LIS 522
This weekend, wrote two papers. Still wondering why I am in this program.
Met with advisor, who joined the ranks of "people in favor of me taking winter quarter off"
Class notes from Harvard CD Speaker
Dr. Alison Scott - Senior collection dev. Harvard University
"The fun part of librarianship: shopping and thinking about shopping."
Academic libraries are not autonomous - they are under the agenda of the university
Thus academic librarians need to participate in the academic life of the university
Support the teaching, learning, and research - library is support network not a leader
Except Harvard, which is weird and has financially and traditionally independent libraries
Support faculty and student interests
Collect history of scholarship, world culture
Support original research
Harvard does predictive collecting - "I think this will interest somebody, someday"
Everyone else collects based on need - fully understood, present and near future need
"The better you do your work, the better people want you to do it"
Most academic libraries divide selection responsibilities along disciplinary lines
(except Harvard, which is weird and does it based on geography - content irrelevant)
Academic credentials for librarians is important not to being a good librarian -
they are important politically, so that the university has respect and trust for the librarian
Subject mastery irrelevant, evidence of taking academia seriously, v. important
Digital revolution, knowledge boom, and globalized monopoly of publishing =
Time, funding, space issues for library
More need to say "no" - which is very hard and must be justified
....especially to academic communities who are used to comprehensive collections that anticipate needs
Electronic info just makes it more complicated
Humanities, social sciences will be paper for near future
E resources much more complicated - access vs ownership and permanence issues
Collection development librarians must educate others in the institution about what we do
and why the hell they care
When persuading, don't ever start from the perspective of "we have always had it"
Focus on why it would be important to create it if it were not there
Oh the politics.
What public responsibility does a private institutional library have?
And now Helene talks budgets
Influences - what goes into making a budget
* CD policy
* # titles published/cost per disciple
* Serial prices
* E-resources
* Currency shifts
* Postage and tax - is that out of your budget?
* ongoing dues and committments
* access vs ownership
* ILL expenditures
Someone other than you will probably give you a budget
Consider above factors when requesting allowances in budget
Vendors are the information source for costs of materials and what is available
(So basically, make them do work for you)
Where does the money come from?
* Institution gets money from whereever - state money, endowments, etc
* Whatever is left over after overhead costs --> Materials budget
* Grants
* Special funds allocated for specific purpose
Available Budget
- (Amount Encumbered + Paid)
= What you still have to spend
Generally the amount encumbered is increased a little for safety - estimate of actual costs
When talking to vendors always insist on what works for you, not them
Limited time sales - nonsense, the cost of the item will not go up tomorrow for them, so no
Always look at expenditure reports to make sure expenditures came out of the right funds
And that the stupid books showed up in the first place
Met with advisor, who joined the ranks of "people in favor of me taking winter quarter off"
Class notes from Harvard CD Speaker
Dr. Alison Scott - Senior collection dev. Harvard University
"The fun part of librarianship: shopping and thinking about shopping."
Academic libraries are not autonomous - they are under the agenda of the university
Thus academic librarians need to participate in the academic life of the university
Support the teaching, learning, and research - library is support network not a leader
Except Harvard, which is weird and has financially and traditionally independent libraries
Support faculty and student interests
Collect history of scholarship, world culture
Support original research
Harvard does predictive collecting - "I think this will interest somebody, someday"
Everyone else collects based on need - fully understood, present and near future need
"The better you do your work, the better people want you to do it"
Most academic libraries divide selection responsibilities along disciplinary lines
(except Harvard, which is weird and does it based on geography - content irrelevant)
Academic credentials for librarians is important not to being a good librarian -
they are important politically, so that the university has respect and trust for the librarian
Subject mastery irrelevant, evidence of taking academia seriously, v. important
Digital revolution, knowledge boom, and globalized monopoly of publishing =
Time, funding, space issues for library
More need to say "no" - which is very hard and must be justified
....especially to academic communities who are used to comprehensive collections that anticipate needs
Electronic info just makes it more complicated
Humanities, social sciences will be paper for near future
E resources much more complicated - access vs ownership and permanence issues
Collection development librarians must educate others in the institution about what we do
and why the hell they care
When persuading, don't ever start from the perspective of "we have always had it"
Focus on why it would be important to create it if it were not there
Oh the politics.
What public responsibility does a private institutional library have?
And now Helene talks budgets
Influences - what goes into making a budget
* CD policy
* # titles published/cost per disciple
* Serial prices
* E-resources
* Currency shifts
* Postage and tax - is that out of your budget?
* ongoing dues and committments
* access vs ownership
* ILL expenditures
Someone other than you will probably give you a budget
Consider above factors when requesting allowances in budget
Vendors are the information source for costs of materials and what is available
(So basically, make them do work for you)
Where does the money come from?
* Institution gets money from whereever - state money, endowments, etc
* Whatever is left over after overhead costs --> Materials budget
* Grants
* Special funds allocated for specific purpose
Available Budget
- (Amount Encumbered + Paid)
= What you still have to spend
Generally the amount encumbered is increased a little for safety - estimate of actual costs
When talking to vendors always insist on what works for you, not them
Limited time sales - nonsense, the cost of the item will not go up tomorrow for them, so no
Always look at expenditure reports to make sure expenditures came out of the right funds
And that the stupid books showed up in the first place