Digital Collection Development:
“Curating” Content & Tools
for K-12 Students
Workshop authors:
Dr. Joyce Kasman Valenza
and Debra E. Kachel
August 5, 2011
This workshop was made possible with
funds from:
The Pennsylvania Department of Education
Commonwealth Libraries
Bureau of Library Development
Library Services & Technology Act (LSTA) Funds
August 2011
WebJunction Pennsylvania,
a service of ACCESS Pennsylvania,
will be used to archive and store resources and
links for this workshop.
http://pa.webjunction.org/1
WJPA provides an online learning community for librarians to
share ideas, news, and engage in online courses and other
professional development. A free, user-created login is
required.
NOTE: All materials for this workshop are also included in
the Digital Collection Curation Workshop LibGuide at
http://palibraries.libguides.com/curation.
Workshop Overview
Collection development in the digital
environment places the librarian in the
role of “curator”– selecting, organizing,
and presenting both digital content and
tools so that students and patrons can
access them anywhere & anytime. This
workshop will teach librarians how to
create online guides or “pathfinders” to
the resources they select to meet the
needs of library users.
Workshop Objectives
Participants will:
1. Embrace an expanded concept of “collection”
to include digital content and tools,
2. Apply collection development strategies to
digital resources,
3. Recognize the library user as selector,
collaborator, and information producer,
4. Learn to use some basic types of digital tools
appropriate for K-12 students,
5. Create a digital guide or pathfinder with
LibGuides, selecting traditional resources and
digital content & tools.
Defining a library
“collection”
 Group of resources or information made
physically available or electronically
accessible to the library’s user
 Selected or collected by a librarian or in
collaboration with teachers, students, and
others, including experts
 Based on selection criteria or a collection
development policy to meet the needs of
the institution and its users
From Empowering Learners,
the AASL guidelines
• “The school library media program includes flexible
and equitable access to physical and virtual collections
of resources that support the school curriculum and
meet the diverse needs of all learners (33).”
• One of the ACTIONS for the school librarian: “Designs
and maintains a library website that provides 24/7
access to digital information sources, instructional
interventions, reference services, links to other
libraries and academic sites, information for parents,
and exhibits of exemplary student work (34).”
Expanding our definition
of library “resources”
PRINT - books, periodicals, etc.
DIGITAL/ELECTRONIC – AV, websites and
web-based tools, software, ebooks, licensed
databases, etc.
EQUIPMENT/DEVICES - flip cameras, audio
recorders, laptops and other mobile
computing devices needed to view, listen,
watch, record, or produce information
OTHER –community resources (museum,
arboretum, etc.), student work, experts, or
services like ILL and distance learning
courses
Let’s talk about Websites
Content-based
• Examples: NASA, PBS,
International Children’s
Digital Library POWER
Library databases
• Can be free or licensed
• Constantly updated info
on specific subjects
• Selected to meet the
school’s curriculum/
library’s mission
Tool or Application Based
• Examples: Animoto,
Glogster, Jing, wikispaces
• Can be free or licensed
• New features can be
added in updates
• Selected as learning
tools for students to
organize or
communicate content
NOTE: Check out the web tools at
AASL’s Best Websites for Teaching and Learning.
What is Digital
Collection Curation?
The selection and assembly of a focused group of
resources into a single, web-based presentation that
meets an identified purpose or need and has
meaning for a specific audience.
Resources, while mostly web sites
and tools, can include traditional
library resources, as well as
customized instruction and
recommended “people & places”
relevant to the topic.
What’s the difference from
traditional collection development?
Traditional library “collecting” implies organizing a
collection of resources for lots of users for multiple
purposes.
Curating is much more targeted and highly selective,
often telling a “story” much like a museum curator
does in the staging of a collection.
Curation is a shared environment in which librarians
and others verify and add resources to existing
collections; involves building and aggregating
(“mashup” or “remix”); using others work (with
permission)
Collection Development
• Mostly print, physical
collection
• Fairly static collection
(money an issue)
• General- for many
users with many
purposes
• Developed by one
institution for one
institution
• Institution access and
use (in-library usage or visit
required to borrow)
Digital Collection Curation
• Mostly electronic, virtual
collection
• Fluid, constantly
updated (money not
necessarily an issue)
• Focused topics or
purposes for a specific
audience
• Developed by many for
many
• Global access and use,
beyond the local library
(think wikipedia)
Why curation?
“Curation comes up when search stops working. But
it’s more than a human-powered filter. Curation
comes up when people realize that it isn’t just about
information seeking, it’s also about synchronizing a
community.
Part of the reason that human curation is so critical is
simply the vast number of people who are now
making and sharing media. Everyone is a media
outlet.”
Blogger, author, and NYU professor Clay Shirky, quoted in Mashable
http://mashable.com/2010/05/03/content-curation-creation/
Yes, we are blowing the doors off
the library! It’s time!
The Collection Development Process
Needs Assessment
Traditional Print World
Digital World
• What is the library’s
mission?
• Who are our library
users?
•
– Demographics
– Reading levels
– Languages spoken
• What are the needs of
our library users?
– Curriculum
– Personal interests
What else is
important?
Collection
Assessment
Digital World
•
Traditional Print World
• Current collection
• Usage data
• Growth rates
• Collection goals
Does use of print
resources predict use of
digital resources?
• Can usage statistics of
digital resources be
collected and useful?
• Who does collection
assessment?
• Other issues
Selection
Traditional Print World
•
Universe of resources-where
and how do you find available
titles? Review sources?
• Policies & procedures
–
•
Selection criteria, subjects
collected, languages, formats,
multiple copies, intellectual
freedom, gifts, lending policies,
ILL, etc.
Weeding
Digital World
•What digital resources
should be collected?
•Who selects?
•Do they “age”?
Acquisition
How is “acquiring”
digital resources
different than print
resources?
• Costs?
• Access?
• Filtering?
Be sure that you recognize and use
“creative commons” licenses http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
Organization & Presentation
What needs to be
considered when making
digital content & tools
available to students,
teachers, and library
patrons? Especially when
accessed outside the library.
For example, compare these two: IPL2 for Teens: Work & Money and
Only2Clicks versions.
Here’s why you are learning
how to use LibGuides
“... My advice to librarians who are going through some sort of
transition or downsizing is to step up their web presence. You
can’t easily get rid of what you see. The more visible librarians
are in their community or school or district, the less likely that
they’ll be taken away. Those teacher librarians who are hiding
their brilliant programs under a bushel, that’s when they’re most
likely to get cut because their program is not visible to the
community. When libraries get cut, people say, “So what are
they doing? They’re just checking out books.” That’s what we
have to fight – that perception!” Gwyneth Anne Jones
Source: Strauss, Valerie. “What is Literacy Today? The Daring Librarian
Explains.” Washington Post-Answer Sheet blog. July 22, 2011
What is a LibGuide?
• A mini website on a topic
• A common platform used by public and academic
libraries to highlight library resources & web links to
connect them with library users
• An electronic “pathfinder” that includes web tools,
library resources, customized instruction, and/or
library services
• More graphical; uses html, but you don’t need to
know it!
– Pre Web 2.0 pathfinder - IPL2’s Pathfinder “Fairy Tales”
– Using LibGuides - Georgia Peach Book Award Nominees 2009-10
What is the Structure of a
LibGuide?
Guides consist of:
– pages (represented by tabs)
– subpages (a dropdown list from a tab)
– boxes of “content”
– boxes can contain simple text, images,
links to other URLs, rss feeds, videos,
polls, widgets, etc.
– Example: SpartanGuide for “Databases and
Pathfinders” (Valenza’s Springfield Township High
School)
LibGuide on Research Tools http://sdst.libguides.com/researchtools
LibGuide for teacher librarians created for library science schools
http://libraryschool.campusguides.com/tlguides
LibGuide on New Web Tools http://sdst.libguides.com/newtools
Tour of Effective Practice
Part of the Digital Collection Curation Workshop LibGuide
created for the PaLibraries Project
1. Go to our Curation LibGuide at
http://palibraries.libguides.com/curation
2. Click on the “Tour of Effective Practice” tab/page.
3. Look at School Library Examples or scroll down to Public Library
Examples, University Examples, or Special Library Examples.
Please take a few minutes to look at some of these
LibGuides for ideas.
Share something interesting or useful you find.