Competency F

Use the basic concepts and principles related to the creation, evaluation, selection, acquisition, preservation and organization of specific items or collections of information.

A CONTROVERSY prevailed among the beasts of the field as to which of the animals deserved the most credit for producing the greatest number of whelps at a birth. They rushed clamorously into the presence of the Lioness and demanded of her the settlement of the dispute. "And you," they said, "how many sons have you at a birth?" The Lioness laughed at them, and said: "Why! I have only one; but that one is altogether a thoroughbred Lion."
Aesop

The moral of the fable is, the value is in the worth, not in the number. This is true because what good is it to have a large quantity of things which are useless or poor in quality. It is better to have fewer but in good quality which can offer efficient service. The wisdom of this fable can be used as part of "the basic concepts and principles related to the creation, evaluation, selection, acquisition, preservation and organization of specific items or collections of information," which I will try to elaborate as I move along in this competency.

First of all, it is fair to say that in any library its collection is the most important entity which connects to many other issues like staffing, programs, and services. The better the collection is, the greater the service it can offer. To have a good collection, librarians and information professionals uphold that it should involve other indispensable functions like "creation, evaluation, selection, acquisition, preservation and organization." In most cases, librarians and information professionals do not have to create a collection from ground zero. They usually inherit it from their predecessors and work with what they have. However, the collection is like a living body, and it needs to evolve in order to respond to its community and the constant change of time. On the other hand, it is unlike a living body because it cannot evolve by itself, but it needs the librarians and information professionals to help it to evolve. That is why they need to look into the needs of the community, and create the collection which is fitting to those needs.

It is true that a good creation of collection depends much on a due process of evaluation. According to professional librarians, there are two methods to evaluate a certain collection: collection-centered method and use-centered method. Within the collection-centered method, there are four recognized approaches for the evaluation: checking list, expert opinion; comparative use statistics; and collection standards. The use-centered method has to deal with the analysis of circulation data and the assumption that circulation reflects the use of library resources. A good evaluation would then lead to a satisfactory selection. Librarians and information professionals mostly depend on various reviews, catalogs, circulation records, user request, directories, vendor relationship, and budget availability to select the collection items. A good look into these sources would help to make satisfactory selection.

Acquisition is another important task for librarians and information professionals. They need to familiarize themselves with different publishers and book vendors. To acquire materials, there are several crucial elements that they need to consider like pre-order searching, ordering, claiming, receiving, shipping time, cost, and delivery arrangement. When discussing acquisition, many people almost always think that the collection items must be bought, but the truth is they can also be acquired through donations. Many book lovers like to donate their collections to the library, and sometimes these collections are very valuable. After the materials are in place, they need to be well kept. There are several techniques that librarians and information professionals use to preserve the collection are right room temperature, emergency plan, protection against loss, and digitalization. Implementation of these techniques would help to preserve the collection.

Organization of collection has to do much with knowledge of different methods of classification schemes which are arranged "by title, by broad subject, by chronology, by author, by order of acquisition, by size, etc" (Taylor A.G., 2006, pg. 392). These methods are universal and very helpful for users to search for their information. With the advance of computer technology, the process of searching is much easier now. All libraries across the nations have used computer as their index catalog. With a simple entry, patrons will be directed to the right location of their desired information. They do not have to go from drawer to drawer like how it was done in the past. A computer terminal would eliminate that hassle from their searching.

In relation to this competency, I had great opportunities to acquire valuable experience through coursework and real life application. In my assignment paper , Comparative Analysis of Collection Development Policies, for LIBR 266-12 (Collection Management), the discussion of this paper is to explore the general concept of the collection development policies and compare and contrast the Andover, Massachusetts - Memorial Hall Library's policy, and that of the Campbell County Public Library. According to G. E. Evans &, M. Z. Saponaro, "A collection development policy provides guidance for those doing the selection work" (Evans & Saponaro, 2005, pg. 50). They argue that there are three important elements of a collection development policy: (1) Overview; (2) Details of Subject Areas and Formats Collected; and (3) Miscellaneous Issues. In my comparative analysis, I learned that both libraries share this same policy with the three elements. However they differ from one another in their details. This is understandable because each of them wants to cover information which is specifically relevant to its operation.

Another coursework that I have found very instrumental for my future career is my other paper, Evaluation of Library Collections , also for LIBR 266-12 (Collection Management). In this paper, I practiced an actual evaluation of a collection on Obesity in Children in San Jose Public Libraries. The purpose for evaluating this selected collection is to see if it is adequate to serve the community in this important issue. To evaluation this collection, I used the checklist approach and the collection standards approach of the collection-centered method to find that, "Out of the 84 books in this collection, 51 were printed within the last 8 years; 16 were in the 90's; 11 were in the 80's; and 6 were in the 70's. With the E-books, 12 were made within the last 8 years, and one was made in 1999. 8 microfilms were made in the last 8 years; 3 were made in the 80's, and one was made in 1970. All the DVD/CD and computer files were within the last 8 years. The video is undated." With this finding, I conclude that the collection is fairly adequate. In comparison to other libraries, it is actually much larger: "The Orange Public Libraries only have 15 titles; Los Angeles Public Libraries 95; and Santa Ana Public Libraries 66." As I reflect upon this paper, I have to admit that it was quite time consuming in my effort to search for information, but the experience is incredibly rewarding.

My last experience for this competency has to do with my real work at my friend's office which publishes and distributes monthly bilingual missalettes. In this office, it is my responsibility to file all records and keep track of all the payments and expenses. To tackle this task, I use my knowledge of classification schemes to treat it as a small library with different collections. I classify the records into many different groups: tax, receipt, new subscribers, renewed subscribers, active subscribers, returning subscribers, monthly income, bank statement, debt, investment, equipments, and rent. Each of these groups is sub-divided into years and months. All of these records are kept in a fireproof cabinet to prevent them from damage and loss in case of fire. In retrospect, it is true that my knowledge acquired from LIBR 266, Collection Management, comes very handy in my current employment.

References:

Evidences: