From Collection Development to Content Development: Organization and Staffing for the 21st Century

FROM COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT TO CONTENT DEVELOPMENT: ORGANIZATION AND STAFFING FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

Lea Currie and Sara E. Morris

University of Kansas

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS ENVIRONMENT

• New Chancellor & New Provost

• New Campus objectives

• Increase KU’s research output & overall reputation

• Decrease campus expenses

• Business practices= “Changing for Excellence”

• Strategic Plan = “Bold Aspirations”

“BOLD ASPIRATIONS”

• Energizing the educational environment

• Elevating doctoral education

• Driving discovery and innovation

• Engaging scholarship for public impact

• Developing excellence in people

• Developing infrastructure and resources

KU LIBRARIES RESPONSE: “STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS”

• Integrate information literacy, research skills, and information resources into the curriculum to enhance critical thinking, academic success, and lifelong learning

• Advance scholarship through proactive engagement in research and scholarly communication

• Strengthen KU Libraries’ position as an agile responsive organization capable of continual improvement and change

• Stabilize and grow existing funding sources, secure new funding opportunities, and enhance public accountability

SUBJECT EXPERTISE VS GENERALISTS

• For over 30 years, KU had operated with a system of subject bibliographers

• The new model abandoned this idea by assuming that generalists could answer reference questions

• The majority of collections decisions did not always require subject expertise

• This is true for disciplines that are dependent on journal packages and approval plans

• A blanket collection development approach might work for the social sciences

• Some areas require subject knowledge that a generalist cannot provide

COMMON RESPONSIBILITIES FOR CONTENT DEVELOPMENT

Monitor the changing nature of collections

• The changing practice of scholarly communication in all disciplines

• The changing nature of higher education and programs at KU

• Trends within the field of collection development

• New formats of scholarly products

Collection Decisions

• Maintain awareness of curricular programs

• Monitor new faculty and research hires

• Manage approval plans

• Manage firm orders

• Select resources in all formats and platforms

• Consider scholarly communication patterns

COMMON RESPONSIBILITIES

• Collection maintenance

• Collaborate with other library units and centers

• Manage gifts by working with patrons to accept and review

• Provide specialized instruction

• Provide consultation services

• Participate in collaborative collection development projects

ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN

• Environmental Scan

• Understanding KU

• Understanding changing research habits and informational needs

• Collections to content

• Collection to User Focus

• Flexibility and agility in providing materials

• Not just focused on new materials

• WEST

• Retention and Storage

SUBJECT EXPERTISE

• World History

• Largest firm order fund

• Knowledge of publishers worldwide

• Western European languages

• Knowledge of ancient, medieval, Renaissance, and modern

• Visual Arts and History of Art

• European and Asian art

• Architecture

• Language proficiency (French, Italian, German, Dutch)

• Knowledge of European and Asian publishers and out-of-print providers

• Exhibition catalogs and catalog raisonnes

SUBJECT EXPERTISE

• English Literature• Knowledge of comparative literature, literature in translation, literary criticism,

poetry, and works of fiction

• Knowledge of small presses and publishers worldwide

• Language Proficiency – need French, German, Italian, and Dutch to purchase materials in the humanities

• Performing Arts• Emphasis on music

• Familiar with vendors who sell books, serials, DVD’s, CD’s, scores, streaming video and music, monumental sets, and play scripts

• Knowledge of older and contemporary composers

• Knowledge of musicology, music theory, performance, and history

OUTCOMES AND THE FUTURE

• Overall, collection development is more focused

• Make decisions easily and quickly

• Do not have to build the consensus of 30 plus people

• Acquisitions staff is not having to answer to 30 plus people

• The Provost approved the hiring of a new Visual Arts Librarian and a new Performing Arts Librarian

• The Head of Content Development has received collection development training in these areas to cover in the interim

OUTCOMES AND THE FUTURE

• Unknown future for World History and English Literature

• Smaller allocation for history?

• More materials set to come on approval

• New African Studies librarian can possibly help?

Most of our work today is deciding what materials we can afford to retain and what we must cancel

QUESTIONS ?

Lea Currie

lucrrie@ku.edu

Sara E. Morris

semorris@ku.edu