Philosophy and Practice of Collection Development in Western Research Libraries

Anthony FergusonUniversity of Hong Kong

University of Hong Kong Libraries Fact Sheet

Publicly supported university established by British in 1911

Original purpose: educate local people in Western ways for Colonial government/business

Budget (HK$) - $70.2 M staff - $87.4 M content Content - $64 M serials - $23.4 M monographs - 2.4 M volumes Added last year + 98,000 volumes

於 1911 由英國人成立的市立大學

最初建校目的 : 以西方教育 , 培養華人為殖民地政府和商業社會服務

經費 ( 美金 $) - $70.2 M 職員 - $87.4 M 購書經費

購書經費分配 - $64 M 期刊 - $23.4 M 書本 - 2.4 M 藏書

去年增添 - 98,000 冊

2006: The year in which we add our millionth e book

Leased 50,439

Ow n 1,019,983

Digitized Ourselves 15,957

To be delivered/ow ned 84,709 62%

38%

English

Chinese

Language BreakdownOwnership Breakdown

English 英

Chinese中

Leased 50,439 長期訂閱

Own 1,019,983 永久館藏

Digitized Ourselves 15,957自行電子化

To be delivered/owned 84,709 即將加入館藏

Today I would like to discuss

Philosophy and practice of collection building in Western academic Libraries today.

Philosophy and practice of collection building in this new web era.

館藏發展在西方大學圖書館的理念和實踐

館藏發展在網絡新紀元的理念和實踐

Philosophical Foundation of Collection Building: Decide

For whom are we building our collections?1.University Administrators?2.The unknown patron?3.The known patron?

為誰發展館藏

1. 大學行政人員 ?

2. 不認識的讀者

3. 認識的讀者

It Makes A Difference

Administrators: Sometimes focus

on status and number of volumes and the size of library buildings.

Less attention paid to the quality of the collection.

執行者 : 或會把重點放在圖書

館地位 , 藏書量及館舍大小 , 相對忽視藏書質素

It Makes A Difference!

Librarians seem to want to

build the perfect collection even if no one wants it or uses it.

But,perfect collections

can be very large & to do so is OK only

if you are the national library or have their budget.

圖書館員大都希望建立一個完美的館藏 , 縱使沒有真正的需要

然而 完美館藏是一個龐然大

物

只能是國家圖書館或有龐大的經費才可擁有完美館藏

It Makes A Difference

Focusing on the known user can limit the boundaries of what is or is not bought, but

what does the silent majority want?

Buying for what users want is great in theory but difficult in practice.

把焦點集中在已知讀者 , 可控制採購範圍 ,但

沉默大多數的需要是什麽 ?

依據讀者的需要來採購 , 切中理論 , 但實行困難

What seems to be happening in practice?

To find the answer I looked at five

standard collection development textbooks, and

examined online collection development policy statements for five of the 10 largest academic libraries in North America.

我透過下列方法去找答案

查看五本館藏發展的標準教科書

從互聯網上查考五所屬全美十大的大學圖書館的館藏發展政策

What is a collection development policy

statement? “A written collection

development policy is an important tool for guiding all activities related to planning, budgeting, selecting, and acquiring library materials.” Spiller

“No library can be effective without a policy, which sets out aims and objectives, identifies user groups and services, and indicates priorities amongst them.” Magrill.

“書面訂立的館藏發展政策很重要 , 它指引所有圖書採購的活動 , 包括計劃、經費預算、選擇及購買圖書” Spiller

“館藏發展政策制訂館藏宗旨和目標 , 確認讀者羣及他們需要的服務 , 以及標示指服務的優先次序” McGrill

The textbooks and web pages both indicated that librarians considered:

1. Qualitative factors

2. User needs factors

3. Cost factors

1. 質量2. 讀者需要3. 成本

Qualitative Factors

Qualitative Factors Textbooks

Web Page

Accuracy/bias 準確度 / 偏見 YES YES

Authority of creators作者的權威性

YES YES

Depth of treatment 處理的深度

YES YES

Physical quality 外在質量 YES YES

Readability 可閱讀性 YES YES

Book Reviews 書評 YES NO

Special features 特色 YES NO

Timeliness 時間性 YES YES

User Needs FactorsNeeds Factors Textbook Web pageChronological focus 聚焦時序排烈 NO YES

Collection strengths 館藏書強項 YES YES

Collection weakness 館藏書弱項 YES YES

Country of origin 來源地 NO YES

Format 形式 YES YES

Geographic coverage 地理覆蓋 YES YES

Imprint date 編印日期 YES YES

Language 語言 YES YES

User needs statistics 讀者需要的數據 YES YES

Topic/subject 題目 / 學科 YES YES

User type 讀者類別 YES YES

Cost Factors

Cost Factors Textbook Web Page

Bibliographic accessibility 書目資料提供

YES YES

Budget 經費 YES YES

Duplication 複本 YES YES

Other libraries own 其它圖書館藏否

YES YES

Price/cost of item 價錢 / 項目成本

YES YES

Other Factors

1. Collection development staffing including librarians and teachers.

2. Collection space.

1. 館藏發展的隊伍包括 圖書館員和教師

2. 藏書空間

Staffing Issues

Faculty at large research libraries don’t have time to do selection.

Outsourcing collection development staffing to approval plan vendors.

Limited use of non librarian specialists.

大學教師很忙 , 難抽空去選書

將館藏發展工作以預選書計劃外判給書籍供應商

有限度地使用非圖書館專業人員

Space Issues

Lack of space discourages collection building.

Universities seem to solve problems and seldom if ever want to prevent them.

There is a revival in North American new library construction.

空間有限 ,阻礙圖書入藏

大學難去解決問題 , 和很少阻礙問題發生

北美圖書館的新建築有復甦的情况

The Future:

One foot in the past, the other in the future, straddling the present.

雙足橫跨現在 : 一腳植根過去 一腳踏向未來

What is different from the past?

They mostly buy collections of electronic monographs and serials, not individual titles.

They mostly buy these collections in collaboration with others, not by themselves.

They collaborate at the point of purchase not after purchase.

以採購電子圖書及期刊為主 ,而不是印刷本

電子資料庫以聯合採購為主 ,較少一館獨力購買

在採購時各館已合作 , 而非在採購後

What is different from the past?

Space as it affects collection building is different: they have to include ongoing access and/or memory costs within their collection development decisions.

They have to spend as much or more than before building collections even though the per unit costs are less.

空間影響館藏發展決定 , 包括館藏的長遠使用及歷史成本

採購費用在整體上增加 ,每本書的平均費用則下調

What is different from the past?

Librarians play a much larger, more direct role in collection building than in the past.

Direct collection development related interaction with publishers, especially for electronic serials, is much more pronounced in the electronic era than it was for printed journals.

圖書館員在館藏發展方面擔任愈來愈重要的角色

在電子時代 , 館藏發展會和出版商有更多的互動 , 特別是電子期刋

What is different from the past?

Collection development staffing is more complicated than in the past. We need, in addition to subject specialists, people skilled in license negotiation and copyright matters.

The need for full text over shadows all other collection development concerns like whether a journal indexed in a major indexing and abstracting service.

館藏發展成員較前複雜 ,除學科專才 ,尚要專人負責合約談判及版權事宜

更重全文檢索 , 而不單是索引及摘要檢索

What is different from the past?

They have much more useful circulation data that could be used for collection development purposes .

But, because they buy at the collection level, they cannot put it to full use.

有更多流通 /借閱的數據作館藏發展的參考

但採購以庋藏為主 , 不會全面使用

What is still the same?

Building for the known user is the goal.

Knowledge of collection strengths and weaknesses important.

Knowledge of user community important.

Money is critical. Information about

producers critical. Information about

what is to be purchased important.

為館內讀者發展藏書作目標

認識館藏的強弱

着重了解讀者羣 經費有重大影響力 必需掌握供應商 /生產

商的資料 需要知道購買的什麼們

Thanks for your kind attention!

Come to our Millionth Book Celebration in Hong Kong: September 21-22.

歡迎２○○６年９月21-22 日出席香港大學圖書館 ,百萬冊電子書慶典