policy?
• What is the Conspectus approach and what impact did it have on libraries?
• In-class exercise: Examine and evaluate collection development policies

Sept. 17 - Selection Tools (Evans, ch. 4; Brin)

• The selection process and theories and issues relating to it
• Characteristics of the selection process in particular environments
• Selection aids & role of guides, reviews, the Internet, and other tools in selection
• Subjective and objective considerations that influence selection
• What is a core collection and how to create one?
• In class exercise: What should drive selection/collection development and management decisions, demand or quality? Evaluating reviews.

Sept. 24 - Publishers and Publishing (Evans, ch. 5; Metz & Stemmer; Scheschy)

• Overview of publishing industry and how it works for different types of materials
• Types of publishers and their objectives, methods of operation, and relationship to libraries
• Publishing output and pricing
• Current trends and issues, including growth of electronic publishing, consolidation, etc.
• In-class exercise: Librarians must have subject expertise in order to make wise CD decisions.

Oct. 1 - Print-Based Serials & Audiovisual Materials (Evans, ch. 6, 9, 10; Line; Albitz)

• What is a serial? Identify and describe major types
• How is the selection/addition of a serial different from other selections/additions?
• Identifying serials: tools and sources
• Implications of a subscription and concerns about access vs. ownership, document delivery
• Selecting other non-book materials: media, government documents, microforms
• In-class exercise: Serials collection evaluation

Oct. 8 - Electronic Materials (Evans, ch. 7, 8; Intner 2001; LibLicense; Metz; Nisonger 2001)

• How is the selection of electronic resources (CD-ROMs, electronic journals, full-text databases, electronic books, and Web sites) the same as the selection of traditional resources? How is it different?
• Licensing electronic resources
• Impact on budgets and staffing
• Maintenance and archival/ownership issues
• In-class exercise: Selecting electronic resources

Oct. 15 - Acquisitions (Evans, ch. 11; Hewitt; Schmidt)

• The acquisitions process and the role of automation in it
• What acquisition plans do librarians use? What considerations affect the choice of plan?
• How to evaluate the "workings" of the plan?
• Ethical considerations in the librarian-vendor-publisher relationship.
• What are the major considerations in acquiring foreign and retrospective materials?
• Out-of-print acquisitions and gifts and exchanges

Oct. 22 - Vendors and Vendor Services (Evans, ch. 12)

• What do vendors do and what do vendors and collection development librarians expect from each other?
• Vendor evaluation, Retail outlets, New bookstores, Overseas vendors, Out-of-print, antiquarian, and rare book dealers, Other media retail outlets
• In-class exercise: Librarians who outsource collection development or use approval and blanket order plans are relinquishing their responsibilities.

Oct. 29 - Fiscal Management (Evans, ch. 13; GUEST SPEAKER)

• Allocating budgets
• Equal or equitable fund allocation?

Nov. 5 - Evaluating collections (Evans, ch. 15; Nisonger & Guzi)

• Purpose of evaluating collections
• Methods used to evaluate collections
  • Collection-centered methods, including formulas, growth rate, checklist method, citation analysis, overlap studies, expert opinion, professional standards
  • Client-centered methods, including circulation data, in-house use, shelf availability, document delivery, collection mapping, user survey, output measures, etc.
• In-class exercise: What would a perfect collection look like? How to build such a collection?

Nov. 12 - Collection Management: Weeding, Storage, Preservation (Evans, ch. 14, 17; Atkinson, 1990)

• Why weed? Why not? Which items to weed?
• Things to keep in mind when considering weeding
• Why are preservation and conservation methods necessary in libraries? Give examples
• How one determines which materials need preservation?

Nov. 19 - Cooperative Collection Development (Butler; Evans, ch. 16)

• Why cooperating and resource sharing? Why not?
• What to avoid when establishing a resource-sharing program?
• In-class exercise: Commitments made in cooperative collection development agreements should take precedence over local needs and priorities.

Dec. 03 - Censorship, Intellectual Freedom, and Access to Information (Asheim; Becker; Evans, ch. 19; First Amendment; Freedom to Read Statement; Library Bill of Rights)

• Selection vs. Censorship
• Censorship in libraries: who censors, what is censored, etc.
• Notable First Amendment Court Cases
• Internet Filtering
• In-class exercise: Discuss Catcher in the Rye and other banned works.

Dec. 10 - Copyright, License Agreements, & Ethics (ACRL, Code of Ethics; Evans, ch. 18; LibLicense; Neal)

• Guidelines for ALCTS Members to Supplement the American Library Association Code of Ethics
• The future of collection development