Library Camp @ Syracuse, part 6

The afternoon break out session I hosted was "Intellectual property, digital rights, DRM, and copyright." Maureen Southorn was the scribe. Six of us discussed a broad range of topics and the resources posted in the wiki reflect that. We even talked about plagiarism!

Now we're in the wrap-up session and people are reporting on all of the sessions that were held today.

Our first library unconference in Upstate New York will soon come to a close. The feedback has been very positive, with people being appreciative of level of interaction. Even our two speakers today liked the format. Two participants just said -- "It was lovely." "Engaging."

I t-h-i-n-k we may do this again!

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Technorati tags: unyunc, collection development

Library Camp @ Syracuse, part 5

Ellen Reynolds, from the Pioneer Library System, is out afternoon keynote speaker. Her topic is “Does Your Collection Need Analysis?” Upfront she mentioned Ranganathan’s Five Laws of Library Science.

Collection management basics:

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Plan
• Fund
• Build
• Organize
• Access
• Market

What are the collection numbers (received from ILS reports)?

• Number of items in the collection
• Percentage of an area (970s) of the total collection (adult non-fiction)
• Circulation for the area
• Percentage the area circulation represents of the total circulation area
• Average age (of the collection)
  
• Average circulation
• Turnover rate
• Median age (of the collection)
  
• Median circulation
• Percentage of collection in circulation on a given day
• Percentage of collection that hasn’t circulated

What are we looking for?

• Holes in the collection
• Things that have gone missing
• Is it missing? Misplaced? Stolen?
• Strengths
• Weaknesses – missed purchases
• Titles to weed
• Primary reason for doing this analysis
  
• Titles to update
• Lost treasures
• Could be books on the bottom shelf that no one bends down to look at.

Basic information t begin with:

• Call number
• Item type
• Age level
• Genre
• Number of circulations
• Date of last circulations
• Publication date

Turnover rate is how often a book is used each year. The turnover rate differs by collection. Picture books, for example, should circulate more frequently than history books in a public library. Circulation rate will also differ by type of library.

Collection analysis can be used for budget planning. Budget projections include many calculations...what stands out is understanding what the collection should entail and then the cost of creating that collection (as well as how long it will take to build that collection).

Can you increase circulation and turnover, while decreasing the size of the collection and decreasing the age of the collection? Yes! She is showing us a chart from Sodus Free Library that demonstrates that.

When looking at specific books, Ellen also tells libraries to evaluate these things for a specific title:

M - Misleading
U - Ugly
S - Superseded
T - Trivial
I - Irrelevant
E - (Available) Elsewhere

The process that Ellen goes through with libraries is not haphazard. Some libraries may not be happy with the results and she is okay with the fact that some libraries will not weed as fully as she recommends.

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Technorati tags: unyunc, collection development

Library Camp @ Syracuse, part 4

Well, the session "Print vs. Digital" has turned into a small conversation. We started very much off-topic and then began talking about why managing digital collection is important.

Each aggregator defines full-text differently. You have full-text articles. A publication, however, may not include all its articles in the digital version. So the publication is not full-text. In addition, several issues may impact the content, such as copyright and the publishers ROI on the content.

Publishers don't always notify libraries -- in a timely fashion -- the changes to their electronic resources.

Digital collections can tremendously increase a library's holdings without using more space in the library.

Managing the digital resources requires gross attention to detail.

Given the hassles, why provide digital resources? Increased access. It is also easier for the user (less hassle).

How do the publishers handle "walk-ins" who use college resources?

Who has ebook collection development policies?

This session really became an education session for the four student volunteers. Class was in session!

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Technorati tags: unyunc, collection development

Library Camp @ Syracuse, part 3

This is day #2 of the Library Camp and we'll be focusing on collection development. Technically today is called the Collection Development Conference. Our first speaker is Ed Shephard, who is the Head of Collection Development & Management at Binghamton (NY) University Libraries.

[Yes, today we have two keynote speakers as well as eight unconference breakout sessions, then a Reporting Session at the end of the day.]

His themes...first he thought of "Challenges in the Age of Libraries 2.0," but then based on the discussions yesterday, he has selected "Adapt & Adopt." He is not going to talk about the traditional challenges that libraries face in collection development. Instead he going to talk about the new challenges (overall decisions and duties).

The "business" of collection development:

• The business models -- used within the industry (publishers) -- keep changing. This is shifting under our feet all the time (quick sand):
• Cost shift
  
• Shift from physical production to digital production
• From physical inventories to...
• In our services are being provided
• In libraries, we know do electronic maintenance of our collections, not just physical maintenance.
• From "check in" to "check on." We used to check-in print collections (serials), but now we need to check on our collections (electronic collections). Libraries need to shift their resources to work with their electronic collections, not with the print collections.
• At BU, the print serials are not placed on the shift; they are sent straight to the annex and available by request. That has created a new work flow within the library.
• Fair pricing models
• How do you come up with fair pricing models that take into account 24/7 access, etc., for publishers and libraries?
  
• FTEs, number of seats, consortial bundling
• Need to negotiate (which some librarians are not comfortable doing)
• Need to maintain access to paid content, which is crucial
• Licensing agreements dealing with interlibrary loan (ILL)
• Fair use in the electronic world
• The BIG DEAL
• One of the elephants in the room
  
• Must you take content you don't want in order to be part of the deal?
• Can NYS get to a point to where it is on the same model as Ohio or California?
• Political considerations
• Libraries cannot afraid to have several "big deal" packages
• The three big aggregators (for academic libraries) are EBSCO, Gale and ProQuest
  
• Bundling & unbundling
• A problem is when publishers pull out of a bundle in order to go out on their own
• Exclusive deals
• The Open Access / Non-profit movement
• Still in its infancy
  
• Archival integrity
• Left field future scenarios
• the disappearance of format as a crucial element
Library 2.0:

• What interactions can we make using Web 2.0?
• What are libraries doing? People ask the question at conferences as if doing informal environmental scans.
• Library 2.0 may be more developed in public and school environments, although making in-roads in the academic environment
• Increase communication and connection with users
• RSS feeds help people keep current with the literature (Current Contents, current awareness)
• On-demand provision
• New ways of receiving direct requests to the library
• What is the role of the user in collection development decisions?
• Turning ILL requests, for example, into actual purchases
• What level of review and approval is needed (and by whom)?
• Moving away from "just in case" model of collection development to "just in time."
• As print runs become smaller, will the book really be available when the demand occurs?
• Social tagging
• Faceting built upon some of the capabilities of the ILS. Helps the user see information differently.
• The lack of uniformity, defined vocabulary, unmediated -- could make this concept less useful to users.
• If unmediated, would it lead to an unwieldy mess? Can we maintain a balance.
• Is this better left to individuals to implement in their own information space, rather than being imposed on everyone? Could users (and their tags) be connected to each other, as appropriate? Do we have systems sophisticated enough to do this?
• Information provider services
• Putting you eggs in one basket
• What are the fiscal constraints? Are your decisions price driven or politically driven?
• Are their self-composed restraints (e.g., IP authentication)? Staffing? Expertise?
• Multiplicity of interfaces
• How many can we have?
• What is the role of federated search?
  
• Binghamton Univ. is using MetaLib
• Can libraries get providers to unbundle their content from their services?
• Search across multiple sources. Searching using one interface.
• There are limitations.
• Lowest common denominator searching.
• Archiving
  
• Serials and ebooks
• How long will vendors keep content available?
• Will they bail on archiving due to the lack of return on investment (ROI)?
• JSTOR
• Keeping track of who owns and has access to what.
• Repositories
• Implications on space and staff
• Local considerations
• Mostly "overcome-able" with time
• Browsability
• Can institutions share collections? While that may have a positive impact on cost, what does that do to browsing?
• People like the Amazon model of table of contents and sample text.
• Adding services (such as these) means adding costs.
Collection development needs to be sure that any cost savings are using to enhance services and the collection.

How will this affect the concept of "collection development"?

• "Building" a collection?
• Permanency?
• Content vs. services
• Financial sustainability



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