Category: Collections

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Collections Programming Wildcard Wednesdays

Poetry from the Stacks

Earlier this year, I attended the ACRL Instruction Section Virtual Engagement Committee’s lightning round presentation: Engaging Students in Library Instruction – Experimentation and Innovation. Stefanie Hilles’ portion of the webinar – Engaging College Students in the Library through Serendipitous Browsing: A Creative Exploration – caught my fancy. She took inspiration from Nina Katchadourian’s Sorted Book series to create an activity engaging students with her library’s print collection.  

Our library recently completed a collection overhaul, transforming our stacks from overstuffed shelves crowded with faded titles to a sleeker, fresher look. We want students to browse, so for our summer book display, I asked library staff to create book spine poems of their own. The submissions ranged from ironic

Book spines stacked to read: The end of ice/ flames in our forest/ nothing to see here/ making the most of your money now.

to lyrical

Books stacked to read: the weaving explorer/ star gazer/ carve/ diamonds/ into the abyss/ creating their own image/ the glass universe.

to celebratory.

Books stacked to read: The best place to work/ the midnight library/ rereading childhood books/ banned books/ books for a living/ picture books for children/ heaven.

The poems are on display now, along with a sign encouraging students to make their own. 

So far we haven’t gotten any takers – it’s been a slow start to the summer – but I’m hopeful that some students will try their hands at book spine poetry. If not, maybe we’ll try the display again during a higher traffic part of the year!  

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Collections

Updating Your Collection… While Updating Your Staff

A while ago, I wrote about starting a major collection review in my library after the staff members in charge of acquisitions departed. Our review has revealed a lot of (sometimes amusingly, sometimes alarmingly) outdated materials. One highlight was a book on the potential of a hot new website… MySpace.

As satisfying as it is to dig into a big project, I don’t want to find myself in this situation again ten years from now, or leave a similar mess for my predecessor. Our library needs a more structured collection development plan, including a plan for weeding. This is complicated by our reliance on part-time positions – I am the only full-time librarian with collection development responsibilities, supported by a group of PT librarians that has seen significant turnover since I started this position. A liaison model where everyone claims an area of expertise isn’t sustainable in this situation – what happens when a PT librarian departs?

I put out a call on ALA Connect to see if anyone else had solutions to this conundrum. Here are a few suggestions I received:

A librarian from a larger community college than mine has been able to use a liaison model, with specific librarians claiming multiple areas. They also receive purchase suggestions from thier book jobber GOBI based on their library’s profile. However, they don’t have a set schedule for weeding or selection, and both can fall to the wayside when the library gets busy.

A different tactic shared with me was a weeding cycle where all the librarians worked on the same call number section (in this case using LoC classification), with the cycle lasting a total of eight years. Sections where publication date is critical, such as medical information, have a shorter four year cycle. Focusing on one section at a time means the plan is not impacted by staff turnover.

A third library had also found themselves with a collection where weeding had been neglected due to the college’s small size and limited staff time. Their approach was to develop a weeding schedule that aligned with their disciplines’ five year review cycle. That way, faculty would be thinking about their program’s needs at the same time, and the librarians could build collection updating into the review feedback process.

There are some good ideas here, and I’d love to hear more. How do you approach collection development and maintenance at your college?

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Collections Events Leadership Research

Upcoming Events about Community College Libraries

CJCLS Section Events

Diversity & Collection Development – Friday, March 18, 2022 from 2-3pm ET

Coffee & Conversations: Accessibility in OER – Monday, April 4, 2022 from 1-2pm ET

Ithaka S+R Events

Join an upcoming virtual convening organized by Ithaka S+R.

Learn more and register: Conversations on Community College Library Strategy and Collaboration

  • Emergency and emerging technology programs at community college libraries – Tuesday, March 22, 2-3pm, ET
  • “When in doubt, go to the library”: Navigating the community college ecosystem – Tuesday, April 5, 2022 from 2-3pm, ET
  • Assessing the evolution of community college library mission – Tuesday, April 19, 2022 from 2-3pm, ET
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Collections Instruction Outreach Presentations Resources

Conference Time is Almost upon us

acrl-2017

By Alyse McKeal

Are you heading to Baltimore, Maryland next month for the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Conference?  There’s quite a diverse selection of presentations, programs, papers, panels, contributed posters and much more geared towards junior and community college librarians and libraries! Here is a sampling of the offerings. (This is by no means a comprehensive list.)

Are you heading to Baltimore, Maryland next month for the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Conference?  There’s quite a diverse selection of presentations, programs, papers, panels, contributed posters and much more geared towards junior and community college librarians and libraries! Here is a sampling of the offerings. (This is by no means a comprehensive list.)

Fostering Diversity Through the Human Library (Poster Session)

Maximizing the Impact of the In-Person One-Shot: The Case for Targeted Library Instruction Outreach in Community Colleges (Contributed Paper)

Next-Gen Collection Policies: Developing Templates to Aid Collection Managers (Round Table Discussion)

If You Build It, Will They Come: Re-Framing Your Instruction Program (W0rkshop)

Steering Change in Liaisonship: A Reverse Engineering Approach (Contributed Paper)

The Coach in the Library: Coaching Undergraduates to Academic Success Through a Diversity and Inclusion Library Coach Program (Poster Session)

Scaffolding the Framework: Bridging the Gap Between 2-Year and 4-Year Institutions (Roundtable Discussion)

Confessions of a Teaching Librarian: Teaching Anxiety, Growth Mindset, and Resilience for Library Instructors (Roundtable Discussion)

Applying the Framework to an Online Credit-Bearing Information Literacy Course (Poster Session)

What’s Social Justice Got to do with Information Literacy (Panel Presentation)

Reclaiming Knowledge as a Public Good: Librarians Leading Campus OER Initiatives (Panel Session)

Pathway to Your Future: Roadmaps for Community College Student (Chair’s Choice Invited Program)

Casting a Wide Net: Assessment Strategies Community College Libraries Use to Stay Afloat (Panel Session)

Evolving Evidence-Based Practice: The ACRL Information Literacy Framework in Action (Roundtable Discussion)

Tending the Garden: Sharing Projects that Strengthen Communities within the Academic Library (Roundtable Discussion)

Going O’ER: Using Open Resources as the Path to New Pedagogy and Information Literacy (Panel Session)

Exploring Evidence-Based Approaches to Using the ACRL Threshold Concepts (Roundtable Discussion)

IT Security and Privacy in Today’s Connected Library (Panel Presentation)

Anchoring Instruction Through Design: Creating a Team with Diverse Skills to Transform our Process (Contributed Paper)

Diversity, Change, and its Discontents: The Role of the Library in Campus LGBTQ Transformation Efforts (Invited Paper)

From Request to Assess: Using Cloud-Based Tools for the Library Instruction Life Cycle (Poster Session)

Taking a Different Tack: Adapting First-Year Information Literacy Instruction to the Online Environment (Panel Session)

Using the Framework to Frame: Cataloging Policy and Practice as Seen Through the Lens of the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (Contributed Paper)

Every Day is a Winding Road – or Our Long Circuitous Journey to Assessment (Poster Session)

Open Educational Resources: It’s Time for Libraries to Take the Plunge (Contributed Paper)

Consortial eBook Purchasing for the Rest of Us (Contributed Paper)

Turning Lemonade into a LibGuide (Chair’s Choice Invited Program)

Diversifying the Academy: Librarians Coaching Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellows Through the Scholarly Research Cycle (Poster Session)

Does ProQuest Research Companion Improve Community College Student Information Literacy Competency? (Poster Session)

If possible, take advantage of the discounted, advance registration rates and register by February 10th! Enjoy the ACRL Conference and Baltimore.  We hope to see you there!

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Collections Marketing

Presidential Reads

Presidential Reads

by Lindsay Davis

Earlier this week on the CJCLS Blog, we shared some statistics related to reading habits of Americans and asked how you promote reading in your community and junior colleges. President Obama’s summer reading lists and song playlists have been popular over the years. These lists might make for an interesting book display or content to share on library social media pages.

Check out this list of all the books the President has recommended while in office, “Every book Barack Obama has recommended during his presidency.” A few days ago, The New York Times published “Obama’s Secret to Surviving the White House Years: Books,” which offers a look into the impact reading has made on the President’s life. You may also be interested in reading “President Obama’s Reading List.”

Powell’s Books has put together a “Presidential Reading List” for President Obama and President-Elect Trump. What might you add? Let us know in the comments.

And for those of you who may be wondering about the reading habits of former presidents, we have you covered. In 2014, Buzzfeed put together “The Favorite Books of All 44 Presidents.” Also in 2014, Business Insider shared “8 Fascinating Stories About Presidents and their Favorite Books.”

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Collections Programming

Global Literature in Libraries Initiative

Global Literature in Libraries Initiative

By Lindsay Davis

The #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign isn’t just for school libraries or public libraries. Community college, college, and university libraries also need diverse books. When I attended the National Diversity in Libraries Conference, I attended a great lightning round program, Academic Libraries Spearheading Diversity and Cultural Initiatives on University Campuses. In that program, the University of Cincinnati Libraries discussed their Reading Around the World book club.

What is your community college or community college library doing to highlight materials from other parts of the world? Do you have a collection of translated works from your international students’ home countries? Do you have a book club focusing on books from around the globe? How do you learn about books from other countries?

The Global Literature in Libraries Initiative (GLLI), newly founded by Rachel Hildebrandt, works to raise awareness of world literature:

…for adults and children at the local, national and international levels. We intend to do so by facilitating close and direct collaboration between translators, librarians, publishers, editors, and educators, because we believe that these groups in collaboration are uniquely positioned to help libraries provide support and events to engage readers of all ages in a library framework that explores and celebrates literature from around the world.

We want to increase the visibility of international works in English translation so that more readers can enjoy the amazing diversity in these books and the perspectives they present. And we would like to do this by increasing cooperation between literary translators, international literature advocates, and librarians, who are already experts at guiding readers to new titles. Whether you are a children’s librarian or a YA blogger, a rural library director or a teacher at a large urban school with a diverse student population, we would welcome your insights as we explore collaborative opportunities to encourage readers to explore beyond the boundaries of their own culture and language.

Goals & Projects:

  • Book lists and guides tied to major translation awards and library themes

  • Programming ideas for various library user groups: children, teens, college students, adults, English Language Learners, etc.

  • ALA conference involvement: workshops and sessions, networking through various ALA units and offices to explore the best ways to provide information and services to librarians

  • Joint webinars with various ALA offices

  • Publisher and journal lists organized by vendors/distributors to help librarians more easily acquire books in translation

  • Advocacy on behalf of small publishers to increase their visibility on the review platforms that librarians commonly use for their acquisitions decisions

  • General education efforts to help librarians understand more thoroughly the value of translated literature and of contemporary foreign-language literature

  • Pan-publisher catalogs crafted specifically for librarian users, as a form of “one-stop” shopping to learn about new works coming out in translation

  • Exploration of ways in which non-US publishers of English translations and non-US, non-English-language publishers can more easily promote their works among libraries (Global Literature in Libraries, “About,” 2016)

If you would like to get involved with GLLI, please contact Rachel Hildebrandt at rehildebrandt@gmail.com. GLLI also have a Facebook group, which you can find here.