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This program is NOT about developing a Collection Development Plan -- it IS about developing the plan that will put that policy into action. Presented at GaCOMO12 by Carter Nipper.
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Up To Your Um…Armpits in AlligatorsConsiderations for Creating a Collection
Development Plan
Carter NipperCentral Georgia Technical College
Presented at GaCOMO, Oct. 4, 2012
“When you’re up to your @$$ in alligators, it’s hard to remember that your original intention was to drain the swamp.”
– Various forms variously attributed
Photo courtesy MarathonBooks.com - http://marathonbooks.com/Alligator.html
Who Do I Think I Am?
Milledgeville Campus Librarian at Central Georgia Technical College
Over 30 years experience in public, correctional, and academic libraries
Been there, done that
Part 1 – The Swamp
Image courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Digital Libraryhttp://digitalmedia.fws.gov/
The Eternal Question: Why?
What got you to this point? Personal Initiative?▪ What were you thinking?
Assigned task? What do you hope to accomplish?
Budgetary guidance Acquisitions guidance
Who Do You Think You Are?
Who is going to do all this work? You individually?▪ Where will you find the time?
A team?▪ Who’s in charge?▪ If you propose it, be prepared to be the boss▪ How good a manager are you?
People Time Money
Get buy-in from all involved
What Are You Doing?
Focus! How detailed will you get? How will you know when you are
finished? How far ahead do you want to plan?▪ 5 years is probably too much. 3 years is
doable. Get clear on this! This is your “original
intention” Define your personal limits
Don’t stretch yourself too thin What compromises are you willing to
make?
The Gators in the Grass
Who is going to pay for all of this? Time Materials
Speaking of time… Where will you find the time? Set a firm timeline (and be prepared to
adjust it!) Stay on track. Keep your original
intention in mind
Part 2 – The Alligators
Image courtesy PictureWendy Under Creative Commons CC BY-NC 2.0http://www.flickr.com/photos/picturewendy/6589866439/in/pool-alligators/
Where Do You Start?
Educate yourself Read, read, read! Make sure you know what
you are getting into.▪ Books (of course)▪ Journal articles (of course)
Don’t reinvent the wheel A lot of libraries have their plans freely
available online.▪ Will what they did work for you?▪ If so, why?▪ If not, why not?
Ready? Set? Go!
What Do You Have?
Quantitative collection assessment Counting volumes by subject Analyzing the age of the collection What is being used▪ Circulation statistics▪ Reference question statistics
Citation analysis
What Do You Have? (Part 2) Qualitative collection assessment
User surveys Focus groups List checking Collection mapping (Conspectus) Commercial products (e.g., WorldCat Collection
Analysis, Bowker Book Analysis System) Experience and intuition
Roll your own Combine methods Invent your own
What Do You Need?
Give ‘em what they want Circulation analysis Reference question analysis
Give ‘em what they need Curriculum analysis Recommended collections
If you build it, will they come?
Part 3 – Getting The Upper Hand
Image courtesy wpclipart.comhttp://www.wpclipart.com/American_History/Postcards/Alligator_Joe.png.html
Now What?
The End Is Near Don’t burn out now
Lots of raw data What does it all mean? What are you going to do with it?
Decisions, decisions Again, how detailed will you get?▪ Not too broad, not too focused
How far will you project your plan into the future?▪ 5 years is probably too far; 3 years is doable
Details, Details, Again With The Details!
Sweat the small stuff A little more work now will go a long way
later Presentation is key
Human-readable▪ Don’t jargonize
Organize▪ Outline!▪ Follow your outline rigorously, but be
prepared to tweak it if necessary
Let’s Do This!
Finish! Write it up! Put it in a binder! Present it to whomever! Have a tall, cold one!
When All Is Said and Done…
Evaluation and review Circumstances change -- be willing to
change with them Constant, on-going▪ Annually at a minimum
So what are you waiting for? Get to it!
Questions, Comments?
Contact:
Carter NipperMilledgeville Campus LibrarianCentral Georgia Technical
College54 GA Highway 22 WestMilledgeville, GA 31061(478) [email protected]