This season we are focusing on topics that are important to library support staff. We will be discussing each of the ten competency sets in the American Library Association’s Library Support Staff Certification program. Some of these may overlap with prior episodes, but this season we will be looking specifically at the material the ALA has identified as important. We will link to the ALA’s program, if you want more information or want to sign up for one of their classes.

You can find our full show notes page here, with links to everything we shared today.

Earlier this season we talked about the three required courses in this certification program. This week we are talking about one of the competencies that is optional: Collections. 

“Library Support Staff who work in collection functions support coworkers and library users by assisting with the processes that put library materials on the shelf or online. This work requires knowledge and abilities in many aspects of this fundamental library work, including understanding publishers, vendors, budgets and accounting, how to resolve problems, preparing items for use, and caring for items after they have been well used.”

Let’s take a look at each of the ten different components the ALA has identified as important here, and talk about a little information on each one.