School of Information Sciences

University of Tennessee
SIS 560


logo

The Collection Development Process

Contents:

Part 1: Parent organization variables/ Part 2: Development rationale/ Part 3: Community analysis/ Part 4: Development policy/ Part 5: Agency variables/ Part 6: Collection evaluation/ Part 7: Selection/ Part 8: Promotion

Response Format

Your responses to the following questions should be arranged according to the proper number. This means that your response to 1.1  begins with 1.1 and so forth.

Collection development is affected by many variables. The selector should identify those that are especially important and relate them to the development of your particular collection development. The following variables are typical of many situations. Others may be appropriate for your situation. You may need to modify these specifications to better fit your situation and some may not be appropriate. Check with the teacher if in doubt.

Do add a summary close at the end of each part.

Part 1: Parent Organization Characteristics (100 points)

Select an organization, an institution or group that needs a collection [all are hereafter called "organization]. You need to develop a collection for others although collections for individuals may be developed in special cases (see the teacher). Any organization or institution is suitable. Collections may include any format or type of material, tangible or intangible.

Characterize the parent organization for whom the collection is being developed and those employed by it. {Please note that for an academic library, for example, the parent organization would be the college or university. For a school library media center, the parent institution would be the school.}

  1. What kind of an organization is it?
  2. Summarize parent organization mission, goals and objectives. {the most important ones}
  3. How would you characterize employees or community members? {for example, are they  highly educated?}
  4. How does the parent organization measure success? {be as specific as possible}
  5. How successful is it? {Be specific}
  6. How might an appropriate collection help the parent organization to be more successful? {this is crucial}
  7. If you could develop but one collection to help this organization to be more successful, what would it be? Why ?

Return to Contents

Part 2: Development Rationale (100 points)
  1. Check your development topic to insure that it is not too broad for the time available. Consider narrowing subject or format scope.
  2. Define this collection by listing those keywords associated with it. Which word or words would you use in searching for information on your subject? Tag the most productive subject term. If in a library, also define your subject by listing those major class numbers associated with it. Tag the most productive class number.
  3. Discuss the relative importance of this collection. How much difference in the success of your organization or in the quality of life in the community served by the organization might result from a collection on this subject?
  4. Discuss the interest members of the parent organization or members of the community have or might have in this collection. How much actual and potential demand exists? What events or situations are likely to stimulate interest in this collection? What is the likely life of this interest?
  5. Identify, evaluate and come to a conclusion on alternative sources for content on your subject. Where might people in your organization or the community served go for information IF your collection did not exist? Do alternative sources minimize the need for a local collection?
  6. Are appropriate, affordable items available for your collection? Using appropriate resources, indicate the degree to which affordable, useful and recent selectables are available.  Include examples of selectables. {If developing a server collection, please combine 2.6 and 2.7.}
  7. Identify and discuss web resources helpful in developing your collection. Do include some examples. {Please do this section even if you are not going to include net resources in your collection.  Web resources should be useful in locating and learning more about potential selections in other formats.}

Return to Contents

Part 3: Community Analysis(100 points)

  1. Not all members of the organization or those served by it will be interested in your collection. Being specific, identify three segments likely to be interested in and likely to use your collection. Rank and label these segments as primary, secondary, and tertiary according to the intensity of use of materials as well as the number of actual and potential users. You must estimate the number of likely users in each segment.].
  2. You should do the following for all segments. At a minimum, do for the primary and secondary segment. Identify at least one [more is better] contact person who is knowledgeable about both your subject and those likely to be interested in it. Identify at least two [more is better] contact persons who represent typical users or potential users of the collection that you are developing. Characterize contact persons. They need not be identified by name.
    Typically, questions would focus on:
  4. Do present collections enhance or detract from users' ability to accomplish necessary tasks? To be successful?
  5. On the basis of the interviews, plus other evidence gathering, prepare a list of findings. What should the ideal collection on your subject include to meet community needs and wants?

  6. Return to Contents
    Part 4: The Policy Statement (25 points)

    Carefully review the priorities captured in Part 3. These priorities will now appear in a formal policy statement suitable for adoption and sharing with the public.

    1. PURPOSE. Usually beginning with an infinitive, this section clearly and briefly indicates why the collection is being developed.
    2. AUDIENCE. Clearly identify those who are most likely to use the collection and for what. [May be combined with 4.1]
    3. DEFINITION. Present a brief definition of your collection subject or scope using appropriate descriptors. Include major LC or DDC class numbers if your information organization is a library.
    4. LANGUAGE. Identify the languages needed by content seekers which are important for materials in your topic. For subjects such as art history or a craft, where materials often contain minimal text and maximum illustration, foreign language exclusion may be waived. Typically, most items would be selected only in English. If your collection is limited to English language items, this section may be deleted.
    5. GEOGRAPHIC EMPHASIS. Clearly identify geographical priorities within your subject. Typically, the selector begins with the region where the community is located and then expands outward in concentric circles. For example, will the model railroading collection include model railroading world-wide or just in the U.S.?
    6. COUNTRY OF ISSUANCE. In most communities, only materials issued in North America and Great Britain would be considered. [Skip if developing a server collection]
    7. CHRONOLOGICAL EMPHASIS. Clearly indicate which time periods are of priority within your subject. For example, are you interested in model railroading in the 19th Century?
    8. DATE OF ISSUE. Indicate if only new or new and retrospective items will be selected. Most communities are interested in newly issued items, but some will consider retrospective items as well.
    9. TYPE AND FORMAT OF MATERIALS. Rank, in order of their importance to the collection, the formats and treatments which will be selected. For a server collection, indicate the relative importance of text, images, audio, full motion video, and the like.
    10. CRITERIA. List and briefly discuss subject specific criteria which are important or need to be considered in developing a collection on this particular subject. General criteria which apply to virtually all subjects or to a particular format do not need to appear here. If there are no specialized criteria for your subject, say so.
    11. SUBJECTS AND COLLECTING LEVELS. The larger subject is divided into appropriate categories, topics or parts as indicated by your community analysis. Parts may be logically consistent and parallel or they may be mixed. Each part identified above is assigned a depth or priority level such as 3 or B. You may create your own coding scheme or use a standard one. The scheme may be alphabetic or numeric. Each value should indicate a level of priority or depth. All parts would not ordinarily have the same priority. Below the subject-priority table define each of the levels which you have used. Level definitions should include some sense of how many items might be included.
    12. OTHER COLLECTIONS. Identify other major accessible collections or sources of information on your subject accessible to members of your organization or community. These are the collections you would refer users to after they have exhausted your collection. Briefly characterize these collections.

Return to Contents
Part 5: Information organization or server variables (100 points)

Each of the following variables should be identified as either facilitating or inhibiting at the close of your discussion

  1. Evaluate physical accessibility, and attractiveness of the site and building where your collection would be housed and then the area where your items will be housed. [Skip if developing server collection likely to be used off-site]
  2. Evaluate the ease in finding (intellectual access) what is held in your particular collection. In a library, you would discuss the quality and utility of the catalog for your topic. [Skip if developing a new collection]
  3. Is available space an asset or liability for collection development? Will there be enough space to house your collection after it is developed?
  4. Evaluate the ease in retrieving particular items (physical access) from your collection. [Skip if new collection]
  5. Is information technology, including hardware and net access, an asset or liability for collection development in general and for your development in particular?
  6. How much money is available for collection development and for hardware/software needed to provide access to the collection? For server collections, is hardware, software, or connectivity needed and at what cost? Typically, how much money would be allocated and/or spent to support your collection in a typical year? What is the likely future outlook for collection development funding in general and for your development in particular?
  7. Is there a written policy that guides collection development? How would you characterize this policy? How does the policy affect your collection development?
  8. Describe the procedures used to select and purchase items. Who is involved in the selection process? Which selection criteria carry the most weight?  How might these procedures affect your particular development?
  9. Characterize the selection resources (tools) available to those who develop collections. How might tool availability affect  your particular development?
  10. To what degree is organization management (and information professionals if appropriate) involved in and enthusiastic about collection development? About your collection development?
  11. Which variables are most likely to inhibit your collection development?
  12. Which variables are most likely to facilitate your collection development?

Return to Contents
Part 6: Collection evaluation (100 points)

The collection evaluation tells the selector the degree to which the existing collection is adequate or meets the needs and wants previously identified. A variety of measures and approaches may be used. The greater the variety of evaluative approaches used, the more likely that results will be valid and reliable. Each section below should close with an appropriate conclusion or "so what." IF there is no existing collection, please say so and skip Part 6.

  1. Delimit the existing collection. Count the number of items available on your topic. If dealing with tangible items, transform these absolute numbers into size per numbers using the number of potential users from your community analysis. Discuss the meaning of your number of items per likely user ratio. Size pers may be skipped if developing a server collection or a non-circulating collection.
  2. Characterize the existing collection:
    (1) emphasis--which aspects of your topic receive the most emphasis?
    (2) degree of difficulty--how easy or difficult is the intellectual content for the likely audience?
    (3) special features--how many items contain helpful special features?
    (4) currency--how many items were issued within the last year? The last five years?
    (5) format--how many items are available in various formats? Any appropriate formats missing?
    Where the collection is small, the evaluator should examine the collection on an item by item basis considering the quality and utility of each item and how it relates to current wants/needs.
  3. Weeds fall into three categories. The first includes items that are not used. Before proceeding,  identify an appropriate time period to measure collection use. Then, use transaction records, observation or whatever to identify those items not used. Characterize those items least used. If you cannot do this, say why and move on. What attributes do less used items share? Attributes of highly used items? To what degree is the collection being used? [If this information is unavailable, say so and move to the next item.]
  4. Before discarding items which appear to be useful but which have not been used, physical and intellectual access should be checked to see if non-use is a function of access. In some cases, where useful, usable items are not being used, the selector should promote these items and make them more visible before considering discard. Identify items which should be promoted and those which should be discarded and indicate why.
  5. Those items which are not useful because of level of treatment, language, lack of accuracy, and obsolescence should be identified. Items which are no longer useful should be weeded even if they are being used. In some cases, where a variety of viewpoints need to be represented in the collection, one may retain items which are inaccurate and/or out of date. Most information professionals will use inclusion in a standard best list as an indication of quality, utility, and accuracy. In some fields where currency is important, and where information cumulates, copyright date, publication date, or date added to the server may be a good proxy for accuracy. To what degree is the existing collection useful? As appropriate, provide examples of not useful items with brief rationale.  Identify particular items for discard as appropriate.
  6. The last of the major weeding categories consists of those items which are not usable because of physical condition. This would include broken links, digital files that do not download properly or are corrupt as well as books or periodicals that are worn or torn. Examine tangible items for wear and damage. Items which are not usable or need attention now so that they will be usable in the future should be divided into these categories: (1) those that should be fixed or repaired and (2) those that should be discarded. Identify and briefly discuss those items which are no longer usable.
  7. Has weeding created a gap in your collection? Should this gap be filled? How?
  8. [Optional if developing a server collection] Identify or create one or more selective or comprehensive "best list" for your collection. Remove from the list those items that are clearly irrelevant to local needs and wants. Match the list against local holdings and produce a holdings percentage. Compare items held with those available for use to produce an availability percentage. Multiply the holdings percentage by the availability percentage to arrive at a performance rating. How does the existing collection perform? What does the performance ratio or percentage tell you?
  9. The last and most important evaluation is to match the specific list of wants and needs generated from the community analysis with the existing collection to identify strengths and gaps. From the perspective of the community wants and needs, discuss the gaps and strengths of the existing collection.
  10. In a brief summary, describe and comment on the state of the collection.
Return to Contents
Part 7: Selection(100 points)
  1. [Skip if developing a server collection which only involves free items] Using the targets [your levels] established in your policy, adequacy conclusions from the evaluation, and the average price of material from 2.6, create a budget for your collection development. How much will it cost to fill the gap between what the community wants and needs and what is presently available? Compare the likely funding for your subject with the budget immediately above. To what degree will you be able to fill the gap? Which targets will you be able to meet?
  2. Where can you find experts on your subject or topic?
  3. Prepare a list of sources (General and subject bibliographies, search engines, directories, and the like) likely to yield appropriate selectables. Examine each source in turn and identify materials which seem appropriate. How many hits did you get from each source? List and discuss in some detail those sources which were most productive in providing selectables for your subject. A variety of sources is expected.
  4. Reviews are not required for selection, but many institutions prefer them. Make a reasonable attempt to locate evaluative reviews for each hard copy selection. Best lists (such as best sites or award winning sites) may also be used to identify items likely to be better . Which reviewing sources and best lists seem most useful for this topic?
  5. Examine selectables in local information agencies, libraries, stores [sometimes on-line stores like Amazon.com can provide useful supplementary information] or other sites. Was this useful and why? {Skip if developing a server collection}
  6. If developing a book or periodical collection, visit at least two appropriate library OPACs {UTK does not count} for material on your subject. You might begin with WorldCat via the UT portal. Other possibilities include: Libdex, Lib-Web-Cats , Publiclibraries.com, University and college libraries, School Libraries on the Web, and Libweb .Was this a useful step and why?
  7. In those cases where you have access to a knowledgeable and objective specialist [which could include yourself], add those recommendations to your selection list.
  8. Prepare a list of items to be recommended to be added to the collection. Provide a persuasive rationale statement for each item on your list. There should be no doubt why this item is being proposed, what is unique about it, and what need/want it will meet. Add phrases about quality and utility [from review sources if these are available or from your own evaluation]. This is the final selection list. Your rationale statement should include a complete standard citation.
  9. In the filtering process, you may identify items where more information is needed, as with a forthcoming item or a website under construction or where physical examination is needed, as with a preview of an expensive video or shareware. Such items should be included in the buying list under a wait and see heading.
  10. Finally, a persuasive close which summarizes (1) what you have done with the collection and (2) what difference it will make. Relate development specifically to the wants and needs identified in the community analysis.
Return to Contents
Part 8: Promotion (25 points)
  1. Discuss specific steps to promote this new or revitalized collection and stimulate collection use.
  2. Discuss specific steps to announce and promote information sources not held locally but available to local information seekers such as other information agencies or websites. {These two steps may be combined if developing a server collection.}

Last major revision: May 2006.

Return to Contents
Return to the 560 page
train picture