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Designing Balanced Collections- What Does that Mean? |
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Thanks to everyone for attending this breakout session! Feel free to add your own ideas & comments to the wiki page below.
Breakout Session Notes
Hosts: Jen Sullivan & Scott Nicholson
Scribe: Erin Dorney
What do you consider to be a balanced collection?
- "An impossible dream"
- It depends on the library (academic, public, medical)
- Including varied points of view on a subject by overcoming your own points of view
- Personalizing for your community or user base
- Balance between what? One library building? A consortrium? A public library system?
Challenges:
- What are ways to address collection with faculty in academic environments?
- What happens when something you choose for your collection is offensive or uncomfortable for your users?
- Should we give users what they want or give users what they "need"?
- It used to be that you find a balance
- Now, it seems to be you provide what users want. Are we "that desperate" to get users?
- In the past, we haven't had the research we now have that shows that readinganything will increase literacy skills int he long run.
Format Balance:
- Is sometimesdriven by what is easily available (i.e. VHS became harder to purchase, so DVDs are more widely carried)
- Libraries can't continue to purchase all of the different formats due to space issues.
- Does anyone have written format policies?
- Some libraries add sections to their written collection development policies
- Some libraries include this in long-range /strategic planning
Resources
20 Maxims for Collection Building- A contemporary system for the 21st century
Balancing Act- Give 'Em What They Want vs. Give 'Em What They Need
It's About Building Balanced Collections- Are Public Libraries "Dumbing Down"?
