Instructor: Tim Wadham, Ph.D.

Children’s Services Coordinator

Maricopa County Library District

Location:

Class Hours 11 am-7 pm

June 9, July 1-3, July 7, 2003

Office Hours: by appointment

Course Objective:

This course is designed to familiarize students with the theory, practice, and issues of collection development in various types of libraries. Upon completion of the course, students should be able to develop and maintain library collections meeting the needs of various user groups. Specific topics covered include selection and acquisition of materials in various formats, collection development policies, collection evaluation, intellectual freedom, and weeding. Learning will be through lecture, group presentations, evaluation of collection aids, and completion of a final project proposing an opening day or core library collection in some detail. Three credit hours.

Text: Evans, G. Edward. Developing Library and Information Center Collections. 4^th edition. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 2000.

Web Resources:

AcqWeb’s Library & Information Science Resources: Collection Development Sites

http://acqweb.library.vanderbilt.edu/acqweb/lis_cd.html

Collection Development Training for Arizona Public Libraries: http://www.dlapr.lib.az.us/cdt/index.htm

Syllabus:

Lecture Topics

Information Age/Information Society: Introduction to the course content with overview of assignments. Introduction to terms and definitions related to information resource collection and development.

Community Needs Analysis/Information Needs Assessment

Collection Development Policies—Assign groups for Collection Development Policy assignment

Book Publishing/Book Reviewing

Assignments: Read text due July 1.

Collection Development Assessment Tool Evaluations due July 1

Collection Development Policy group presentations due July 1-3

Lecture Topics:

Selection of Fiction by Genre

Selection of Non-Fiction by Subject

Selection of Children’s and Young Adult print materials

Assignments: Collection Development Assessment Tool Evaluations due

Collection Development Policy Group Presentations

Lecture Topics:

Electronic Resources

Selection of Non-Book Materials/Government Documents/Serials

Selection of Non-Print (AV Media) Materials

Assignment: Collection Development Policy Group Presentations

Lecture Topics:

Selection Issues for Various Types of Libraries

Deselection

Evaluation

Copyright Protection vs. Fair Use

Acquisitions

Distributors and Vendors/

Fiscal Management

Assignment: Collection Development Policy Group Presentations

Opening Day Collection Assignment/Presentation due July 7

Lecture Topics:

Intellectual Freedom vs. Censorship

Opening Day Collection Assignment Presentations

Assignments:

All students are required to:

1. Complete five collection development tool assessments. The purpose of this assignment is to allow you to become familiar with the basic types of tools used in collection development.

1: General Periodicals as Collection Development Tools. Due July 1

2: Adult Fiction Collection Development Tools. Due July 1

3: Adult Nonfiction Collection Development Tools. July 1

4: Children’s Collection Development Tools. Due July 1

5: Nonprint and Audiovisual Materials Colllection Development Tools. Due July 1

For each of the five types of collection development tools, prepare the following:

Value 40%

2. Collection Development Policy. This is a group project. You will be graded as a group, but will have the opportunity to evaluate each member of the group in terms of participation and collegiality.

Review and critique five different collection development policies from your designated library type. This critique should be a maximum of 5 pages, double spaced, and should be the collective thought of the group.

Write a collection development policy (all parts of it) for your designated library type. This policy is to be a collaborative, consensual endeavor. You may use what is BEST from each of the policy statements reviewed (including legal and intellectual policy statements, etc.), and add suggestions from readings and discussions that you as a group deem appropriate. The policy should be in a form that is friendly and usable. An index to specific areas of the policy should be included. You will present this policy statement to the class as a final part of the assignment, with a copy of the entire work to be given to the instructor at that time. How you present this policy is up to you and your group, but you will be accountable for its presentation and understanding.

Due: July 1-3

Value 20%

3. Complete an opening day collection assignment. Select, evaluate, organize and present a set of resources on a particular subject area for a particular library environment for an opening day part of a collection.

To learn more about your selected library type and environment, and the particular development issues associated with it, do some background reading on it. Create a bibliography on what you read and review for this part of the assignment.

You must chose a core subject area that you can define and justify based upon the specific type of library/community of information users you have selected. Include this justification as an introduction to your annotated list of resources. Set your criteria and explain it. Include 15 items, print and non-print. Web sites may be included but must meet the criteria of all items, and be a potentially lasting site. They should not be the majority of resources. Include review sources in the annotations for each item.

Prepare a materials budget for the 15 items. This should contain both projected item costs as well as total costs for them in the next five years. Include a plan to sustain them for the next five years. Also define how these items are to be evaluated in terms of viability and retention for the future work of this library. These 15 items should be essential ones that this type of library should contain, and be considered "core" in their value to that library's program and vision.

As a summary to your work, explain the principles and procedures you used. Describe the sources you used for selection and why, as well as any difficulties you encountered along the way. Discuss any general themes or issues that emerge from this work: issues of intellectual freedom, copyright, access, use, currency of materials, sustainability, gaps in this subject area for this user community, etc. A matrix for the 15 resources with the criteria should also be included as part of the paper.

As part of this assignment you should be prepared to present your opening day collection to the class in the form of an oral presentation. As with the collection development assignment, you can do this as creatively as you wish.

Value 40%

Due July 7

Please note:

Late work will lose one letter grade from the grade it would have gotten had it been turned in on time. However, the final project, the opening day collection, will not be accepted late.

Assignments are due no later than 11:00 am (the beginning of class) on their assigned due date.

Please include your name at the top of all your assignments.

Grading Criteria:

A=90-100

B=80-89

C=70-79

D=60-69

F=59 and below

Code of Academic Integrity:

Students assume full responsibility for the content and integrity of the academic work they submit. The guiding principle is that all projects and papers must be the student's own work. For further understanding of this code please refer to the University of Arizona "Code of Academic Integrity" found on the University student pages.