LIBR 520: COLLECTION MANAGEMENT – COURSE SYLLABUS

 

Program: Master of Library and Information Studies
Year: Winter Session 2005-2006 Term 1
Location: FNS 40
Instructor: Simon Neame
Office location: Koerner Library, Room 219M
Office phone: 604-822-3096
Office hours: Please make an appointment via email
Email: simon.neame@ubc.ca  

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 Course Goal: The goal of this course is to provide students with the knowledge required to identify, evaluate, and select print, audio-visual, and electronic materials for on-site and off-site access. Students will also learn how to evaluate and preserve collections and to apply cost-effective collection management techniques

Course Objectives:

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Discuss the key elements in the evolution of collection management
• Design and implement a community analysis to assess the informational, recreational, and educational needs of a diverse group of users
• Explain the policies, processes, and procedures of a typical acquisitions department
• Identify the key review journals used in libraries and describe their different focuses
• Identify the major commercial jobbers used by Canadian libraries, and identify the different markets targeted by various jobbers
• Understand the services offered by jobbers from a monetary, quality-control, technological, and legal point of view
• Discuss the ethical issues which may arise when dealing with library suppliers
• Describe the purposes and the key elements of a collection management policy
• Describe the need for collection evaluation and the methods used
• Distinguish the purposes, functions, advantages, and disadvantages of different formats in which collections may be acquired.
• Explain the monetary and technological issues relevant to management of serials collections, both print and electronic
• Negotiate a licensing agreement with a materials vendor
• Formulate a collections budget
• Design and implement an effective weeding project
• Describe the issues for both print and electronic preservation
• Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of high density on-site and off-site storage facilities
• Explain the key elements of effective resource sharing projects
• Describe current technological developments in document delivery ( ILL)
• Describe the possible impact on local collections of remote access to electronic materials
• Discuss current intellectual freedom challenges to all types of library materials, including the Internet
• Demonstrate a professional attitude towards intellectual freedom challenges (following the CLA Bill of Rights)

Prerequisites: LIBR 560, 500. Co-requisites: LIBR 540, 510. Limited to students in the MLIS program unless permission granted by the SLAIS Graduate Adviser

Format of the course: One 3-hour class per week: Thursday afternoons from 1:30 – 4:30, September 8 to December 1. Students are expected to attend all class sessions. Classes may include lectures, guest speakers, group discussions, and class presentations.

Required and Recommended Resources :

Required:

• Johnson, Peggy. Fundamentals of Collection Development & Management. Chicago: American Library Association, 2004.

Recommended:
I recommend that you sign up for one or more of the following listservs for the term.

1) Library Collection Development
To subscribe, send the message "subscribe colldv-l Firstname Lastname" to listproc@usc.edu
Note: the subject line of your message should be blank

2) AcqNet
“The gathering place for librarians and other professionals interested in acquisitions and collection management.”
To subscribe, follow the directions on the AcqWeb site: http://acqweb.l ibrary.vanderbilt.ed u /

3) ARL-EJOURNAL
“A discussion list concerned with all aspects of the management of electronic journals by libraries and information centers.”
To subscribe, follow the directions at http://www.c ni.or g/Hforums/arl-ejournal/about.html

4) SERIALST
“ An electronic forum for most aspects of serials processing in libraries.”
To subscribe, follow the directions at http://www.uvm.edu/~bmaclenn/serialst.html

5) ELECTRONIC LICENSING
“ A moderated list for the discussion of issues related to the licensing of digital information by academic and research libraries
To subscribe, send the following email to LISTPROC@LISTS.YALE.EDU. Message:
Subscribe Liblicense-l First name last name

6) ExLibris
“ Provides an environment for discussing matters related to rare book and manuscript librarianship, including special collections and related issues.”
To subscribe, follow the directions at http://palimpsest.stanf ord.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/

Key Journals: Information for assignments may be located in many different sources – you may wish to check out the following collection management journals:

•  Acquisitions Librarian
• Advances in Serials Management
• Against the Grain "Linking Publishers, Vendors, and Librarians"
• Bottom Line: A Financial Magazine for Librarians
• Collection Building
• Collection Management
• Librarian’s eBook Newsletter Subscribe at http://www.lib.rochester.edu/main/ebooks/subscription_form.htm#
• Library & Archival Security
• Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory
• Library Resources & Technical Services
• Newsletter on Serials Pricing Issues (Listserv@gibbs.Oit.unc.edu. Subscribe prices [First name last name]
• Serials Librarian
• Serials Review

Course Assignments, Due dates and Weight in relation to final course mark:

 

Assignments/Evaluation	Due Dates	Weight
#1 Special formats presentations (2-3 students in a group)	Assorted	15%
#2 Collection management issues term paper	Oct 20	30%
#3 Collection sector assessment plan, including an evaluation/assessment of possible full-text databases (To be done in pairs or trios)	Dec 1	50%
#4 Class participation in discussions, attendance		5%

Course Schedule: (Please note: this is a draft and subject to change)  

DATE	TOPICS	GUEST SPEAKERS (TBA)	ASSIGNMENT DUE
Sept 8	Introduction to CM -History, Key issues Organization and Staffing -CM skills and competencies -Ethical issues *Read Johnson chapters 1 and 2
Sept 15	No scheduled class
Sept 22	Policy, Planning, and Budgets -Collection development policies *Read Johnson chapter 3
Sept 29	The publishing industry and Canadian copyright		Special formats - Maps
Oct 6	Developing Collections -Intellectual freedom statements -Selection process and criteria -Review sources -Approval plans *Read Johnson chapter 4	Jane Watkins NVCL	Special formats – government documents
Oct 13	Serials -serials cancellation -pricing -vendors		Special formats – music
Oct 20	Managing collections -weeding, preservation, security - storage, compact shelving - splitting a collection *Read Johnson Chapter 5	Visit to IKBLC/ASRS	Assig.2 Issues paper
Oct 27	Marketing, liaison, and outreach -needs assessment -faculty liaison *Read Johnson Chapter 6		Special formats – photographs, slides
Nov 3	Collection Analysis -evaluation *Read Johnson Chapter 9		Special formats – videos, DVDs Special formats – multilingual materials
Nov 10	Electronic resources -Ebooks -Aggregated databases *Read Johnson Chapter 7		Special formats - microforms
Nov 17	Electronic resources -licensing -digital libraries	Sandra Wilkins UBC Library	Special formats – rare books
Nov 24	Cooperative Collection Management -interlibrary loans -document delivery -consortia *Read Johnson Chapter 8		Special formats – web pages
Dec 1	Review and future issues		Assig.3 Due

Course Policies :

Attendance: The calendar states: “Regular attendance is expected of students in all their classes (including lectures, laboratories, tutorials, seminars, etc.). Students who neglect their academic work and assignments may be excluded from the final examinations. Students who are unavoidably absent because of illness or disability should report to their instructors on return to classes.”

Students who have medically documented continuing/chronic disabilities that may affect their ability to complete assignments on time should report this to their adviser or to me before problems arise. Regular on-time attendance in class is an important and required part of this course. It is your will provide copies of all handouts distributed during sessions you miss, but it is your responsibility to obtain notes from one of the other class members. I recognize that sudden unexpected problems arise for everyone (including myself), but I expect you to attend and be on time for class. Absences or repeated tardiness will result in a lower course mark or in a request from me that you drop the course. The size of an attendance-related course mark penalty will be determined by the instructor. If you ARE late for class (for whatever reason) please come into the classroom rather than waiting for the break.

Consumption of beverages is okay during class time, and occasional consumption of food is fine. I’d rather you were alert in class than fainting from hunger because of a missed lunch!

Evaluation : Assignments will not be accepted late unless prior arrangements are made with me. Consideration will be given to legitimate emergencies. If an extension is granted, a late penalty may be imposed at my discretion; this will be discussed when you request an extension. All assignments will be awarded letter grades using the evaluative criteria given on the SLAIS web site: http://www.slais.ubc.ca/RESOURCES/slais-marking.htm. Please note that within these guidelines, a B+ mark is given for “Work demonstrating diligence and effort above basic requirements.”

Course Discussion List:

Each of you must sign-up for the class internet discussion list. From whatever email account you wish to use, send the following [leave the Subject lineblank]:
address-- To: majordomo@interchange.ubc.ca
message-- subscribe l-520
end

This is the mechanism that I will use to make announcements to you outside class. You are also welcome to post comments/questions to the list if relevant to other students. For particular problems or questions you should e-mail me directly at simon.neame@ubc.ca, see me in my office, or call me.

Written & Spoken English Requirement: Written and spoken work may receive a lower mark if it is, in the opinion of the instructor, deficient in English.