Friday, October 14, 2011

Collection Development

My blog about collection development is one of a series which gives a view of my own experiences. I see collection development as something entwined within the total organisation of a library, almost as if it feeds on all the other parts, acquisitions, user services, technical services, cataloguing, electronic systems, and so on and so forth.

In order to describe the Library as a growing organism, I have to introduce Dr. Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan (1892–1972) of India who was an inventor, educator, librarian, and a philosopher. His early education was of a mathematics background. Using this systematic way of thinking, he later applied this to his work in library science. His most notable work was on library classification and administration. He went England to study librarianship.

The Five Laws of Library Science are some of the most influential concepts in the field of library science. Since they were published in 1931, these five laws have remained a centerpiece of professional values...In fact, these basic theories of Library Science continue to directly affect the development of this discipline and the service of all libraries.

These laws are:
    1.    Books are for use.
    2.    Every reader his [or her] book.
    3.    Every book its reader.
    4.    Save the time of the reader.
    5.    The library is a growing organism.

At this point I would like to just concentrate on the 5th Law.

Fifth Law: The library is a growing organism

This law focused more on the need for internal change than on changes in the environment itself. Ranganathan argued that library organizations must accommodate growth in staff, the physical collection, and patron use. This involved allowing for growth in the physical building, reading areas, and shelving.

The Library Trinity

The library is sometimes described a trinity of books, users and staff. Books are of various types and formats generally known as a collection. Books are being published in  an increasing number every year.  Advances in information communication technology and the emergence of electronic resources have added a new dimension of digital books and other media to ever increasing number of books worldwide. Left to themselves, librarians would like to acquire as many books as they can while the users would like to have all the books of their interest in the library with which they are associated. Unfortunately, library budgets are very much limited regardless of the type of library - academic, public, or special library. At the same time other needs such as intranet computers, multi media services etc have to be met . The best way of facing these problems is to have a well written collection development policy.

Defining a Collection Development Policy

The American Library Association defines collection development policies (CDP) as 'documents which define the scope of a library's existing collections, plan for the continuing development of resources, identify collection strengths, and outline the relationship between selection philosophy and the institution's goals, general selection criteria, and intellectual freedom'.

The need for a Collection Development Policy

The primary purpose of a written collection development policy is to lay down guidelines for selecting materials for the collection of the library. It also describes steps on weeding (deselection), retention, preservation and archiving. It helps in identifying gaps in collections and providing orientation to new staff. It can help the library users what to expect from the library and what to recommend to be added to the collection. Collection development policy statement often focuses on the communication function: internally, with the users, staff, and administrators, and externally, with other libraries and institutions. Communication embraces a wide range of operations, including training, budgeting cooperative acquisitions, interaction with users, and shared services. The collection development plan is like business plan for a small business. It is like a road map which outlines the steps to be taken to accomplish the goals of the business.  CD Policies act as a planning tool, a guide to selectors, ensuring consistency and a defence for challenges.

Writing a Collection Development Policy


Collection development policy may be written either for the entire library or to a specific subject such as petroleum, chemistry, economics, and business etc. The policy is usually drafted by a committee where as for a specific subject it is by the subject librarian concerned.

Elements of Collection Development Policy

The Guide for written collection policy statements by the American Library Association explicitly describes various items of information that are to be included in the policy statement. These elements are listed below . The below mentioned items are included in policy statement:
- Introduction to the policy statement
- General purpose
- Brief note about the library
- General subject boundaries
- Languages
- Geographical areas
- Types of materials collected
- Format of materials collected
- Special collections and manuscripts
- Other resources available
- Detailed subject areas
- Weeding and deselection

Conclusion

With the diminishing budgets and ever increasing prices of books and non-book material, there is every need for a sound collection development policy with periodic revisions.

Since a collection development policy is largely in the realm of theory . A CD policy's purpose is to lay down guidelines for selecting materials for the collection of the library . There is nothing more fundamental than laying the groundwork for how to spend your money and where you want your library to go.

Basically the CD policy is a guidelines for selecting make sense only if you know where the library is, not simply where it wants to go. And in order to figure that out you need to come up with current strengths and weaknesses, and with how the library's materials are used which is a formidable undertaking. However there is an argument in Librarianship that selection is primarily based on librarians' intuition and individual experience and so guidelines can never be objective.







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