Episode 908: Collections (LSSC)

Welcome to Season Nine of Linking Our Libraries! We are so happy to have you join us again! We are the Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange, and our members are all types of libraries and their staff.

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.

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.

  1. Library Support Staff know how to use integrated library systems, other appropriate online tools, and data to manage collections. Hopefully this is something you feel pretty comfortable doing in your library – searching the catalog and your website to find information for your patrons. It’s good to be ready to help explain how this works to your patrons, so they can be ready to solve problems for themselves.
  2. Staff in the library should know the basic principles of collection development and management. We have talked about this in every episode, but how deep this goes will depend on your library. For those of you in big libraries, you might not be involved in the process, but you should be able to share ideas from your own interests or that patrons have shared with you. And in smaller libraries, you may play a larger role in this process. For anyone, it’s good to have an idea of the specifics of your collection and to know what you do and do not want, even if you are not the final decision maker.
  3. This may not apply to all staff, but many of you will be part of the process to assist with decisions regarding selection, de-selection, retention, and replacement of all types of library resources. A library’s collection is a living thing, and needs to have good new things added and tired older things weeded. You can be part of that process!
  4. Staffers in the library should know the basic principles and can apply the appropriate procedures to the processes that provide users access to a wide variety of content. When you are talking about paper formats, this is pretty straightforward. Flip open the cover and there you go. But you also want to be familiar with helping patrons to find and download audio and ebooks from your library’s collections. And if you can help them to find a few other things – videos, games, social media – that would also be helpful.
  1. Library staff would all need to know the basics of the various ways in which content, in multiple formats, is produced and distributed to libraries. Knowing about the ways that books, and other materials, are coming to your library, and the challenges involved in getting different types of materials to the library can give you insights you can share with patrons when they are interested in knowing more about getting their books.
  1. Staffers should understand the value of resource sharing agreements and apply them to collection decisions. When you are building a good collection for your library, you can’t buy everything you want for your community. And libraries are good sharing organizations, we are good at sharing both ideas and materials. It’s important to have a basic understanding of how the ILL process works. You might be directly involved with the process, or you might need to walk a patron through it so they can get what they need. Either way, it’s good to understand it all.
  1. The staff in a library should know about and be able use the recognized standard evaluative sources to assist with collection development. When it’s time to buy new materials, it’s good to know the basics of building your collection. It’s not enough to buy populare best sellers, it’s important to also bring in materials that are adding to the diversity of the collection – books that will connect to the needs and interests of the community, as well as some books that help bring in new ideas. Then you want to evaluate whether the book is working, and make good decisions about whether to weed books or to help promote them more. 
  1. Library support staff know the principles and basic practices regarding the preservation of library resources. It’s important to know a few basics. Don’t scotch tape book pages. If books get wet, put them in the freezer. If someone returns a book that is covered in weird stains, toss it in the trash. Books do not last forever, no matter what format they are in. So keep your digital collection up to date, check to be sure your website doesn’t have broken links, and that your materials across the library are clean and in pretty good shape for your patrons. 
  1. Staffers can apply appropriate methods and techniques for accurate preparation of library resources. This is a very typical job that staff in libraries of all sizes would work on. Every library will be different, but it’s good to be familiar with the procedure your library uses to cover books, to insert card holders and RFID chips, to stamp the books, and anything else your library needs to do to make the books ready to go home with your patrons. And if you buy books that are preprocessed by a vendor, know what you do to finish them off once they arrive in your library.
  1. Library staff should be able to explain and apply policies regarding library collections. It’s always safer and better practice for any library to have written policies and procedures that will help them to define the parameters of their collection development. And of course, there will be people who are unhappy with the choices  the library has made. So you want to be ready with a procedure to allow patrons to let you know about their happiness in a way that you can respond to so they feel heard.

Do you feel like you have a quick understanding of these components? There is, of course, a lot more to learn. We can all spend our careers working on enhancing these skills! Use the CMLE podcast resources as a place to start, and if you want to sign up for the ALA/APA classes to get more information, we link to them in our show notes. 

Books Read

Now, let’s get to the part of every episode that we love: sharing a book we are reading. We will link to these books on our shownotes pages, and the link will take you to Amazon. You probably know this, but when you click one of our links and then buy anything at all from Amazon, they give us a small percentage of their profits. That support really helps us, and although it’s anonymous so we won’t know it was you – we appreciate you taking the time to help us!

Conclusion

This was a quick overview. Stay with us all season to get an overview of all ten of the ALA/APA’s certification topics for library staffers. And if you want to find out more about getting certified yourself, check the website (linked in our show notes), or just email us at admin@cmle.org.

Thanks for spending time with us today. It is always great to have this time to chat with you about libraries and the skills we need to be successful. Come back next week, because we have more information to share about libraries! This is just the beginning, and there are so many other great things to share!