An Investigation of User Perceptions and Behavioral Intentions Towards the E-Library

The high schools in my district are coming online with the Overdrive application which will not only give us direct access to the San Diego Public Library System, but also allows each high school to build its own collection within the system for sharing among students, faculty, and the community. In building an e-collection, we need to be mindful of our most desired titles to market to our clientele since the majority of them are not familiar with using this format from the library.

This article will help digital immigrants market ebooks to the natives as the kids who have grown up with cell phones in their hands are accustomed to readers while those currently matriculating are not nearly as convinced. 

The Art of Weeding: Collection Management

Ian Chant writes: Getting rid of books can feel uncomfortable and look bad to community members, but careful weeding is key to the health of a collection.

There’s an uncomfortable truth about library stacks that most librarians know but many don’t like to admit: those shelves hold a lot of junk that has to make way for the new titles getting published every day. Considering the volume of material libraries deal with, and the span of time over which those titles have been acquired, it’s not surprising.

Pulling that chaff from the collection can be time-consuming for librarians with no dearth of other projects needing their attention. Also, weeding—removing items from the collection—can seem counterintuitive. It’s by and large a thankless task as well. Patrons don’t walk in saying, “Thanks for getting rid of all of those books!” Some may even drag library staff over the coals, furious about what looks, to them, like useful books being destroyed or funds being wasted.

So why go to the trouble? Because in a library, just as in a garden, taking out unwanted items makes those left behind stand out. Circulation frequently rises after a weeding project, however counterintuitive that may seem: when people can browse the shelves (or the online catalog) without having to sift through older material they’re not interested in, they’re more likely to find something they are looking for—or something they didn’t know they were looking for.

Meanwhile, freeing up physical space devoted to books that never leave the stacks makes more room to buy new materials that will circulate—and sometimes cash to do so, when weeded materials are resold. As more room is devoted to shared resources other than materials, such as Maker spaces and community meeting rooms, space for collections may be contracting altogether—and that means clearing out books that don’t circulate the way they used to (and maybe a few that never did).

Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives for Promotion of Public Libraries

Christina Perris
INFO 266
Fall 2015

Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives for Promotion of Public Libraries

Kumar, P. V. (2013, January). Corporate social responsibility initiatives for promotion of public libraries. DESIDOC: Journal of Library & Information Technology, 33(1), 29-31.

 

This journal article explores the ways in which corporations are becoming involved in the different parts of the world to help establish and promote in freestanding libraries, establishing libraries in government-run schools, the purchase of books and even assisting with the renovation of older or decaying libraries. 

It is clear that this new sense of corporate social responsibility many corporations are now adopting appears to be a potentially mutually beneficial arrangement for libraries, especially for cashed-strapped public libraries.  Where these corporations have money and the time and willingness of their workers to contribute to help out these libraries, the libraries are understaffed and underfunded, in near-constant need of help and resources to keep their doors open to their patrons.

Integrating Unique Collections and Undergraduate Research

Christina Perris
INFO 266
Fall 2015

Integrating Unique Collections and Undergraduate Research

Cook, M. (2015). Build it and they will come: Integrating unique collections and undergraduate research. Collection Building, 34(4), 128-133. doi:10.1108/CB-06-2015-0010

This article presents an in-practice model for the “build it and they will come approach” proposition that has been employed in the special collections department at California State University, Channel Islands.  The article presents three case studies that exhibit ways the collections have been uniquely harnessed by California State University, Channel Island’s students through their research, both through in-class and independent study projects.  In one case study, the students’ research harnesses the information in a way that actually served to market and promote collections unique to the repository.  The second case study focuses on how a unique archival collection utilized as an assignment worked out as the foundation for an assignment for a significant graduation requirement.  The final case study focuses specifically on how collection management can have an impact on other library efforts such as reference, outreach and information literacy.

It is great for an article of this nature to be published as it clearly illustrates to administrators and faculty that special collections departments can serve as active, vital core elements of the curriculum.  It is all-too-common for special collections and archives to be ascribed the “ivory tower” image of being special realms reserved, literally, for the “academically venerated”: some still close off access to their collections to readers unless they hold a minimum academic degree, usually ABD (all but dissertation, or nearly PhD’s).

 

 

 

Using Outreach Efforts to Acquire Documentation

Christina Perris
INFO 266
Fall 2015

Using Outreach Efforts to Acquire Documentation

Hughes-Watkins, Lae'l. (2014). Filling in the gaps: Using outreach efforts to acquire documentation on the black campus movement, 1965-1972. Archival Issues: Journal of the Midwest Archives Conference, 36(1), 27-42.

This journal article focuses on the Department of Special Collections and Archives at Kent State University’s efforts to develop their collection of documentation on the Black Campus Movement, 1965-1972.  The archivist opens by presenting a brief history of the black campus movement: first, on broad, national scale; then, in the context of how it was on the campus of Kent State.  The archivist discusses the efforts she undertook to assess the deficiency in the department’s collections through a survey of the holdings, and then how she creates a collection development plan to address these shortcomings.  The archivist goes on to explain how she reviewed the outreach strategy and brought it into alignment with the new collection development plan.  She then explains how she went on the acquiring the collection focused on the black campus movement and black student life.

This article is an probably one of the most ambitious, thorough and detailed accounts of what it truly takes to acquire a representative collection – whether it is specifically targeted to a special collection department, a special collections department with an archive or an archive alone – in your repository.  Whether you work in an academic library of a state-run university with a special collections department or a local historical society’s community-based archive, it might be advisable to be somewhat versed in the history of the United States educational system as it relates to state-run universities (at least, the “major events” in the system, such as the passage of Civil Rights legislation, students rights movements, etc.) or the basic history of the community.  Knowing the history – preferably from unbiased, academic sources – will allow to assess where “gaps” in the existing collection lie.  Once you identify these gaps, as the author did, you can then determine how to “remedy” them and present a more complete – and therefore, accurate – representation of the history of the institution or community.      

 

Strategies for Managing Electronic Records

Christina Perris
INFO 266
Fall 2015

Bantin, Philip C. (1998). Strategies for managing electronic records: A new archival paradigm? An affirmation of our archival traditions? Archival Issues: Journal of the Midwest Archives Conference, 23(1), 17-34.

Strategies for Managing Electronic Records

This academic journal article explores the existing strategies for managing electronic records and whether existing archival management paradigms for “analog records” – in other words, hard-copy records – will be compatible.  The author presents the two record management paradigms – the life-cycle model, as advanced by Theodore R. Schellenberg, which advances that records exist along a pattern of creation like a living organism, and the records continuum model, in which the record’s usefulness is viewed as constant and unchanging.  After he summarizes the basics of electronic records and how they are appraised for their potential research value, Bentin explores the prevailing arguments within the information professions as to whether these record management paradigms can be applied to electronic records.  Bentin arrives at the conclusion that it is still too early in our collective experience of managing electronic records to outright dismiss any records management paradigm.

As an information professional who works with and is currently preparing to certify as a digital archives specialist, the management of electronic records is a relatively speaking “new” concept for information professionals to begin to seriously consider.  With the inevitable march of technology, which has brought us new advances in data storage technologies from high-capacity flash and hard drives to seemingly-limitless cloud storage, the massive growth of electronic records is creating a crisis in electronic data management in par with the one that faced some of the United States archivists in the early 1920’s as they assessed the nation’s repositories, part of which were held on overloaded, swaybacked shelving in the garage of the White House.  The caution afforded in the article is simple: we should not discount any possible record management paradigm for dealing with electronic records. 

The Library as a Product

Asuman Tezcan
INFO 266
Fall 2015

The Library as a Product

Mathews, Brians. (2009). The Library as a Product. In Marketing Today's Academic Library a Bold New Approach to Communicating with Students. Chicago: American Library Association.

Mathews claims that not only books and research materials but also quiet reading rooms, helpful staff, comfortable atmosphere are the products of libraries. He offers to accept library as a marketplace and to develop communication strategies with patrons. Equipment, space (individual and group working areas), support (reference desk, interlibrary loan services) and experiences (patrons') are main products of libraries. And we can add tutoring, advising and other services. Taking model Nike regarding bundling the products as a marketing strategy, Mathews offers that libraries can bundle their services and products. He also suggests "designing portfolios" to attract different "user groups". Brian summarizes his point in this sentence “In essence we are designing the library for consumption.”    

Evaluation: I did not find the authors’ analogies strong enough between marketplace and library. Giving better service to the users and increasing productivity does not necessarily require putting parallelism between market and library. These qualifications are already nature of information services.    

 

Elements of a Collection Development Policy

Asuman Tezcan 

INFO 266

Fall 2015

Evans, G., & Saponaro, M. (2005). Elements of a Collection Development Policy. In Developing library and information center collections (5th ed.). Englewood, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited.

Elements of a Collection Development Policy

In this chapter, G. E Evans and Saponaro explain the importance of having a written collection development policy. Even some librarians use the terms interchangeably; the authors distinguish collection development from selection and acquisition plans. According to them, collection development policy is a broader term and covers latter two. Today many libraries either do not have a written policy, or they do not update for a long time. Some librarians believe that since the situation changes, a written policy always faces with being out of date. They emphasize that a policy reflects long-term goals and strategic plan. A written guideline helps to maintain consistency and eliminates to weaknesses of the collection. According to Evans and Saponaro, a development policy informs people the nature and scope of the collection, makes clear the priorities, generates some degree of commitment to meeting organizational goals, set standards for inclusion and exclusion, reduces biases of selectors, aids in weeding and evaluating the collection. A powerful policy statement requires large quantities of data about the weaknesses/strength of selection, knowledge about the community, and other resources available for your patrons.  The authors refer to different models like conspectus model and RLG system to prepare a policy statement.  

Evaluation: I found this textbook very well organized and inclusive. The authors cover many issues step by step by referring rich resources.