Collection Development for newbies

The library I work at does not have a Collection Development librarian... We don't have set budgets, specifically designated collecting areas or a system to track orders. This has been a great gift for me; it has allowed me to really learn and grow in terms of CD. I have gotten a grand opportunity to innovate and learn for myself what works and what doesn't (and share via the interwebs :) )

What Should I Order?

• Though it is my library's general philosophy for everyone to order everything, I generally order only for areas where I know what I'm doing. For example, my liaison areas are Computer Science, Physical Sciences and English/Communications. I try to connect with these departments in-depth by:
• Email communication with faculty. I try to send emails with cover graphics of what has just come in in their subject area that month/semester and also beg them to send me specific books or subject areas in which to order (replies are rare). When someone does order, I keep them updated on when things come in by giving them short urls to the records mentioned below and emailing them personally.
• Updates on statuses of what they and I have ordered for their department. I keep a public record of everything I've ordered, why, and its status (yellow-ordered, orange-in process, green-received/on shelf). Check out some examples: Computer Science, Physical Sciences, English/Communications.
• Knowing what classes are offered in the department. Recently, I started a project where I list all the classes being offered in Fall 2012 in a particular department, highlight keywords in the course description, list what books we have already that may be useful for that particular class and what I might order to support it. Here's the work in progress. 
• Finding out what textbooks classes are using. Many librarians are against collecting textbooks... I personally am I big fan of this, though. Students at my college often don't have the funds for books, or their grants for books aren't received till several weeks into the semester. I will order textbooks if no one can get me a free desk copy, and encourage instructors to put them on reserve and let students know in their syllabi.
• Statistics are important! If I'm in doubt on whether to spend money on something, say a YA fiction book, I check the circulation stats. Oh hey, a third of our top 100 circs are PZs! Since my library serves high school and community patrons as well as students, and has no policy against leisure reading, I order general interest and leisure books with the philosophy that all reading supports learning, which is part of my college's mission statement. I use statistics to back-up what I think we need and to learn about what's going on. For example, books about hurricanes have a really high circ rate. This topic is so popular that it warrants me consistently checking on what's published so I can keep the collection up-to-date.

What Should I get rid of?

• Weeding is necessary. If your computer science shelves are bogged down with Microsoft books from 1987, MS-DOT and WordPerfect help, the cool and helpful things you just ordered will get lost. Don't get caught up in the Library-of-Congress collecting philosophy. You have a specific population to collect for, and it is not the entirety of America. 
• As mentioned above for collecting, emailing faculty is a good choice, if doable. At my library, we just don't have the staff to let faculty know everything we're getting rid of, but it's a great idea. Check out this post on the weeding project at SUNY Potsdam's library.
• Knowing your subject and the curriculum offered is just as important in weeding as ordering. Computer science and technology books go out of date faster than other subjects; I have to be on top of what's current. Curriculum knowledge is also a basic here... if a certain program/class/department has been eliminated at the college, materials supporting that can be weeded down.
• Statistics generally indicate whether you should keep or chuck. My library has a policy that if something hasn't circulated in ten years, it automatically goes. You can use your judgement on this if your library doesn't have a policy; Is it a book that students often look at/read only in the library? Is it a staple of background theory? Ten years is probably a longer time than you'd typically give a book to circulate, so knowing your topic as previously stated will help.

What should I do so the books I order aren't the ones gotten rid of?

• To a certain extent, taking above steps on ordering will automatically help circulation rates. The background research you do will lead to good choices and check-outs. However, it shouldn't stop there. You should promote the books you order! Does your library have a facebook page? How about reviewing/promoting books there? In my experience, posting a book on the facebook page leads to its immediate check-out. What about a Pinterest account to categorize/recommend books? Maybe a display with reviews of books or "staff picks" section? Highlighting select subject books on the libguides? Promotion is the most important step here for librarians.

Leading users to eBooks

1. I have been working lately on collection development in computer science. It has been years since anyone has weeded this collection (see previous post with the WordPerfect photo).
2. Previously, when I was researching QR codes, I saw in a photo that a university library had a sign with a QR code in their stacks, right on the shelf. It pointed an online resource for students.

1 + 2 =

Brain says: Awesome! Let's do this for every subject!


Problem: Multiple subjects on one shelf lead to aesthetic displeasure and crowding.

Solution: We have these wooden book placeholders. We don't really use them at the library anymore and have a ton in the storage room downstairs. As a young librarian, I had no idea what they were when first coming upon them, but they go in place of a book that is being repaired, on reserve, on hold, etc. Pointing you in the right direction, if you're looking for something that we have, but isn't currently there on the shelf. Hello! Resources we have with no physical presence... eBooks!

Hence this:

Library Day In The Life: #libday8, Day 4

I haven't updated this blog in a long time. Since, I have gotten a tenure-track position as the Emerging Technologies Librarian at Pensacola State College. While I was catching up on my RSS feeds, I saw that one of my favorite blogs was doing a day in the life of a librarian again, and this time I actually have a job to write about!

As a faculty member, I have to allot my time and turn it into my boss so it can be approved by the college. So, here's what my day is supposed to look like:
Maggie's Work Day

It doesn't really much look like this, though. One of the librarians here (there are three of us full-time, and 4 adjuncts) is on sabbatical this term, and we have had a TON of workshop requests. In addition, co-teaching a regular 8 week class for the first time takes up FAR more time than I'd ever imagined.

7:40 am - Arrive at work. Only ten minutes late, minor victory. I settle in with coffee and try to catch up on technology and library news via Google Reader. I'm only 500 articles behind.

9:00 - Realize that my CGS 1050 students have a group project in their syllabus, due in one week, that I have not yet assigned to them. The students are assigned different search engines that they will give a presentation on. I pick: Yahoo, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Mahalo, Yippy, and Ask. I then go confer with my mentor, also my co-instructor, on coming up with a rubric for this project. I then hurriedly draft one, even though I never in my life have written a rubric, and feel imposter-like.

10:30 - Class time! My co-instructor is mainly teaching today, so I assign the project, present Hoover's database quickly and help those getting lost. Today she was teaching various subject databases; last class I taught medical databases (our class is full of nursing and PT students).

12 - A kid's size bourbon chicken from the food court... Delicious!

1 - Discussion with my mentor on the duties of a subject liaison. My departments this semester are English/Communications, Physical Sciences and Computer Science. I make notes on budget estimates, how to get in contact with each department, getting everyone involved, etc.

1:45 - I head to weed the Zs, where MANY computer program books such as this dwell:

I laugh and laugh.

3:20 - I head over to the Physical Sciences building. One of my friends is a professor there and she needs some help with computer-type stuff, such as creating distribution lists in Outlook. Because she is in my liaison departments, and because I'm the emerging technologies librarian, this is outreach. We also chat about what the CD money for physical sciences can get spent on... BESIDES books. We have a human skeleton and some models for the biology students in the library, and I suggest purchasing some rocks or dioramas for Physical Sciences with their collection development money. She thinks I'm a genius.

5 - Work ends, weekly Thursday Night Dinner with Friends ensues.