Germanists Discussion Group Agenda – 2016 Annual

ALA Annual Meeting, Orlando

Sunday, June 26, 2016
1:00 – 2:30pm
Hilton, Florida Ballroom 3


Convener

  • Michael Printy and Brian Vetruba, Germanists Discussion Group Co-conveners
  • Heidi Madden and Kristen Totleben, Romance Languages Discussion Group Co-conveners

Agenda

Following Sarah Tudesco’s presentation at Midwinter 2016 on assessment of foreign language materials at Yale, we will continue our discussion about assessment of collections. For background, see Sarah’s presentation and the minutes from the Midwinter’s meeting.

I. Introductions and Announcements, Brian Vetruba (5 mins.)

II. Discussion Topic: “Dive into the Data, Part Two: Collections Assessment at our own Libraries” (45 mins.)

  • Collections Assessment at Your Library
    • Questions:
      • As a subject librarian, how do you gather or interpret usage or circulation data? How often and in what ways?
      • How are decisions made as far as actions on assessment data (i.e. de-selection, cutting, adding funds to underdeveloped collections, etc?
      • Do you look at circulation data to tweak approval plans?
      • How does non-metric (qualitative) assessment factor in?
  • Communicating Usage and Circulation Data
    • Questions:
      • How do you communicate collections data to administrators?
      • How do you communicate this data to faculty?
      • Are administrators cognizant of the particulars regarding foreign language collections (e.g. smaller number of potential users than for English collections)?
      • Are there best practices? Are there approaches that have worked or ones that haven’t?

III. 2017 Frankfurt Symposium – Update and Discussion, Heidi Madden (30 mins.)

IV. Being a Convener: the Hows, Whats, Getting Help; Discussion Topic Ideas for Future Meetings (Brian, Heidi, Kristen lead) (10 mins.)