Innovative Approaches to Collection Development in Tough Economic Times

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(An Infopeople Online Learning Course)
January 6, 2009 - February 2, 2009

With disappearing budgets and increased workload it can be difficult to manage library materials in tight economic times. This course will help you analyze selection styles, understand new approaches to building collections, compare costs between print and electronic magazine subscriptions, and learn how discarding items makes fiscal sense.

  • Have you ever wondered how to reduce collection development staff time and costs?
  • Are you interested in maximizing your collection usage?
  • Do you have a magazine collection that needs weeding and don’t know where to start?
  • Are you unsure about transitioning from a print to electronic magazine format?
  • Would you like to know how to discard items and turn a profit at the same time?

If you are curious about the answers to these questions, then this workshop is for you!

Workshop Description: This four-week online learning course will provide participants with practical advice and guidelines for developing a strong materials collection. Through individual and group exercises you will explore issues about collection development that will provide better service and save staff time while extending your budget dollars. The instructor will provide sample plans, templates, handouts and useful tips that can be applied immediately.

During the course, you will be completing exercises and participating in online discussion forums as part of the online learning process.

Preliminary Course Outline: Using your web browser and your Internet connection, you will log in to the Infopeople online learning site and complete the following learning modules:

  • Module One: Selection Styles To Fit Your Library Budget
    • Centralized selection
    • Enhanced vendor services
    • Standing order plans
  • Module Two: Extend Your Budget With Shared Collections
    • Floating and rotating collections
  • Module Three: Reduce Your Print Periodicals In An Electronic Age
    • How to build a core collection
    • Why offer both formats
    • When reduction is necessary
  • Module Four: Discard For Dollars
    • Why it’s important to weed collections
    • When selling library discards makes fiscal sense
    • How do non-profit centers offer a valuable alternative

Online Learning Details:
This four-week course will be taught online using the web. When you register, you will receive a registration confirmation that will include the URL to get to the course, as well as a username and password.

Every student proceeds through the online learning modules at his or her own pace. Students should expect to commit to spending a minimum of 2 to 2½ hours per week on this course in order to be successful. You can work on each module at your own pace, at any hour of the day or night. However, you will be expected to log in to the course each week to do that week's assignment. We ask that you log in sometime during the first week of the course to begin the course work.

Your instructor will be available for limited consultation support for two weeks after the official end date of a course, and the course material will stay up for an additional two weeks after that, to give those who have fallen behind time to work independently on the course. However, you will be expected to accomplish the majority of the course in synchronization with your peers during the first four weeks.

Who Should Take This Course: This course is suitable for anyone from the library community with an interest in building strong collections. This workshop is appropriate for any staff in public or school libraries.

Prerequisites:
This course is taught over the web. You must:

  • Be able to save Microsoft Word .doc or Adobe .pdf files to your computer and print them out. (For .doc files, a free Word Viewer is available at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en. Search for "Word Viewer." For .pdf files, a free Adobe Acrobat Reader is available at http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/main.html).
  • Be comfortable navigating on the web and navigating back and forward on a website that uses frames.
  • To be most successful in this course you should be willing to share information with your colleagues and be willing to spend time reading and participating in the weekly discussion boards.

System Requirements: The online learning product that Infopeople uses is called Angel. The following are minimum system requirements for using Angel. You will need access to a computer that has at least these specifications to participate in an online course:

  • Windows:
    • Microsoft Windows XP or Microsoft Windows Vista
    • Internet Explorer 7.0 and above, Mozilla Firefox 2.0 and above
    • Phishing Filter disabled (IE 7)
  • Macintosh:
    • OS X and above (OS 9 will NOT work with our online learning product)
    • Mozilla Firefox 2.0 and above, Safari 2.0 and above
  • General

If you are not comfortable with any of the above, please consider taking this course with a colleague who does meet these requirements.

Fee: $75 for those in the California library community and $150 for those out-of-state.

Course Start: This 4-week-long online learning course starts on January 6, 2009.

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Available for contracting: 
No