Tami Garrard LIS 522 December 9, 2012 Introduction The pending completion of the first sports field on the University of Washington Bothell (UWB) campus served as a reminder to Campus Library selectors that the library collection should reflect this concern of the students. The project was funded almost entirely by student activity fees, demonstrating a deep interest in sports and recreation. Collection development efforts have not historically been focused on sports, however, and the small GV section demonstrates this. The undergraduate programming at UWB allows for many sports-related topics to be introduced into research. I was asked to take about $4000 and build a sports-related collection that would support undergraduate interests and work at UWB. Specifically, the Head of Collections asked for titles that address sports in context of a broader societal context. How have sports been impacted by or impacted culture in terms of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, economics, and nationalism? How have different sports informed or catalyzed shifts in society and culture? I was given several strict parameters: no biographies unless the individual is an important social actor as well as an athlete; and no “how-to” manuals or guides. The other guidelines were more fluid: use intuition when deciding on format (cloth, paper, or electronic) and consider likely use at Cascadia Community College (CCC), the other institution the Campus Library serves, an added bonus.
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Tami Garrard LIS 522 December 9, 2012
Introduction
The pending completion of the first sports field on the University of Washington Bothell
(UWB) campus served as a reminder to Campus Library selectors that the library collection
should reflect this concern of the students. The project was funded almost entirely by student
activity fees, demonstrating a deep interest in sports and recreation. Collection development
efforts have not historically been focused on sports, however, and the small GV section
demonstrates this. The undergraduate programming at UWB allows for many sports-related
topics to be introduced into research.
I was asked to take about $4000 and build a sports-related collection that would support
undergraduate interests and work at UWB. Specifically, the Head of Collections asked for titles
that address sports in context of a broader societal context. How have sports been impacted by
or impacted culture in terms of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, economics, and
nationalism? How have different sports informed or catalyzed shifts in society and culture? I was
given several strict parameters: no biographies unless the individual is an important social actor
as well as an athlete; and no “how-to” manuals or guides. The other guidelines were more fluid:
use intuition when deciding on format (cloth, paper, or electronic) and consider likely use at
Cascadia Community College (CCC), the other institution the Campus Library serves, an added
bonus.
Part One of the Process: Finding Focus and Audience
Because I have been employed at the Campus Library for a number of years I was aware
that our collection is built solely to directly support the UWB and CCC curricula. Until this
project, however, I had never read the Collection Development Philosophy. Here I learned that
although we do rely on the broader University of Washington Libraries and consortium
collections to support our patrons, we also recognize that are users are unique and may need
immediate access to resources which allows the Campus Library to select materials that may
duplicate other local holdings. Similarly, we have committed to acquiring electronic materials
that are immediately and remotely accessible to our patrons. My review of the Collection
Development Philosophy led me to several selection-level decisions:
If the item under consideration has no UW Libraries holdings and no or few consortium holdings, the item will be considered high priority.
If an item under consideration is owned by another UW library and has been used heavily, duplication will be considered.
If an item is held electronically at UW a print copy would be considered low priority.
If an item is both held by the UW Libraries both in-print and electronically the item will not be considered.
After reviewing the Campus Library’s Collection Development Philosophy I embarked
on a curriculum review of UWB’s undergraduate programs. The UWB’s campus is partly
comprised of over 3,500 undergraduates in seven different undergraduate programs. Most
curriculum falls under the Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences (IAS) program with degrees such
as American Studies, Global Studies, and Environmental Studies. Other programs I identified as
having relevance to sports in the social context were Business, Center for University Studies &
Programs (CUSP), Education, and Nursing programs. The CUSP program is designed to
introduce first and second year students to interdisciplinary research and writing necessary for
academic success. I examined each program’s outcomes and course offerings and took note of
key concepts and words. Because I am a visual learner I then created a word cloud (using
wordle.com) that I printed and had in sight during the selection process (Appendix 1).
Bolstering my understanding of the undergraduate curriculum through program/course
review, soliciting input from research and instruction librarians, acknowledging my own
experiences with users and campus climate, and upholding my original charge assisted in
defining seven sports subtopics on which to focus. As seen in Table 1 these subtopics do not
necessarily have a direct correlation to one specific UWB undergraduate program, but are
intended to compliment and support the interdisciplinary nature of each of the earlier identified
programs as a whole, while maintaining the ability to collect for sports in the social context.
Table 1
Subtopic Rationale & Context Social Sciences comprised of Anthropology, History, & Sociology
These disciplines heavily permeate all programs in the IAS program which aims to educate students in issues of inequality, power, privilege, & social change and shifts – disciplines overlap within curriculum and courses
Business Business Administration degree, minors, and concentrations; overlap with social context; economics coursed offered in other programs
Environment & Sustainability
Environmental Science and Environmental Studies concentrations within IAS degree; Sustainability is priority of UWB 21st Century Initiative; Environmental Issues, Sustainable Practices, and Environmental Justice courses offered in other programs; overlap with social practices and ethics
Health Nursing program; Health, Medicine & Society courses offered in other programs; drug use in sports, nutrition, body image, and general health overlap with social issues
Media & Communication Studies
Media and Communication concentration within IAS degree; Mass Media, Consumer Culture & Documentary Film courses offered in other programs
Psychology Community Psychology concentration within IAS degree; Cultural, Developmental, Personality, Clinical, Narrative, & Social Psychology and Identity courses offered in other programs
Youth & Education Education program; K-8 Certification; Youth, Adolescence, & Education courses offered in other programs
After familiarizing user needs enough to develop subtopics to focus on I took several
measures to identify collection gaps as well as what parts of the current collection were in high
demand. First I ran a list through the ILS system of locally held items with a subject heading
including the word “Sports”. Realizing that this list would not be a comprehensive
representation of all things sports related in the collection, I was able to identify what was and
what was not circulating in the sample. Topics that tended to yield high circulating titles include
basketball, school sports, racism, discrimination, ethnicity, gender issues, sports for children,
sports and state, and social issues.
The second measure taken was a trip to the GV section of the stacks. This enabled a
visual intake of holdings. The collection includes many titles published in the 1990’s and early
2000’s. Content is focused on gender and race issues manifest in sports culture. Additionally,
baseball and cycling are the primary specific sports represented. Although basketball, soccer,
football, and boxing were represented somewhat, publications were dated and in fewer numbers.
Visiting the stacks informed the following selection decisions:
Cycling-specific titles will not be selected for this limited collections project Particular attention will be paid to unrepresented sports of local relevance such as
swimming, hockey, surfing, snowboarding, and skateboarding. This particular decision was also informed by conversations with instruction librarians.
Baseball, basketball, soccer, football, and boxing titles will not be dismissed given the sports’ social significance related to ethnicity and racism which circulates and in some cases high circulation counts for the specific sport
Priority will be given to recent titles, those published post 2005
Part Two of the Process: Title Selection
Three existing guides were extensively consulted to identify core titles in the field.
Yankee Book Peddler’s “Undergraduate Curriculum Sports or Recreation: September 2012” core
list was consulted to identify essential and recent titles. ACRL’s “Core List Anthropology
Sports” was also consulted, but focused mainly on gender issues. Appalachian State University’s
LibGuide on Sports and Culture also offered a launching pad. Choice Reviews Online, GOBI,
and Amazon.com were used to identify additional titles not uncovered by core lists and
LibGuides. Searches were conducted on specific locally relevant and underrepresented sports
such as skateboarding and snowboarding, as well as different social topics such as Native
American and disability. Each title was examined for relevance to curriculum and placement in a
subtopic, and reviews within GOBI, Choice Reviews Online, and Amazon.com were consulted.
Each title was considered for its relevancy, readership (lower and upper division undergraduate)
and recommendation levels (essential, highly recommended, and recommended). Formatting
and holdings considerations came into play, as discussed previously.
Some titles led to other keyword searches and title searches. Several series were
uncovered as particularly relevant, which led me to publisher websites. Publisher websites and
Choice Reviews Online helped me discern what was and was not within my scope.
In the end I had spent too much money, of course. I removed titles that are held at UW
and I removed titles that are not yet published. And, I used a little bit of the art, in concert with
previously utilized science. My word cloud cemented essential concepts and I trusted myself,
librarian feedback and reviews to inform relevant collection development decisions. Appendix 2
details titles selected to date.
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
BothellSports SocSci Private Folder: 26sorted by title ascending, then by title ascending
26 / List 2333.75 USD15 / List 589.93 GBP
Title: BATTLE THAT FORGED MODERN BASEBALL: THE FEDERAL LEAGUE CHALLENGE AND ITS LEGACY. ISBN: 9781566638692
Author: LEVITT, DANIEL R
Publisher: IVAN R DEE, INC Pub Year: 2012 Binding: Cloth