Collection Development 2020 – #LJDOD13

One of the things that I constantly tell friends and colleagues is that I couldn’t possibly presume to predict what a library or its collection will look like/should look like in 3-5 years, and here we have a panel that is attempting to think seven years ahead!  Brave souls…

Some of the takeaways had nothing to do with “future thinking”.  For example,

• when selecting a children’s book collection you need to remember that there are really three audiences – the child, the staff and the parents.  Not every book has to appeal to all three, but the overall collection must.
• demographics are not the be-all and end-all of collection development – observation of what the community reads is as important (if not more so).  You can never have too much information when making decisions (NOTE: between the DOD and now, this kerfluffle in Urbana surfaced.  ’nuff said.)
• you gotta work the desk – it’s the best/only way to really get a sense of what’s circulating, what the community is looking for and who the community is.  Being aware of trends is important (who was there? who is there?) when buying.  A community that has a sudden immigrant influx, or where the population is aging in place, or where a major employer has folded/expanded will have different needs than the community had even last year.  It’s also a great way to see that even though you may be located in an area that has a large [ethnic group] population, [another ethnic group] is there during the day.  You can’t see that just by looking at demographics.
• publishers don’t know what your needs are – you need to communicate with them and help them understand and learn (this is why there is usually overkill on genres).

Good collection development tools?  Twitter and GoodReads.  There’s lots of real-time information that can help you stay abreast of trends, fads and frenzies (it’s also a great way to connect with authors and publishers).

So what about the dreaded O word (that’s Outsourcing, in case you were wondering)?  Given budgets, staffing and changes, sometimes “good enough” needs to be ok.  Let go: allow the vendor to do what the vendor does best.  It’ll give you depth and lack of worry on standing orders (I’ve used them in three libraries and it really is a relief to know that books by an author will automatically arrive, no need for me to remember a pub. date!).

And then there’s the “self-published” world – and let’s change the name to “author services” because it’s really not self-published, it’s almost micro-presses where authors pay to publish.  Anyhoo, it’s going to be a huge issue in our world, especially with shelf space at a premium.  Plus, the books aren’t necessarily not great, they’re just not known.

• it’s a great way to support local authors (bringing the community into the library) – can they come and do a program in the library?
• think about the numbers: 30,000 publishers, 1,300,000 titles per year at least – who has the time or opportunity to actually go through all them? and, of course, as yet there are no good finding tools. yet.
• we need exceptional cataloging and readers advisory to help us (and readers) navigate all that’s out there.
• authors need copy and line editors but… look at 50 Shades of Grey: 75% of its readers just didn’t/don’t care about the writing.

If authors are our rock stars, then bloggers are their pr people.  Find some good bloggers to follow for ideas of what to purchase (esp. with the non-Big 6 titles).   Since many of these books won’t get reviewed in the traditional places, try to find reviews on social media.  Things to watch out for:

• how many reviews?
• are they all 5-star or are there negative reviews?
• are all the reviewers from the same town as the author?  do they all share the same last name? the same writing style? (big red flag!!)
• if there are many reviews, lots of word-of-mouth from all over – Buy It.  Now.

With any book, is there a video, newsletter or author blog/website that you can use to promote the book from your website/blog/Facebook page?

It’s also critical to remember that “quality” doesn’t always resonate with patrons (remember the 2004 NEA report that said no one reads literary fiction any more?) – get over your feelings about certain genres and authors.  Having said that, sometimes, a huge buzz about a book can elevate it to a “must read”/”must buy” for non-readers.

E-books are an increasing issue.  How do we add them to the collection (both traditional pubbed or self-pubbed on Amazon)?  The reality is, we have no idea what will happen – there’s too much turmoil in the publishing world and delivery systems are often flawed.  The panel’s best guess?  Devices, models and platforms will change and mutate, with luck into something less DRM’d. However, as of now, we don’t own anything digital, we lease it.  This is a huge issue that needs to be resolved.  Additionally, publishers need to release backlists (sometimes that’s difficult, particularly if an author has switched publishers or if the backlist is really, really long; for traditional print, backlists are frequently paperback only).

The other reality is that even with the explosion of e-books and e-print, we’re still buying traditional print at the same rate: why is this?  One idea: reading is format blind.  Often e-reader users are new readers, new parents, and they’re often drawn to books they didn’t know existed.  It’s also important to remember that with e-books, there is no “ghetto shelving” – genres and formats are all in the same place, they’re shelf-blind.  That all leads to the question of PDA.  It’s not just a budget issue, it’s also an issue of availability and can often be heavily weighted by genre, or hijacked by heavy readers: how do you ensure that an infrequent reader asking for you to buy a literary book (or work of non-fiction) has the same opportunity as the person who reads 10+ romance novels a week does?

Finally we came to the futuristic part of the program, and the panel was asked about their dreams and what they thought reality would be.

Dreams?

• everything would live in the same ILS (Overdrive, ILS, databases)
• more open source options
• better discoverability
• more/better outsourcing
• authors getting out of the current publishing system (much like early 1900s actors formed United Artists)
• funding increases
• device neutrality
• more RA, and not just by librarians (reading is social – we aren’t the first stop source for their next great read but our community does trust us – build on that)
• we’ll all know how to read a license

Reality?

• digital devices will still exist
• democratization of sharing and creation of information

Final thought:  there is a book reading community, not just a library community.

Poetic Thoughts – #LJDOD13

I’ll come right out and say it: I’m not a huge poetry fan.  Inserting poetry into a text makes my eyes glaze over, and those books in verse? Thanks, but… (having said that, I did enjoy Sharp Teeth, so it’s possibly more a question of “finding something I don’t mind”).  So it’s with some trepidation that I settled in to hear the Poetry Panel at the Day of Dialog.  For those of you who feel the way I do, the following might help change your mind.

Robert Pinsky opened by stating that children have a natural instinct toward rhyme: just look at children’s books like Dr. Seuss, and the sing-song way they often speak (not to mention the rhyming games they play).  He also said that the way to appreciate poetry is to say it aloud – it will make you a better writer and reader.

So, how do we go about marketing poetry?  It’s risky, because then we’re treating poetry as “other”, right?  Poets.org has great resources to help you find poetry (including a great Poem-a-Day program).  Several suggestions arose, including casually adding it to your displays (e.g., scarey poems as part of a Hallowe’en display), keeping books of poetry next to the check out (much like candy bars at grocery check outs).  Asking random members of the community to read their favorite poems for a podcast or videocast and posting it on your website.  Tweet great opening lines, or short poems, with a link to information about the poet or the poem.

We were also reminded that there are no rules for poetry.  Yes, teachers say that (and there are, of course, rules about poetic form) but that’s really just wrong; they want to be able to say “smart things” about poems and poetry, when in reality, poetry is what sounds good when you say it – in other words, do not overthink a poem.  Just enjoy it.  As MacLeish said, “A poem should not mean / But be.”

Need resources?  Library Journal is launching a poetry blog that will be gathering news, collection development ideas, tools and more.  Poets.org has a Poem-A-Day program.  Many current poets are on Facebook and Twitter, which is a great way to connect to living poets. Poets House has some great programs and ideas.

In other words, don’t let poetry scare you – treat it as any other part of your collection, promote it within your community, and watch things blossom.

Minor Musings

Books, Reading, Etc.

• Pondering the difference between creation and consumption in the library
• As you create your summer purchasing lists, remember Why YA Lit Matters to Everyone
• I can’t see using this for personal reading, but OOM makes a great case for using Storia in the classroom.
• Once upon a time, I did a Summer Reading LibGuide (sadly now no longer available) – Joyce rightly raves about this Summer Reading List.  </jealous>
• Just for fun (or some summer redecorating ideas), 35 Things To Do With All Those Books.

School Life

• The badging movement has me thinking about how we can create/deliver quality instruction when testing and CCSS needs continue to diminish the time students and teachers spend in the library doing research.  To get started, here’s an e-learning template!
• A MUST SHARE with everyone: 12 Things I’m Doing When All You Think is Shhhh! (and then follow it up with Valuing Libraries)
• The Little Professor muses about the difference between face-to-face and MOOC education and how one might influence the other.
• What skills to incoming college students have? Barbara Fister muses about that (a great starting point for those in 9-12 schools to work from).

Tech Related

• The Chronicle lists the Top Ten [Ed] Tech Innovators of 2013 (something to play with/think about during summer vacation).
• Share this Digital Citizenship graphic with your teachers and students.
• If you’re a Google Apps fan, or your school has gone heavily into Apps for Education, try Google Keep
• YALSA Blog breaks down the Pew Teens, Social Media and Privacy report.
• It’s always good to remind ourselves and our community of these 10 Online Privacy Tips.

Snob Appeal

Many years ago, I worked at Theatre Communications Group.  For those that have never heard of it, TCG is a clearing house for the Off-Broadway theatre community (and by “Off-Broadway”, I mean St. Louis, LA, Seattle, etc.).  They also publish American Theatre magazine and ARTsearch, a job posting bulletin that led me to my first post-college job.

When I was there, the younger staff would often eat lunch together and look over the various flyers and information from member theatres – what was going on in Louisville?  would Arena Stage’s season be successful?  etc..   I enjoy theatre and have been very fortunate to see some wonderful productions over the years.  What separated me from the others was that I wasn’t a theatre snob.  What do I mean?  Back then, the sense around the lunch table was that if you didn’t think that Mabou Mines, Wooster Group, PS 122 and La Mama were the pinnacle of theatre and enjoyed seeing more commercial works, there was something wrong with you.  A few years earlier, I’d seen CATS in London (pre-Broadway opening) and, well, it was a great spectacle.  Not great theatre, mind you, but a great spectacle.  If I had children, that is exactly what I would take them to as a way to get them interested in going to theatre (today it’d probably be The Lion King).  But to my erstwhile colleagues, enjoying shows like this was somehow wrong.  If it wasn’t challenging or experimental, it wasn’t worth seeing (didn’t stop them from grabbing free tickets to previews, but that was work, not enjoyment).

All things to all people?

Recently I started working with The Center for Fiction (formerly known as the Mercantile Library).  It’s one of the few remaining subscription libraries in the country, with a focus on fiction (obviously) and a specialty in what they call suspense, but I call mystery.  There’s also a great reading room, many author events (this week, Jeffrey Deaver, Kristopher Jansma, M. G. Vassanji and Elizabeth Nunez), writing classes and… well, that’s it.

What I mean by “that’s it” is there are no rows of computers (wifi is only available to members of the writer’s studio).  No plans to create a makerspace or purchase a 3D printer.  No databases.  Just an old-fashioned library, catering to the reading tastes of its members/patrons.

For some, that’s a bad thing.  Our profession does a great job of telling us what a library today should be, how we must keep up with the technological times.  And then there’s Terry Deary, saying that libraries should close (wonder what he thinks about a subscription library… people so committed to reading that they’re willing to pay an annual fee to belong, rather than “merely” support it via their taxes).

Curation mandate

The other day I was reading Where the Light Falls and this quote caught my eye:

Take my advice, Miss Palmer, and prune regularly.  Everything not indispensable is noxious, says Carolus. Applies to art as well as to life.

One could also add “and libraries” couldn’t one?

Joyce Valenza very kindly quoted from my last curation post in her recent Educon presentation (slides here), and she’s got great points to make about digital curation.  But what about curating physical objects, be they DVDs or books or technologies or even magazines?  Recently I was asked the question “why do we need school librarians?” and part of my response was all about curation.

Scholars are collectors: they see a book, might be tangential to their major topic of interest or dead on point, and they have to have it.  Just in case.  Miriam Burnstein’s This Week’s Acquisitions post highlights this quite nicely. Some schools have the same philosophy, and still tout their large collection size.  The question is: is it necessary? does it really help students find the information they need?  Librarians, with their knowledge of the curriculum not just for a class but both inside each department and across the departments, are ideally able to help curate the collection to reflect the best possible collection of resources for the school at that time.

Example? When I started at Hackley, we had books on the shelves that dated to the 1920s (not just copyright, purchased!).  Ordinarily I’d say “trash ‘em” but there was a project that started the 11th grade history class based on the Treaty of Versailles.  These books provided primary sources for this project, an invaluable resource for students.  There was reluctance to use them, because there was no index (shock! horror! they had to actually read the book to find the information) but also an acceptance that these were really helpful books.  Once the project ended, however, the books became less useful; thanks to Google’s scanning program, they’re now available online and don’t have to be put on a reserve cart.  One of the librarians I worked with was always reluctant to weed because there might – at some point – be a need for the book.

Sorry, but that’s not an acceptable answer any longer.  “Just in case” leads to many, many dusty books that clog shelves, obscuring the really valuable stuff that is needed now.  Think of when you’re go into a bookstore looking for a book on some topic, without a specific title or author in mind.  There’s no curation there, it’s a collection – an organized collection, but a collection just the same.  How do you know which book is the best? You flip through the offerings, evaluating the sentences and coverage, the layout, etc.. and then you choose something and hope that it’s the perfect book.  In a library with a curated collection, you know that someone has deliberately chosen selected resources that will give you the best information on the topic possible.

Which do you want your students to have access to?

Over the years, my thoughts on weeding/deaccessioning/curating have changed.  If a non-fiction book hasn’t circulated (and this includes In Library Uses – and if you’re not tracking those, start now because it’s an invaluable tool!) in 5-7 years, and it’s not a “classic” (eg, Darwin’s Origins of the Species or Campbell’s The Power of Myth) start looking for an update and ask the department if it’s really needed on your shelves.  Some departments want those books for their departmental library and that’s ok: let them have it.  Better them using it “if needed” than you keeping it when it’s not helping anyone.  Fiction? I’m giving it 3-5 years and then it can get sold or handed over to classroom libraries/favored readers.  That may give business managers fits, but in the 21st century we need to curate, not collect, in school libraries.

Not synonyms

I’m working on a project and one of the requirements is finding multicultural texts.  What worries me is that for some people, “multicultural” is code for “black” or “African-American”.  It shouldn’t be.

Multicultural, and the other word I hear tossed around in schools, “diversity” should be about a wide range of things.  Yes, there’s ethnicity and race to consider.  Religion? sure. A Palestinian Catholic does not have the same references as a Palestinian Muslim.  Ditto an Eastern European Jew and a Coptic Jew.  Or someone from Spain and someone from Guatemala. And within the narrower band of black/African-American, there are differences between North and South, rural and inner city, descended from slaves and immigrated willingly, etc.. So when we’re looking for books that are “multicultural” why do I so often hear about African-Americans?  Within the larger category of diversity, we also need to consider economic status, sexual orientation and learning issues. Yet again, I rarely hear those concerns and qualities when choosing diversity-related books.

I’ve also been wondering how multicultural a book is if the character is merely a different ethnicity, mentioned in passing.  What I mean is, what about the book that says, “my bestie comes from a Chinese family, but you’d never know if you go over because they don’t even have chopsticks” (ok, that’s a gross exaggeration, but you know what I mean – the cool ethnic twist is never really part of the book it’s just an aside tossed in to show that the author is showing a diversity of characters)?  That’s not really multicultural, in my opinion.

To be truly multicultural, the book should expose the reader to something outside their normal experience.  Granted, for an inner city reader, Little House on the Prairie is a multicultural experience. The question is, is that such a bad thing?  Shouldn’t the goal not be to represent another culture or group simply because it’s currently politically correct but because it opens up a world they wouldn’t necessarily be able to envision otherwise?

Minor Musings

Just in time for Winter Break!

Books, Reading, Etc.

• Publishing Personalities Advise on Designing the Bookshop of the Future. Some of this applies to libraries, too.
• We all love arguing with lists, so here are two from The Guardian (UK): 100 Greatest Fiction Books of All Time and 100 Greatest Non-Fiction Books of All Time.
• So cool – a map of Literary Manhattan.
• In addition to all the lists we usually see about Best Books, here are Granta’s Books I Read This Year lists and Bloomberg’s What High Profile Readers Like article.
• The rise of e-books means more than the loss of marginalia!
• Looking for a vacation timesuck? Storyverse.

School Life

• Critical thinking is important, right?  Here are six short films that may help teach why.  Then use Joyce’s post exploring Four Tools for Determining Web Cred.
• Parents always wonder/worry about internet safety.  These 26 Tips should help (or at least start a much needed conversation).

Tech Stuff

• Rapid Learning E-Tab in PowerPoint or explore these Online Presentation Tools.
• Thinking about on-line security? Tips on how to manage secure passwords.
• We all “know” about 1:1 programs – or do we?

The YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Finalists

I’ve been blogging about the process since last October (and there’s one more post to come) but until then, here are the finalists!

Thoughts from #ALA12 – learning sessions

With all my meetings, the time that I had to take advantage of the learning opportunities was slim.  That didn’t mean that I didn’t try my best to take advantage of what was there, though.

First, of course, was the session I did with the wonderful Ellysa Cahoy.  We explored “Online Personal Archiving”, talking about the need for us to think about what information we’re creating, what we’re consuming, what tools we’re using to save information and what information we really do need to save: