3. 3
What is collection evaluation?
• Try this one:
– Collection assessment
• The systematic evaluation of the
quality of a library collection to determine the
extent to which it meets the library‟s service
goals and objectives and the information
needs of its clientele. Deficiencies are
addressed through collection development.
Synonymous with collection evaluation.
4. 4
Another definition?
• Collection assessment is
– “an organized process for systematically
analyzing and describing a library‟s
collection.”
• Collection Assessment & Mapping
Defining the Concepts
5. 5
Why assess the collection?
• Reasons for Doing
an Assessment
– Collection assessment or collection mapping provides library
administrators with a management tool for adapting the
collection, an internal analysis tool for planning, a tool to
respond systematically to budget changes, and a
communication tool and data for resource sharing with other
libraries. Library staff can also benefit by having a better
understanding of the collection, a basis for more selective
collection development, improved communication with
similar libraries, and enhanced professional skills in
collection development.
• Collection Assessment & Mapping
9. 9
Types of Collection Assessment?
1. Quantitative
– Another kind of quantitative measure looks at the
number of items added to the collection in a particular
subject area during the previous year.
– In academic or school libraries, another measure that
is sometimes used is a measure of the number of items
per student in a particular program or the number of
items that would support a particular course of study.
http://lili.org/forlibs/ce/able/course2/05measures1.htm
10. 10
Types of collection assessment?
2. Qualitative
11. 11
11
Newtonian physics
• Newton first used the word spectrum
(Latin for “appearance” or
“apparition”) in print in 1671 in
describing his experiments in optics.
• Newton observed that when a narrow
beam of sunlight strikes the face of a
glass prism at an angle, some is
reflected and some of the beam passes
into and through the glass, emerging as
different colored bands.
– Visible spectrum From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
12. 12
12
Spectrum requires a prism
• Estonian composer Arvo
Pärt:
– I could compare my music to
white light which contains all
colours. Only a prism can divide
the colours and make them
appear; this prism could be the
spirit of the listener.
• about his music: Alina
13. 13
13
Prism as a filter
• Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin:
– The biographer finds that the past is
not simply the past, but a prism
through which the subject filters his
own changing self-image.
• Goodwin, Doris Kearns (1979).
„„Angles of Vision‟‟, in:
Mark Pachter (Ed.), Telling Lives: the
biographer‟s art. Washington, DC: New Republic
Books. Cited in Debate and Reflection: How to
Write Journalism History
14. 14
The goal of collection building? 14
Amanda Credaro:
“. . . the ultimate goal of
collection development
must be to create a
„balanced‟ collection . . .”
balanced
• The Use of Reviewing Journals in School
Libraries
15. What do you mean, balanced? 15
Credaro:
“. . . there is disagreement as to
what actually constitutes a
„balanced‟ collection.”
• equal numbers of print and non-print
resources?
• materials that present the arguments for
both sides on controversial issues?
• a combination of both “demand” items
and quality resources?
16. How can we tell? 16
How do we know when we have “a
well-balanced collection that meets
the needs of our users”?
“To evaluate the results of any
particular intervention, we need to
be able to clearly identify and
define the desired state.”
• T. Scott Plutchak, “The art and science of
making choices,”
Journal of the Medical Library Association
2003 January; 91(1): 1–3.
17. Define your desired state! 17
•What is your library‟s
mission?
•Where, then, will be your
point of balance?
18. 18
18
A prism to view the full balanced spectrum
• Personal
• Real
• Invented
• SMiley face
22. 22
Top Left Sector of Matrix
Real
P Up close and personal—and real!
e Folklore: Folklore is the body of
expressive culture, including
r
tales, music, dance, legends, oral
s history, proverbs, jokes, popular
o beliefs, customs, material culture, and so
n forth, common to a particular
population, comprising the traditions
a (including oral traditions) of that
l culture, subculture, or group. (Wikipedia)
Invented
23. 23
23
Dragons in folklore
http://www.thewhitegoddess.co.uk/articles/mythology_folk
lore/dragons.asp
24. 24
Bottom Left Sector of Matrix
• Invented, but Personal
Real
P
e
r Quality literature, sometimes
s adaptations, or else original
o writing, with universal appeal
n and meaning for everyman
a and everywoman
l Invented
25. An invented dragon who is 25
25
very personal (if not exactly loveable!)
26. 26
A good invented dragon
• My Father‟s Dragon
– A Newbery Honor–winning title
and a favorite among children,
My Father‟s Dragon by Ruth
Stiles Gannett, is a humorous
adventure story about a clever
and resourceful boy named
Elmer Elevator, who runs away
to Wild Island to rescue a baby
dragon.
• My Father‟s Dragon
27. 27
27
Top Right of the Matrix
• Real Smileys!
Real
Recognizable stories,
but unoriginal and
shallow
28. 28
28
Dragon stories that are real smileys?
• . . . The tone and style suggest
Saturday-morning animated
films and will appeal to the same
audience. For humorous
adventure fantasy that is better
crafted and more nourishing, try
Jon Scieszka‟s Knights of the
Kitchen Table (Viking, 1991) and
other works in the “Time Warp
Trio” series.
– Virginia Golodetz, Children's
Literature New England, Burlington,
VT (c) Copyright 2010. Library
Journals LLC, a wholly owned
subsidiary of Media Source, Inc.
– Review cited by Durham Public
Library
29. 29
29
Bottom Right of the Matrix
• Invented smileys [perhaps contrived?]
Generic, unoriginal,
impersonal, shallow
Invented
30. An invented “smiley” dragon? 30
• What about the Dazzling Dragon?
– When Princess Daisy hears that a real dragon is being
brought into the Princess Academy, she is terrified. What
will her friends think of her being such a scaredy cat? But
later Princess Daisy has a chance to show how
brave she really is...
• Blurb from The Tiara Club website
31. 31
31
How to use this PRISM?
• Evaluation instrument
– Part of inventory or selection/acquisition
• Create a scattergram
Real
P
e
r
s
o
n
a
l Invented
32. 32
32
Balancing issues
• Especially controversial ones!
ISSUE
P
e
r
s
o
n
a
l
COUNTERISSUE
34. 34
Print vs. online
Print Sources
P The
original
e novels
r
s
o
n http://www.hp-lexicon.org/ http://www.mugglenet.com
a
l
Online Sources
35. 35
Results of Collection Assessment
• Selection of new materials
• Repair of existing materials
• Deselection of existing materials
36. 36
Repairing library materials
• Questions to ask:
– When to repair and when to remove the
item?
– How much to spend on repair?
– What techniques to use to repair?
– Who pays for the repair?
• The user or the library?
• Or does the user lose borrowing privileges or
receive some other form of punishment?
– Who decides?
37. 37
Deselection
• Definition?
– In book and nonprint collections, the
process of identifying titles for weeding,
usually on the basis of currency, usage, and
condition. The opposite of selection.
• Deselection, ODLIS
38. 38
What is weeding?
• Weeding Your Library by Perma-Bound
– Weeding is the periodic and continual evaluation
of your library‟s resources with the goal of
removing obsolete, damaged, and rarely used
books. Weeding ensures that your library‟s
materials are useful, attractive, and accessible to
your patrons. Every library‟s print collection is
limited by the space available,
and collections must
change over time to reflect
changes in the community
and in the library‟s goals.
