Welcome back to Season Five of Linking Our Libraries!

We are the Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange. Our members are libraries of all sorts. This season we are working through some skills that people in any kind of library will need to be successful in their work.

In this episode we will talk about one of the foundations of all library service: Collection Development. Without good collections, we might be nice places to visit – but it’s not a good library.

This week we have returning Guest Host Amy, from the Great River Regional Library System to help us get some ideas!

The Basics:

Collection development can involve all kinds of things – books, DVDs, periodicals, maps,  online material, toys – whatever. Good collection development principles will be pretty similar regardless of the type of collection you are building, but today we will probably talk a lot about books. Use those ideas to go across all your other collection ideas.

First: we’ve said this before, and will say it at least 100 more times – you need a written collection policy. This serves a few important purposes. First: it gives you direction in what you buy and what you don’t . No library, regardless of type, collects every single thing out there. You need a clear statement of what you want, and what you will accept. A surprising number of people will offer you free stuff, and a lot of it is not stuff you want. A clear collection development policy will give you a handy tool for politely refusing it.

Second: a collection development policy lets you look like a professional. Having a library degree is lovely, but it’s clearly not the only important thing you need to be effective in a library. But everyone wants to be treated as if they were a professional in their workplace, no matter what they are doing. If you have a nicely written, and updated, collection policy you immediately project the image of a person who knows what is happening around them, and has things under control. This is not a small thing, and any library staffer needs to be thoughtful of the impression they are making on the larger organization and community.

Third: when you have  problems arising (and that tends to be a “when” not an “if” situation, having a collection development policy shows that care was taken in selecting a material. It may be controversial; it may be yucky to you personally, it may cause distress in some members of the population.  But if you can show that it was collected according to the standards of the profession, and of your library, it will make dealing with a localized challenge much easier on everyone.

So, what goes into a good collection development policy? Like any good policy, they do not have to be complicated and long. Concise is always the best way to go! Say what needs to be said, and wrap it up.

• Adapt from others. If you are starting completely from scratch, look around at other libraries to see what they have already done. It makes your life easier, and maybe your policy better, if you can adapt from something already successful.
• Work with a team. We talked about this when we looked at writing policies and procedures a couple of weeks ago, but writing a policy or procedure alone means you miss all the things you don’t know to look for. Even if you are in a small library, talk with some teachers, some patrons, or some community members. Call another library person. If you are in CMLE, we are literally here to help you with exactly this kind of work, so call us!
• Ideally, have your mission and/or vision statement right there. As we discussed already, you won’t collect everything, and you want to be clear about the things you will add to your library. Be guided by your mission – not by the things you think would be fun or interesting or terrible.
• Define what “good” materials would be. Does your library add material with sex, violence, magic, terrorism, or babies? All of these may be controversial to some, or even upsetting. That in itself doesn’t mean not to collect it. Instead look at professional standards: accuracy, validity, quality, cost, local interest, need, significance of content or of creator, and other standards.
• Talk about weeding. We have looked mainly at adding things – but weeding old or outdated or otherwise unsatisfactory material is just as important. Never think “I’m not throwing this away this horrible old almanac from 1983, because my shelves will look too empty.” Funding for new materials is a different issue, and if you are in CMLE we will work with you on it. Treat your collection like a garden and weed the junk!

We have talked about a lot of theories and ideas so far today; now let’s get more ideas from Amy on how these work out in real library work!

Additional Resources:

We are providing a few sample ideas here. CMLE members – get in touch with us if you want to talk about your this in more detail. We are here to help you!

• Overview of Collection Development: on this site  Defining Collection Development  | Basic Functions  | Official Written Documentation  | Further Information  | Self-Assessment #2
• The Practical Librarian’s Guide to Collection Development: Weeding and acquisition made easier  “After years of practicing adult collection development skills in a medium-sized suburban public library, I have discovered that specific “shortcut” rules have become second nature to me. I present here an annotated rundown of my shortcuts that can help anyone create and maintain viable and successful collections for customers older than 10.”
• Why Do You Need a Collection Development Plan? “A collection development plan sounds like a lot of work. It may seem as hopeless as squeezing water out of a rock. But a well-written collection development plan can be a very helpful advocacy tool that can help you garner more support than you might think.”
• The Purpose of a Collection Development Policy “The purpose of a collection development policy is to create a collection of library materials that supports the library’s mission. All decisions about the kinds of materials to be collected or accessed should be made with the mission statement in mind. For example, if an elementary school library’s mission is to support the curriculum, it will not be interested in collecting adult fiction. However, if the library also has a mission to be a resource for teachers, it will collect some professional materials on elementary education.  The collection development policy sets goals for the collection that reflect the library’s mission.”
• IFLA About the Acquisition and Collection Development Section: “The Acquisition and Collection Development Section focuses on 1) the interrelated processes of collection development (planning and building a useful and balanced collection of library materials over a period of years) and 2) the acquisitions of library materials in all formats.”
• ALCTS Resources for Library Collections  Links to books offered or written by ALCTS, and resources for serials collections
• Helpful Hints for Small Map Collections Helpful Hints for Small Map Collections: Components of a Basic Map Collection.
• RUSA Guidelines for Establishing Local History Collections These guidelines are intended to assist those beginning local history collections. In surveying the literature about the collecting of local materials it is apparent that many have already written about the use and the maintenance of the various media employed in local history.

Books Read

As always, all the book information we are sharing here is from Amazon.com. If you click on a link, and happen to buy a book – or anything else – Amazon will give us a small share of their profits on your sale. Yay! Thanks in advance for your support!

Back by popular demand! The further, fearsome, and funny adventures of Andrea Vernon and the Corporation for UltraHuman Protection – written by Alexander C. Kane and performed by Bahni Turpin, 2018 Audie Award winner for Best Female Narrator.

More than a year after she helped save the world from the Sparnaxian invasion, Andrea Vernon is in a good place. Her boss is giving her greater responsibility and she’s getting to travel a lot (although her fill-in is hopeless at making coffee); things could be getting even more serious with her 8′ 4″ superhero boyfriend, The Big Axe; and she has a really fun new BFF, Never More. 

Small issue, though, with that last item – Never More is a supervillain bent on world domination, and it looks as if nothing can stop her. Especially since Congress is determined to bring the Corporation for UltraHuman Protection and all of “Big Supe” under government control. 

Even with mankind’s greatest heroes fighting back, will it fall on Andrea to save the day – again?

Critically acclaimed and best-selling authors Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera combine their talents in this smart, funny, heartfelt collaboration about two very different boys who can’t decide if the universe is pushing them together – or pulling them apart.

ARTHUR is only in New York for the summer, but if Broadway has taught him anything, it’s that the universe can deliver a showstopping romance when you least expect it.

BEN thinks the universe needs to mind its business. If the universe had his back, he wouldn’t be on his way to the post office carrying a box of his ex-boyfriend’s things.

But when Arthur and Ben meet-cute at the post office, what exactly does the universe have in store for them?

Maybe nothing. After all, they get separated.

Maybe everything. After all, they get reunited.

But what if they can’t nail a first date even after three do-overs?

What if Arthur tries too hard to make it work and Ben doesn’t try hard enough?

What if life really isn’t like a Broadway play?

But what if it is?

What if it’s us?

Before Liz Lemon, before “Weekend Update”, before “Sarah Palin”, Tina Fey was just a young girl with a dream: a recurring stress dream that she was being chased through a local airport by her middle-school gym teacher. She also had a dream that one day she would be a comedian on TV.

She has seen both of those dreams come true.

At last, Tina Fey’s story can be told. From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon – from the beginning of this paragraph to this final sentence.

Tina Fey reveals all, and proves what we’ve all suspected: you’re no one until someone calls you bossy.

Conclusion

Thanks to Amy for coming in to work through this topic with us! Be sure you are subscribed to this podcast to get all the library skills directly to your favorite app each week. And you can check out our shownotes for each episode to get all the info we discussed, along with the links to more resources. Every episode we have created is on our website: cmle.org.

If you want to enjoy our book group podcast, subscribe to Reading With Libraries to get a new book, or a whole new genre, each week.

Thank you listening today for joining us! Check back in with us next week for another library competency – we are looking forward to more chatting about library work.