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6-2005 Training New Acquisitions and Collection Development Librarians: Some Technical and Philosophical Guideposts Antje Mays Winthrop University, [email protected]
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Publisher Citation Mays, Antje. “Training New Acquisitions and Collection Development Librarians: Some Technical and Philosophical Guideposts”. Against the Grain, vol.17:no.3 (June 2005), pp.38-41. Special issue on training and mentoring new librarians.
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Ida Jane Dacus Library at Digital Commons @ Winthrop University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dacus Library Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Winthrop University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Training New Acq1UI.isifions anJ CoRRection JDevelio]p>men£ Lil6rariansg Some Technical anJ Philioso]p>hicali G1UI.iJe]p>os£s by Antj e Mays (Head of Monograph & AV Acquisitions, Winthrop University, Rock Hill, South Carolina)
I. Coming into the field Some Best Practices For Training Acquisitions L ibrarians Coming into acquisitions/collection development is an exciting time Since new librarians come with varying degrees of prior knowledge for newly minted librarians and librarians switching from other areas and initiative, the amount of in-depth time and hands-on train ing should alike. Acquisitions and collection development are the hub where edu be tailored to the new librarian's pre-existing knowledge and learning cation, cwTiculum analysis, needs assessment, business, and technology style. Training acquisitions librarians entails showing them the way ini come together, combining the business and intellectual worlds. To suc tially by introducing them to the library's workflow, giving them a feel ceed, acquisitions and collection development librarians must be able to for the library's vendor base, and encouraging them to meet with other interact with a vast variety of people with differing perspectives and work areas' staff to get a sense of how the functions and workflow interrelate styles, organize and complete multiple projects on time and on budget, library-wide. It is a challenge to teach workflow organization and project pace purchasing within the fiscal-year calendar, have a good grasp of management, and it is equally difficult to instill the sense of fairness users' needs and interest, and - in the academic setting - understand needed to be an effective and impartial supervisor. Before hiring new the programs being supported and stay ahead of programs' creation, ex acquisitions librarians it is a good idea to ask them about their manage pansion, changes, certification, and (re)accreditation. ment style/philosophy. Many people enter Librarianship with a broad mix of prior experi A crucial part of bringing someone on board is reviewing the fund ence. The new librarians may come into acquisitions/collection devel structure, financial reporting, and acquisitions system, as well as opment right out of graduate school with little or no prior work experi making the new librarian aware of important dates such as ordering ence, or they may come from other areas of librarianship. Some make deadlines, program review/accreditation calendars, recurring reports the transition from acquisitions support staff. There are those who come and their due dates, and calendar of staff-evaluation due dates. A to librarianship with experience from a broad range of other fields. Some complete departmental procedures manual for the new librarian to incoming acquisitions/collection development librarians have experience study is another excellent introduction to all the organization-spe with supervision, accounting, marketing, vendor relations, customer ser cific aspects that the new librarian will need to learn. This type of vice, and systems/e-business tools; others do not. While all new acquisi documentation provides an in-depth in troduction to the organization tions and collection development librarians have the fou ndation of the specific workflow, shows how the acquisitions system is used, and professional degree, graduate programs in librarianship differ in empha other specifics. The manual serves as an excellent tutoria l for the sis on thc01y and practice. Some students will choose theoretical courses librarian to refer to at any ti me, and the new person can study it in a as their electives while others will choose independent studies or a pro self-paced manner while taking on the actual work. In tandem with fessional internship for the elective library-course credits. As a result, no providing new acquisitions librarians with documentation on depart two new librarians' experiences are alike, and training needs for acquisi mental workflow, it is equally important to be avai lable as a resource tions and collection development librarians vary greatly as a result of person for any follow-up questions. A new librarian will inevitably these differences. need further clarification of anything that is commonly understood A certain degree of autonomy and judgment is expected at the in-house but not necessari ly fa miliar to an incoming new person. Of professional level. The urge to guide a new librarian's every step can ten, new ideas will arise from internalizing the documented proce be very tempting, but doing so can also stifle the new librarian's dures and engaging in the departmental work. New acquisitions li growth. Especially in the beginning, it is important to refrain from brarians should also be encouraged to obtain specific hands-on pulling them into too many competing directions lest they become information from their support sta ff who are the closest to certain discouraged. It is better to assess the new librarian's work by out tasks. The mix of initially sharing deadlines and organizational spe comes in clearly defined task areas. Balance is best achieved by show cifics, procedures documentation, a climate of continued openness, ing the new librarians the way initially and then being available as a and being accessible as a resource person for follow-up information resource person in areas such as specifics about the library system, is immensely helpful as the new librarians make the organization's specific organizational history about academic programs and vendor aspects, deadlines, and needs their own. relationships, but giving them enough space to grow and develop their own style. Training should be focused on skills such as techni III. W hat Collection Development L ibrarians cal expertise and specific aspects of the organi zati on 's needs; Need For Success mentoring should be geared toward the librarian's long-term profes There are two types of collection development librarians: ( 1) the di sional growth. rector of collection development who oversees collection development II. W hat Acquisitions Librarians Need For Success for the entire library (or all libraries within a large system of specialized and/or regional libraries), and (2) the subject specialist whose role is It is crucial for acquisitions librarians to understand busi ness func collecting in specific subject areas. Collection development directors tions. Rurming an acquisitions department is very similar to managing a must understand the institution's intellectual, technological, budgetary, corporate purchasing department. In today's automated environment, ac and political big picture. They should have an innate abi lity to un quisitions librarians also need to be technology-savvy and have the ca derstand the spectrum of knowledge taught by the university and pacity to learn the library's acquisitions system functions and its data should be able to build relationships and open communication lines analysis capabilities; w1derstanding e-business tools is also helpful for with the rest of the university to know when programs are changing speeding up purchasing and invoicing transactions. Acquisitions librar and/or coming up for (re)accreditation. This person should have broad ians generally supervise other personnel. The best temperament for suc strateg ic-planning skills and flexible leadership ability to work cess in acquisitions is an innate sense of time and knowing how to orga collaboratively with the many other library areas and constituencies nize workfl ow to maximize efficiency and timeliness. Fairness, outside of the library. Subject specialists need the ability to work impartiality, and ability to delegate are needed to be a good supervisor closely with a teaching unit in a ll ways in order to stay abreast of the rather than a micromanager. Finally, negotiating and other social skills programs' ongoing development and transformation. are needed for dealing with vendors, library constituencies, and prepar ing RFPs for bids. continued 011 page 40
38 Against the Grain I June 2005
40 Against the Grain I June 2005
Part I: Introduction and Discussion ing the future of the functions represented in ten invoicing and payment), or a state-wide sys the acquisitions process. The fourth assump tem or consortium that even places these fimc Acquisitions departments are often located tion is that this article will lay out issues and tions in different cities or states. in technical services, but sometimes other mod els prevail. Acquisitions can be part of a single ways of thinking about the organization and not Technology has enabled some of the above supply answers. Those issues are best resolved technical services mlit or an independent unit scenarios to come into existence, but technol side by side with other milts in technical ser by the individual organization. The questions ogy has also driven changes. Regardless of the vices; part of a collection development w1it that and chart at the end of this discus- ideal that technology is a tool and not is also under technical services; part of a col sion can aid library staff in deter a driver, this is not always the case. lection development unit that is part of public mining where acquisitions is best There are times when the incorpora- services; part of an administrative Wlit in the suited within the organization in tion of technology leads to library that is responsible for all purchases for order to achieve the library's goals. natural and logical changes collections, operations, etc.; or paired with an There are some long-standing that affect the optimum or administrative unit handling ordering and/or fi factors that affect how acquisi ganizational model, but nances for the central organization. What fac tions fits into the Library's or there are times when tors contribute to the evolution of acquisitions' ganizational structure. One technology drives place in a library organization and what are the is size. If an organization is changes. Some can be pros and cons of these various arrangements? small enough, one person less desirable, resulting may be handling acquisitions from the lirnitsofcurrent To begin, there are some assumptions inher ent in this article. The first is that the acquisi among other duties, e.g., technology, and some other types of purchasing can reflect the use of tions function encompasses the processes of (equipment, supplies), cata ordering, receiving, and paying for library in technology for political formation in multiple formats. The second is loging, etc., although in most cases, reasons. These also affect the that when an organization chart is created, that this person is likely to be at a paraprofessional organizational model. organization chart represents a decision regard or clerical level and not making collection de Library automation systems, for example, velopment decisions. In a larger organization, ing where acquisitions best fits within the for have tended to drive certain activities to the mal structure of the organization. That, in tum, however, where each person becomes more of "front end" of the teclmical services process, implies a single relationship; however, while a specialist, the question of placing acquisitions such as downloading records from a biblio that relationship reflects a decision regarding in a stru cture is more of an issue. graphic utility. This used to be the responsibil the primary or the most important relationship Geography is a similar factor. In a smaller ity of catalogers, wbo chose tbe correct record in that organization, it is not exclusive. Second library, everyone tends to be closer together or at least the record they thought most fit the ary relationships and synergies are possible and physically, facilitating conununication between library's circumstances. Now, that decision falls can be reflected through "dotted" lines on the acquisitions and other areas, such as collection to acquisitions and the cataloging function chart or may be understood tacitly, with no development, cataloging, or processing. In merely makes decisions about overlaying when physical line on the formal chart. The third as larger libraries, however, these functions may the record chosen by acquisitions is detennined sumption is that the library has a strategic plan be on different floors or even in different build to be less desirable than another one that is now for the organization before a fom1al organiza ings, especially if branches are involved. There available. This was one of the early effects of tion chart is structured. Part of that plan in can be a central purchasing unit that handles all integrated library systems, which made it more volves acquisitions and cun·ent decisions regard- or some aspects ofthe acquisitions function (of- continued on page 44
share with them how acquisitions and collection development intenelate Training New Acquisitions and Collection ... - both administratively and philosophically. ln time, the new librarians jiwn page 40 will gain a larger-scale perspective and their grasp of the technical and philosoph.ical elements will become second nature. 4. The preferred ratio of serials vs. monographs in each area, depending on where each discipline's cutting-edge research Long-term growth can be encouraged in a variety of ways. Whether tends to be published: there is a formal mentoring arrangement or simply infonnal exchanges between "jtmior" and "senior" colleagues, exposing the new librarian to For example, in the physical sciences a high per the organizational community, pointing them toward publishing, schol centage would go to serials subscriptions and a low arship, and service opportunities, and encouraging their lifelong learrling percentage to monographs, whereas in literature and will inspire the new librarian to set goals for long-te1m knowledge en history, serials and monographs are often split 50/ hancement and overall growth. 50 or even tilted in favor of monographs tf' 5. Statistical evidence of use for e-journals, databases, and eBooks. us for UNC-Greensboro. Any Acquisitions and collection development need to consult each other Rumors way, Bill didn't make it to the dedi in pursuit of fair budget allocations. Acquisitions brings the knowledge jiwn page 36 cation even though he had hoped of ordenng patterns and their numerical breakdown while collection de to. Instead, he hopes to make it to velopment knows the direction of the library's intellectual environment. the Charleston Conference in November. Both should monitor marketplace trends and developments in informa tion-delivery technologies and access models. Congratulations to Charlene KeUsey, assistant professor and acting head of the Original Monograpllic Cataloging Unit at the University of V. Long-term Success and Career Growth Colorado the winner of the 2005 Coutts Nijhoff International West While training is oriented toward starting out and familiarizing the ern European Specialist Studies Grant. KeUsey's proposal was en- new librarians with specifics about their new organization, it is useful to continued on page 84 42 Against the Grain I June 2005