XII. Collection Levels - Ongoing Collection Management Review and Assessment
XII. Collection Levels - Ongoing Collection Management Review and Assessment
Libraries throughout Illinois have evaluated their collections using a synopsis or survey of the library's holdings called the Illinois Conspectus. It is a collection-centered approach to assessment and employs a quantitative title count and qualitative analysis of subject areas. The Illinois State Library has supported resource sharing and cooperative collection management in Illinois by collecting data and issuing reports using the Illinois Conspectus. Such a conspectus gathers information by subject level, or the broader category level, and the number of titles held for the subject level. It utilizes codes representing levels of collection. There are separate notations for:
The strength of the existing collection is a major concern
of the Library and should be evaluated. Assessment of the quality
of the existing collection is best done in a consortial environment
and as a comparison with other similar academic institutions.
A collection assessment project is currently in proposal stages
through the Illinois Cooperative Collection Management Program.
This Collection Management Policy emphasizes the strength of the
current acquisition program, and is called acquisition commitment
in library terminology. This acquisition commitment specifies
what materials are selected and why they are selected.
The bibliographers have assigned levels of strength of the current
acquisition program to each subject area using the standardized
assessment indicators for current acquisition commitment codes
as defined in the Illinois Conspectus. The Ronald Williams Library
of Northeastern Illinois University does not, generally, collect
materials beyond the advanced study level. The notations for assessment
indicators are taken from CCM in Illinois: A Resource Book By
Terry L. Weech. 2nd Edition. (Springfield, IL: Illinois Cooperative
Collection Management Coordinating Committee, 1992). A detailed
list by subject is available from the Collections Program Officer.
Assessment indicators:
Level 0: Out of scope: The Library does not collect in this area.
Level 1: Minimal level: Few selections are made, but basic authors, some core works, or a spectrum of ideological views are represented. Can support fundamental school, public, and academic library inquiries.
Level 2: Basic information level: A collection of up-to-date materials that serve to introduce and define a subject and to indicate the varieties of information available elsewhere. A collection at this level may include dictionaries, encyclopedias, historical surveys, bibliographies, selected editions of important works, and a few major periodicals in the minimum number that will serve the purpose. A basic information collection can support school instruction and routine public inquiries, but is not sufficiently intensive to support higher-level academic courses or independent study or the wide-ranging recreational reading demands of a highly educated general public.
Level 3a: Basic study level: Includes the most important primary and secondary literature, a selection of basic representative journals/periodicals, and the fundamental reference and bibliographical tools pertaining to the subject. Adequate for curriculum support for basic undergraduate instruction. Adequate for independent study and for the lifelong learning needs of the general public, with coverage at all appropriate reading levels.
Level 3b: Intermediate instructional level: As above, except a wider range of basic monographs, wider selection of the more important writers and secondary materials, stronger journals/periodical support. Collection adequate to support term paper writing (at the college level).
Level 3c: Advanced instructional level: As above, except adequate for honors undergraduate or most graduate instruction or sustained independent study; adequate to maintain knowledge of a subject required for limited or general purposes, but not strong enough for original research in a subject. It includes complete collections of the works of the important authors, selections from the works of secondary writers, a selection of representative journals/periodicals, and all the reference tools and fundamental bibliographic apparatus pertaining to the subject.
Level 4: Research level: A collection that includes the major published source materials required for dissertations and independent research, including materials containing research reporting, new findings, scientific experimental results, and other information useful to researchers. It is intended to include all important reference works and a wide selection of specialized monographs, as well as a very extensive collection of journals and major indexing and abstracting services in the field. Older material is retained for historical research.
Level 5: Comprehensive level: A collection in which
a library endeavors, so far as reasonably possible, to include
all significant works of recorded knowledge (publications, manuscripts,
other forms), in all applicable languages, for a necessarily defined
and limited field. The aim, if not the achievement, is exhaustiveness.
Older material is retained for historical research.
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