Collection Development: A Basic Outline
This page lists the basic competencies and activities needed to carry out
collection development at the BC Libraries. Please consult this page periodically,
e.g., when composing or reviewing your Work & Development Plan.
1. Planning
- Prioritizing collection development among other work activities and responsibilities.
- Scheduling sufficient time for collection development.
- Identifying subject competency gaps and planning ways of learning about
the subject.
2. Collection Development Policies
- Knowing the call numbers for the areas of subject collecting responsibility.
- Knowing the existing strength of your collections.
- Knowing the desired strength of your collections.
- Understanding how to write a policy statement and interpret it to the user
community.
- Revising policy statements to reflect the changing nature of the collections.
3. Selection and Review Process
- Understanding the criteria for adding an item to a collection.
- Understanding the library-specific procedures for adding an item to a collection.
- Using any number of appropriate tools and methods to identify available
materials.
- Developing and maintaining a regular procedure for reviewing newly received
material regardless of format or process of receipt.
- Understanding any cooperative collection agreements between BC libraries
and between BC Libraries and other libraries and incorporating these agreements
into the selection decision process.
- Understanding the policy and procedure for reviewing gifts.
4. Approval Profiles
- Knowing how to interpret and understand each of the vendor profiles.
- Knowing how to relate the vendor profile to the collection development
policy statement(s).
- Understanding how to establish and alter a vendor profile.
- Knowing how to evaluate the quality of the vendor profile in providing
the materials needed for your collections.
5. Budget & Fund Managing Process
- Understanding the basis of collection development budget allocations
- Understanding what information is needed to assist in establishing budget
allocations.
- Knowing how to manage your funds throughout the fiscal year.
- Knowing what possible endowment funds are available for your subject areas
and what kinds of materials can be acquired with them.
6. Collection Development & Other Library Departments
- Gaining an overview of technical and other services of the BC Libraries
that support or contribute to collection development and management.
- Knowing the priorities, policies, and procedures under which staff members
and their departments operate.
7. Marketing, Outreach, and Communication with
Constituencies
- Knowing about the various means of communicating with the user community,
including BC Libraries' publicity efforts and various technologies such as
e-mail and web pages.
- Developing a library liaison relationship with faculty and students.
- Being familiar with the user community profile.
- Understanding the policy and procedure for accepting gifts.
8. Selector's Knowledge Base
- Having the subject knowledge needed to accomplish tasks in collection management
and development.
- Understanding the structure and publishing patterns in your subject areas.
- Being familiar with the various selection tools.
9. Electronic Resources
- Keeping informed of new electronic resources.
- Knowing how to assess the quality of the resource, its search engine, and
other relevant features.
- Understanding the process for selecting, acquiring, and providing access
to electronic resources.
- Knowing how to use the indexes, databases, and Internet resources in your
subject areas and teach them to the user community.
- Knowing how to identify important free Internet resources for possible
addition to the BC Libraries online catalog.
10. Collection Assessments and Evaluations
- Understanding the place of standards as guides and measurements in assessing
collections.
- Understanding the various methodologies which can be applied in collection
assessments and knowing which methodology should be applied in any particular
situation.
11. Transferring/Weeding
- Understanding the current space constraints in O'Neill Library and the
remote storage options.
- Knowing what items or types of material are the best candidates for transfer
or discard.
- Establishing and revising retention policies for serials and superseded
editions.
12. Conservation/Preservation
- Understanding the role collection evaluations play in the preservation
of your collections.
- Understanding your role in making preservation decisions regarding the
disposition of material due to deteriorating physical conditions, its retention,
replacement, or changed format.
- Understanding the various preservation priorities for the library and how
to incorporate preservation into the selection process.