East Carolina University
College of Education
Department of Interdisciplinary Professions
Date Revised: Fall 2014
LIBS 6018
Collection Development
(3 sh)
LIBS 6018 Collection Development (3) Principles and methods of selecting print and non-print
materials, intellectual freedom, and formulation of selection policies. Prerequisites: Tier I (LIBS
6010, 6012, 6042) and Tier II (LIBS 6014, 6026, 6031) courses.
Required Texts for LIBS 6018
For School Library Pathway students:
Bishop, K. (2013). The Collection program in schools: Concepts, practices and information
sources, 5th edition. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. 978-1-61069-022-5 (pbk).
For Academic Library and Public Library Pathway students:
Evans, G.E., & Saponaro, M.Z. (2012). Collection management basics, 6th edition. Westport,
CT: Libraries Unlimited. 978-1-59884-864-9 (pbk).
MLS Objective:
LIBS 6018 meets MLS Objective 4 to “Select, acquire, develop and manage collections to meet
the lifelong learning needs of diverse groups in various library settings.”
Course Objectives:
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Develop a broad understanding of the modern principles of collecting: community analysis,
collection evaluation, quality assessment, and quality control
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Demonstrate use of these principles in different types of materials and digital resources among
a variety of settings
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Demonstrate knowledge of library issues involved in collection management including
copyright, preservation, privacy, sharing, censorship, diversity and information freedom
ADA Compliance
East Carolina University seeks to fully comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Students requesting accommodation based on a covered disability must go to the Department for
Disability Services, located in Brewster A-114, to verify the disability before any
accommodations can occur. The telephone number is 252-328-6799.
Student support:
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Department of Library Science Website: http://www.ecu.edu/educ/libs/
Portfolio support: http://www.ecu.edu/cs-educ/libs/portfolios.cfm
Contact Information Technology and Computing Services (ITCS) at
http://www.ecu.edu/cs-itcs/students.cfm if BB or other technology does not work
properly. ITCS phone support is available 8 am to midnight by calling 252-328-9866 or
1-800-340-7081.
For student advising, please contact your student advisor for general questions and access
the Library Science Advising Center (LSAC) located in Blackboard at
http://www.blackboard.ecu.edu
To learn more about the Joyner Library, access the Online tutorials at
http://media.lib.ecu.edu/DE/Tutorials.cfm
To learn more about library services for distance education (DE) students, access the DE
newsletter at http://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/eai/upload/StudentSept2010.pdf. DE students
are entitled to free document delivery (i.e., books at Joyner are sent to your home at no
cost to you) as well as a library card to access any of the libraries in the UNC university
system.
Student Evaluation and Assignments
Assignment 1: Weekly Blog Posts (15 points)
Assignment 2: Selection of Library (5 points)
Assignment 3: Community Analysis (20 points)
Assignment 4: Interview with Collection Development Librarian (20 points)
Assignment 5: Observation/Evaluation of Collection (15 points)
Assignment 6: Rebuilding the Collection (25 points)**Artifact**
** Please note that to receive maximum points for assignments (and graded as above proficient)
students must communicate well written and well organized assignments. Use spell check and a
dictionary and thesaurus to help with word choice. Reread and revise your work. Writing matters
and reflects on your ability to communicate your thoughts and ideas.**
Final grades will be based on the following scale:
A
93-100 points. Student meets and exceeds course requirements.
B 86-92 points. Student adequately meets course requirements.
C
79-85 points. Minimally meets course requirements.
F Below 79 points.
I
(Incomplete).
W Withdrawal from the course within the time period specified by the university. If you find it
necessary to drop this course please follow the procedures at http://www.ecu.edu/csacad/options/cost/withdrawal.cfm In addition, inform your advisor, the instructor and the MLS
office.
Assignment Descriptions:
Assignment 1: Blog and Participation (15 points)
Students respond to weekly blog prompts about a variety of collection development topics. These
blog postings will help as you develop assignments for this class. To complete some blogs
students must either attend Saba sessions with collection development librarians (these sessions
will occur during the first weeks of the class) or listen to the recorded.
**To receive maximum points, blog posts must be well written, address each prompt, and be free
of grammatical errors. Please use spell check and a dictionary and thesaurus to help you with
word choice. Reread and revise your work. Writing matters and reflects on your ability to
communicate your thoughts and ideas.
Assignment 2: Selection of a Library (5 points)
Students will spend this semester analyzing and observing a library’s collection and procedures,
policies, and processes.
Identify a library to work with this semester (all of your assignments will be based on this
library). You may select the library you already work in to rebuild part of the collection. Keep in
mind that for Assignment 4: Interview with a Collection Development Librarian you will be
selecting a librarian to interview. I may require you to select a librarian to interview who is not
employed at the organization in which you work. In order to rebuild a collection you will need
physical access to this library and its circulation system.
Post your selection to the blog. **To receive maximum points, this post must we well written
and well organized. Please use spell check and a dictionary and thesaurus to help you with word
choice. Reread and revise your work. Writing matters and reflects on your ability to
communicate your thoughts and ideas.
Assignment 3: Community Analysis (20 points)
“Effective collection development is based on reliable knowledge about the collection’s users”
(Bishop, 2013, p. 21). For this assignment you will collect demographic information to
understand the community and the needs of users.
**To receive maximum points, the Community Analysis assignment must we well written and
well organized. Please use spell check and a dictionary and thesaurus to help you with word
choice. Reread and revise your work. Writing matters and reflects on your ability to
communicate your thoughts and ideas.
Assignment 4: Interview with Collection Development Librarian (20 points)
Interview the collection development librarian about the library’s collection development
policies, procedures (from selection through deselection), and processes.
Prepare for this interview. Readings, Centra chats, blog postings, and articles in the Course
Documents area of BB provide ample information to prepare you for the interview. Know the
questions you want to ask. I have begun a template that is in the Course Documents area of BB,
but it is far from complete. Please work with your group to identify thoughtful and thorough
questions.
The better way to organize this assignment is to begin with a brief introduction. Who are you
interviewing? Describe this librarian’s collection development experience. The second part of the
assignment is the interview itself. Identify the question you are asking. Answer the question.
Continue identifying questions and answering. Conclude the assignment with a critical
assessment of responses to your questions (see below).
The concluding part of this assignment is a critical assessment of the interview. Are the
librarian’s comments supported by your readings and Saba chats? Identify specific
comments that are supported by the text and specific comments that are not supported by
the text.
In concert with the collection development librarian, and findings from the community analysis,
decide which part of the collection to revise for Assignment 6.
**To receive maximum points, the Interview with the Collection Development Librarian
assignment must we well written and well organized. Please use spell check and a dictionary and
thesaurus to help you with word choice. Reread and revise your work. Writing matters and
reflects on your ability to communicate your thoughts and ideas.
Assignment 5: Observation/Evaluation of the Collection (15 points)
Evaluate in-depth the part of the collection that needs revising by applying at least three
techniques such as such as comparing the OPAC to bibliographies or recommended lists of
materials; physically examining the collection; age analysis; application of standards to the
collection; circulation and interlibrary loan statistics; shelf-availability statistics; and useropinion surveys.
**To receive maximum points, the Observation/Evaluation of the Collection assignment must
we well written and well organized. Please use spell check and a dictionary and thesaurus to help
you with word choice. Reread and revise your work. Writing matters and reflects on your ability
to communicate your thoughts and ideas.
Assignment 6: Rebuilding the Collection (25 points)**Artifact**
For Assignment 6, students revise a non-fiction (do not select fiction/drama/poetry) part of the
collection selected in concert with the collection development librarian and based on community
analysis findings and observation/evaluation of the collection. Select a part of the collection that
needs a major overhaul. Do not select too narrow an area. For this assignment you will deselect
items, identify new items, explain your criteria, and develop a budget that identifies processing
costs for these materials.
Step 1: Introduction of this part of the collection and justification
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Consider and address why this part of the collection needs revising. Base your
justification on the interview with the collection development librarian supported by the
community assessment and evaluation and observation of collection.
Be specific about the part of the collection you are rebuilding and why.
Step 2: Revise Collection
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Deselect five (5) items and select five items to replace the deselected items. Justify each
deselection and selection. Base this on reviews.
Select 20 additional items: one (1) serial; five (5) e-books; print resources; and other
formats suitable for persons with disabilities such as blindness.
Step 3: Budget
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Identify the cost of each item and total the cost of all items. Include costs of processing in
the budget costs.
Please upload this assignment and its reflection to Task Stream for grading.
Assignment 6: Rebuilding the Collection (25 points)**Artifact**
Assignment 6 Rubric
Above Proficient
Proficient
Below Proficient
25 to 23.3
Fewer than 23.3 to
21.5 points
Fewer than 21.5 points
Introduction is wellwritten and free of
grammatical/word
choice errors;
communicates reasons
for collection rebuilding
supported by evidence
such as community
analysis, readings,
interview, and
observation/evaluation.
Introduction
communicates reasons
for collection
rebuilding supported
by evidence such as
community analysis,
readings, interview,
and observation/
No introduction; scant
introduction; little
justification for
collection rebuilding.
Deselection and
selection (5
points
maximum)
Student meets
proficiency but items
are more thoughtfully
considered, reasons are
communicated more
effectively, review of
items is more
complete/variety of
review sources used.
Deselection/
Deselection/
Replacement items
completed, reasons
provided, reviews
complete per syllabus
instructions.
replacement items not
completed, reasons for
deselection/replacement
items not provided,
reviews are incomplete.
Selection of 15
items (15 points
maximum)
Student meets
proficiency but items
are more thoughtfully
considered, reasons are
communicated more
effectively, review of
items is more
Selection of items
completed, reasons
provided, reviews
complete per syllabus
instructions. Some
variety in format.
Costs of each resource
Selection of items not
completed, reasons for
selection not provided,
reviews are incomplete.
Introduction (2 points
maximum)
evaluation.
Revising Collection
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Budget (3 points
maximum)
complete/variety of
review sources used.
Broad selection of items
per format. Costs of
each resource are
identified.
are identified.
Student meets
proficiency; budget is
communicated in an
easy-to-follow
method—each time and
cost is identified.
Budget meets syllabus
requirements. APA
format used but there
may be some errors.
No budget or minimal
budget provided. Several
categories are missing.
Student does not format
in APA.
**To receive maximum points, the Rebuilding the Collection assignment must we well written
and well organized. Please use spell check and a dictionary and thesaurus to help you with word
choice. Reread and revise your work. Writing matters and reflects on your ability to
communicate your thoughts and ideas.
This assignment meets the following professional standards:
ALA:
1J
2B
2C
5F
8A
DPI
2a
2b
3a
AASL
4.1
5.1
5.3
5.4