Maintaining Excellent Collection Development

Maintaining Excellent Collection Development

presented by

Jeremy BolomLincoln Parish Library—Ruston, LA

What is collection development?

O DefinitionO Part of the life cycle of materials.O And, it’s really FUN!

The BIG Picture

Why are you collecting it?vs.

For whom are you collecting?

To build a collection

O PolicyOor, library collection vision

O Procedures Oor, what, how and by whom

O Budget Oor, how much is spent

I love a good collection!O What are you collecting?

O SubjectsO GenresO AgesO Formats

O Where do you put it?O CollectionsO Locations

Collecting 2‐Step1. Examine available items for purchase.

O Does it fit in the collection? O Review performance of similar items.O For nonfiction: age of last item on subject?O An item of quality?O Consider return on investment.O Ideal location/collection for item?

2. Select item.

That dirty little word

Selection vs.

Censorship

Tools of the Trade

O VendorsO PublishersO Professional review sourcesO PatronsO Front-line feedbackO ILS reports

Tending your collection

Collection ManagementO Weeding O Conservation vs. ReplacementO New collections

Questions?O Resources:

O Johnson, Peggy. Fundamentals of Collection Development and Management, 3rd ed. Chicago: ALA Editions, 2014.

O Haycock, Ken and Brook E. Sheldon, eds. The Portable MLIS: Insights from the Experts. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2008.

O Everyday working knowledge. :-P

Jeremy Bolom—Lincoln Parish Library--Ruston, LAjbolom@mylpl.org