Digital collectionsPru Mitchell

@pruMarch 2016

21st century resourcing

What we want to know1. What issues do schools face in

development and maintenance of digital collections?

2. How can schools budget for digital collections?

3. How does digital content address curriculum and student learning needs?

4. How does access to digital resources align with the technology infrastructure available?

5. What professional learning is required?

6. What can we learn from other library sectors?

7. How can a collection policy address future developments?

Future directions• Collection policies

Update to reflect changes in digital collections• Research

Move beyond research into physical factors (software, hardware, content) to user adoption and the experience of reading and working digitally

• Communicate– Students and teachers– School leadership– Content providers– Each other

Why have a collection policy?1. Selection, acquisition and de-acquisition2. Collection evaluation3. Planning and budgeting4. PR and risk management5. The wider context

Collection policy scenarios1. Teacher requests a book which costs $78 for a

hard copy and $206 from your ebook platform.2. Purpose-built library now needed for class

space. Half the existing bookshelves need to be removed over summer.

3. Middle years teachers ask for student pathfinders for 10 new curriculum topics.

4. Digital subscription service increases annual fee by 50% two years in a row.

5. Your local public library subscribes to a popular database which students are requesting the school to provide.

Your tasks

Start a to-do list of areas to include in your revised collection policy

Tweet your questions#aliaschools

Pru’s 5 principles

After applying content criteria, consider....the extent to which a resource

is1. legal2. user-friendly to access3. edited, and comes with

metadata4. fit for purpose5. good value

Lady of Hats 2007, Main division of the human handWikimedia Commons

Collection directions

Dempsey, Lorcan, Constance Malpas, and Brian Lavoie. 2014. "Collection Directions: The Evolution of Library Collections and Collecting" portal: Libraries and the Academy 14,3 (July): 393-423. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/portal_libraries_and_the_academy/summary/v014/14.3.dempsey.html

Accessing at scaleCollections are accessed rather than owned+ Access to larger collection+ Leasing rather than owning+ Partnership with other libraries

- Leasing rather than owning- Paying for bundles that you do not want- Limited customisation to suit your library

members- Time spent maintaining/contributing to

partnerships

Patron-driven acquisitionAlgorithmic collection policy+ Just-in-time vs just-in-case+ Not wasting funds/time on unused items

- Uncertainty about budget- Collecting for now rather than for the long-

term- Unbalanced collection

e-preferredPolicy to select electronic access if

available + Greater flexibility for members to

access offsite+ Saves space+ Saves staff time and follow up of

returns

- Collection less visible - Increased cost- Complex licence negotiations- Less choice for users

Institutional content

Mitchell, P 2015. Tinkering, CC-by

Professional learning

• what’s available• how to access

digital subscriptions

• authentication• copyright

or just make it all seamless

Primary Secondary0%

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Teachers in library out of field

Teachers in library with tertiary li-brary study

Weldon, P 2016, What the Staff in Australia’s Schools surveys tell us about teachers working in school libraries, ACER, p. 19, http://research.acer.edu.au/tll_misc/25/

Conclusions and questions