Collection Development & Selection Project

This is a two-part project due on April 21.

Part 1: Drafting a collection development policy for your model library

A collection development policy is the written statement of a plan to correct a collection's weaknesses while maintaining it's strengths; it provides details to guide library staff in building that collection.

A complete collection policy statement contains the following elements:

TITLE

A. Purpose
B. Scope
B.1 Languages
B.2 Geographical Areas
B.3 Chronological Guidelines
B.4 Dates of Publication
C. Types of Material
C.1 Treatment of Subject
C.2 Formats
D. Levels of Current Collecting Activity by Subject
E. Collecting Responsibility
F. Other Resources

Name of bibliographer and date.

Guidelines for Writing Collection Development Statements, a handout you received in class, should be used to help you develop the policy.

Part 2: Building the Collection

• Title, author or editor(s), date of publication and publisher. Write an annotation describing the contents of the item. Also describe WHY you would add this title to your collection. If you have read a review of this title provide the citation for it (optional).

• Be media blind. You may purchase titles in ANY format. Money is no object. If your selected title requires equipment, (i.e. a CD-ROM player, a video machine, etc.) state what type you must have on site to 'play' the title.

• Cost: don't worry about your total costs. You will be selecting a set number of titles in categories. HOWEVER, record the individual title cost and, when the task is completed, provide a cumulative total for all materials purchased.

*** Reference Collection ******

Select 4 reference titles

**** General Collection *******

Select 6 titles

***** Indexes and Abstract Collection*****

Select 3 titles

****** Journals/Magazines/Newspapers ********

Select 6 titles

NOTE: This project will be graded on its content, not its length. There is no prescribed length.