DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES FOR LIBRARY COLLECTIONS IN A DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT.

Collection development strategies are often overlooked by library managers or are written as limited documents replete with statistics, rarely making reference to digital information. A collection development strategy can provide the librarian with a wealth of opportunities to address significant issues, particularly in the digital environment where questions of access and levels of service add significant complexity in the equitable provision of library services

The purpose of any library is to provide a collection and service that is relevant to its community. As recently as twenty years ago this was a relatively simple proposition. User expectations, the range of resource formats, the instability of the information environment and the level of competition the library confronts have made the development of a relevant collection significantly more complex. In this challenging environment a strategic approach to collection development is essential in shaping the collection to community needs. A strategy offers other benefits to the library manager.

This paper considers the forces now impacting on collection development, and demonstrates the wide range of benefits a collection development strategy offers. Specific issues associated with accessing digital services and collections are discussed with particular reference to their inclusion in a collection development strategy. The focus is on public libraries but many of the issues raised are universally relevant and apply to academic, special and school libraries.

Environmental factors

User service expectations

Library users, in the main, now come to the library expecting to be provided with what they need, not simply to have access to materials. This is not to say that twenty years ago library staff would not have provided excellent reference service, but rather that the public would not have expected it. The benefit of having developed a collection that minimises user demand placed on staff through the ready availability of information is apparent.

Technology has complicated this situation. Where previously people may have been excluded from the collection due to a disability, technology has developed ways to overcome this. This is a wonderful thing, but it does present challenges. A further and intriguing issue arising from technology is that of training. Libraries have provided access to books but, although supporting literacy programs, they have not actually taught people how to read. This is not the case with the latest technology. Not only are libraries expected to offer access to a wide range of formats and equipment, they are increasingly finding themselves in a situation where it is necessary to provide training.

Expanded range of formats

Much as the rapid expansion in internet usage has captured the attention of the library world, it is the array of formats that information is now packaged in which presents the library manager with a bigger collection development hurdle. Life began to get complicated twenty five years ago when the audiocassette appeared. Now, a library could reasonably be expected to hold cds, cdroms, books on cassette, books on cd, videos, Playstation games, tape and text combinations, not to mention online data. Within a couple of years dvds will also be a regular part of this grab bag. Of course, this is all in addition to the print formats of paperback, hardback, large print and magazine.

Stability of the environment

Not only do libraries have changing user needs and a wealth of formats to meet their needs. There is the added complexity of predicting through which formats future needs will be met. As an example, the rapid uptake in internet usage has seen a dramatic reduction in demand for information available on cdrom. The Great Lakes Library Service established a cdrom network only five years ago. This was successful but for a limited period. Now it has converted all pcs to internet access points and provide borrowing access, where permissible, to the cdroms. Use of the cdroms is very low--that of the internet is booming. Will the same apply to dvds? Will some other technology, possibly the internet itself, overhaul them?

Competition

Twenty years ago it was largely television, with limited numbers of stations--especially in rural and regional Australia--board games/cards and radio, which contested the indoor entertainment market with the book. That market has become increasingly competitive. Pcs fight with Playstations and Nintendos, Playstation and Nintendos fight with Gameboys, Gameboys fight with the internet and the internet fights with multichannel television. The niche that the library and the book inhabited with comfort is now under considerable pressure.(*)

Similarly, in the world of special and academic libraries ready access to online data means that is possible to remove the library from the information provision loop.

The strategic approach to collection development

So what does all this mean for the library? For the achievement of its mission, the provision of a collection and service relevant to its community, these four issues must be confronted, as they will influence the shape of the collection. All of these issues relate, at the most fundamental level, to the digital world.

In coming to terms with collection breadth, user expectations, changing technologies and market competition it is necessary to have a strategic, achievable approach to tailoring collection development to user needs.

Collection development policies and strategies have tended to be dry documents containing collection usage statistics. Whilst these policies contain important features, they lack a strategic edge. The collection development strategy should enable the library manager to express the philosophy of the library service. How can we talk about a collection if we do not address the impact of the internet and whether it should be provided freely? And what of borrower trends? If children borrow less books, should we be looking at purchasing what they will borrow?

A further reality of current collection policies is that, in the main, technology has not featured strongly. Libraries which ignore this aspect of the collection in their strategy lose an ideal opportunity to develop a strategic direction for technology.

Before addressing specific areas of collection development as they relate to the digital world, it is worthwhile to briefly visit other benefits the collection development strategy offers.

Further benefits of a collection development strategy

The collection development strategy should enable a library to grapple with a range of significant issues that impact on it, both now and into the future. As well as providing shape and direction the strategy is a public document. This provides its own benefits.

Informing the public

The strategy informs the public of the logic behind the provision or exclusion of a service or collection. This can, as for the Great Lakes Library Service, be successful in defusing potentially difficult confrontations with members of the public. Despite low levels of complaint and dissatisfaction, a significant proportion of these complaints relate to the need for more electronic equipment in the library. The ability to address these complaints through reference to the collection development policy has proved most effective in mollifying users. Furthermore, the development of a written strategy, familiar to the staff, should result in a consistent response to user inquiries.

Informing higher levels of management

Most libraries are part of a parent body, whether it is a university, council, school or corporation. Consequently, they are answerable to this body. Should issues arise that may generate negative feedback from a user, the library will be in a much stronger position if it has a documented basis for its service provision. The position is strengthened if the document has been adopted by senior management. Clearly, the strategy also acts as an excellent mechanism for informing higher levels of management about library policy.

Funding

Not only can a strategy inform senior management, it is an effective way of lobbying for funding.

If you lack staff to provide a service, incorporate this fact in the strategy. If more money is needed for electronic resources, address this in the strategy. If you are confronted with needing to maintain a burgeoning number of collections, tell those who hold the purse strings. A collection development strategy, well structured and supported with facts and figures, is a powerful and convincing tool for attracting further funds.

Collection and service issues in technology

Having identified the benefits that a collection development strategy offers, it is now appropriate to address a range of issues associated with the digital world and which impact on collection development.

Continued usage of print material

Do not fall into the trap of assuming that increased interest in electronic resources will mean a decrease in usage of printed matter. Impact may well focus on a particular collection, for example the reference or junior nonfiction, but do not assume anything. Predictions were being made over a decade ago that public libraries were destined to become online storage houses of electronic databases and that the future of the library profession was precarious.

The impact of technology on collections has, to date, been greatly overestimated. In the case of Great Lakes, usage of the printed matter remains high, despite an impressive growth in interest in electronic media. For this reason it is not looking to remove the print collection, but rather has to deal with the reality that it will be embracing all of the current media.

It is also apparent that technology has regularly failed to live up to the hype. Telecommunications costs and limitations and the sheer amount of rubbish on the internet has significantly reduced its impact. The ebook has not troubled library systems to date, though trends in this area need close monitoring.(*)

Libraries have to travel at the front of the technology wave and also pick up the stragglers. For many library services purchase of music audiocassettes has only recently been curtailed, even as they confront the possibility that dvds may replace cds. With all of the wonderful trends in technology, it is salutary that rainfall is still the biggest influence on public library borrowing patterns!

Within ten years collections may be significantly different, but any predictions should be based upon the evidence at hand, not on unsubstantiated hype.

Availability of technology--know your community

If you are making decisions about technology that will shape your collection you must have an understanding of the ability of users to access this technology. Provision of matter via the web is laudable, but what proportion of a community has access to it? How useful is an online reference service if only a limited number of people will use it?

What this leads to is the realisation that any information that is obtained from the community by survey, feedback forms etc must have a technology component. It is important to determine what proportion of users have pcs and have internet access. Intentions to purchase such equipment can also provide useful information. Armed with this information, more informed decisions can be made.

Cds and tapes

Then there is the issue of cds versus taped material. Great Lakes Library has only recently removed music cassettes from its collection, because of very low usage. This action received little negative feedback, indicating that the community was indeed ready to move to the cd medium for music. Books on cd have now emerged in the market, presenting something of a dilemma. Great Lakes Library does not yet have comparative usage figures to determine the popularity of the new format. Nor does it have the budget to start collecting both this, and books on tape. A total transfer across to the new format raises the question of whether or not this is relevant to the community. Will users of books on tape, predominantly seniors, have both the equipment and the inclination to move to the new technology?

As if the situation is not complex enough, cars are now being manufactured with only cd players. As travellers are the other major users of books on tape this will further complicate the matter.

This is a clear example of an area in which information on community preferences would be advantageous. Nor should it be assumed that this issue applies only to public libraries. The reality is that both academic and special libraries may have clients that will strongly resist a move to different formats. Again, these are all issues that should be thought through in a collection development strategy.

Free internet access

Does your organisation provide free access to its nondigital library collection? In NSW free access is a requirement of the Library act. Significant debate has occurred on whether the internet constitutes part of the library collection or a value added service.[1] If the former applies then access should be provided freely. If the latter, there is scope within the act to apply charges.

In addressing this question, consideration must be given to the content of the entire collection. If the library is modifying the reference collection on the basis of information now available on the internet, does this then extend the library collection into the internet? Such questions centre on the philosophies of service provision. Charging for provision of the internet may be a significant source of revenue and which may play a role in the quality of service the library provides. If the internet is provided freely will this loss of income be in the best interests of the public using the library service?

Consideration could also be given to charging for printouts from the internet. If libraries are no longer buying book stock that was previously available free from the shelves, is there an obligation to provide free printouts from the internet?

The decision on whether or not to provide free access to the internet poses a number of questions, all of which need to be addressed by the library manager and should be answered in the collection development strategy.

Provision of email access

Provision of email access is an issue that has arisen as interest in the internet has grown. Should public libraries provide email access? This focuses debate about the role of the library. If a library sees its role as purely the provision of information then the place of public email usage will be limited.

Conversely, if the library sees one of its roles as being an environment in which the community can interact, then email is an electronic extension of this principle. The public certainly sees this as a central function of the library. A recent survey of users of ten library systems throughout NSW found that

   For the young [the library] can be an entree into a broader community, a
   place where they learn to read, as well as interact with their peers and
   learn about the world at large. For the elderly it is a significant social
   outing where they gain important social interaction and human contact. This
   is especially true for those living alone.[2]

   The social aspect of the outing seems to be as, if not more, important as
   the ability to obtain reading material to many older users.[3]

   Homeless people, those living alone or in boarding houses, also appear to
   use libraries as a shelter, and, in addition, a source of social contact,
   whether users speak to each other or not.[4]

The important feature of this survey was that it asked users what benefits they derived from the library, not how satisfied they were with aspects of the service. What is apparent is that the library meets a range of needs above and beyond lending of items. On the grounds that libraries serve an important social interaction role the Great Lakes Library Service does provide free email access.(*)

It is not a simple matter to manage email access. As more email sites become available the ability to bar such access becomes problematic and inconsistent. In reality, controlling email access is more a matter of either resourcing or finance. Some libraries charge for the use of email only, as an attempt to control usage. Others charge to generate income. As with the free provision of internet access, the library manager must resolve these issues to provide maximum benefit to the entire community. As email has the potential to generate income that could contribute to collection size and is increasingly tied to the internet, which has become an extension of the library collection, the logic associated with the decision regarding email access should be contained within the collection development strategy.

Barring access to internet sites

This is another problematic issue, one where a library can be damned if it does, and damned if it does not. Users will complain about inappropriate access to sites if it does not filter, or they will complain about limited access to the internet if you do filter.

I have worked with both approaches. Whilst there are concerns relating to exposing children to inappropriate material, in practice filtering software has significant limitations. It can bar access to an array of legitimate sites. Conversely, with open access to the net, I have yet to encounter any problem of note. Great Lakes Library ensures its pcs are very public. The high levels of usage and traffic minimise the opportunity to visit inappropriate sites privately.

The whole issue of filtering relates to access to material. This falls squarely into the domain of the collection development strategy.

Webpages

A library's presence on the web, in the form of its own website, can act as a filter to the internet. Links to useful sites are increasingly a feature of library websites. This effectively makes the website part of the collection. As such, its shape and content merit inclusion in the strategy.

In general, links on webpages are put together in something of an ad hoc fashion. This is understandable as the net itself is ad hoc--sites appear and disappear. However a considered approach to website content will make for a better library service.

With websites being regularly reviewed in journals and newspapers there is ample scope to find and critically evaluate sites. Better still, if the library can identify areas that would supplement the collection a process can be established to seek suitable websites for inclusion. Of course, a library may find another library system which has done the job already and then incorporate that into its website.

If the library does maintain a webpage (its own or one for the entire organisation) then criteria should be established to determine if a website is suitable for inclusion as a link and when such sites should be removed from the collection. This information should be contained within the collection strategy.

Online collections

A natural progression from the website is the provision of an online collection. This involves incorporating websites or electronic files into the library catalogue. As with the webpage, the strategy should address the criteria for selecting online content.

This is one of the most exciting areas of the new technology, but caution is required. If links to websites are made available through opacs some thought should be given to ensuring that opacs do not become used as more internet pcs. There is also the risk, more so than with links on a webpage, that the online collection could reach unmanageable proportions. Ensuring currency of sites has the potential to become a daunting task.

Online reference service

What will become of the reference service in the 21st century? Once again, consideration must be given to the needs of the local community. There is no point in providing an online reference service if the community has neither the technology nor the inclination to access it. Conversely, such an approach, provided the human resources are available, may be entirely suitable for some communities.

A further consideration in this area is the provision of such a service on a regional basis. On a purely local basis, online reference provision may not be appropriate. However a regional approach, where librarians have set rosters for offering such a service, may actually be of benefit to the community.

It is a moot point as to whether or not the issue of online reference provision belongs within the collection strategy, but in light of online collection issues and electronic resources, its presence would not be out of place.

Disability access equipment

Technology has opened the doors to sections of the community that would otherwise be precluded from using much of the collection of library. It is now possible to purchase equipment and software to scan printed matter and read it back to the listener. Other software can make pcs accessible even to the totally blind. In recent years the cost of such provision has dropped significantly. If a library has a charter to provide service for all, should such equipment be purchased, or is the relevance to the library's community so slight that the funds would be better spent on other services or materials? This issue should be addressed in the strategy. As Kirsty Williamson et al asserted in a recent article `Public library policies are needed to improve and regulate access to online services for people with disabilities'.[5]

Electronic games 

Another contentious issue is the inclusion of electronic games within the borrowing collection. Arguments against such inclusion revolve around the inappropriate nature of the material for the collection. Certainly, electronic games represent new ground for libraries. At Great Lakes it has been noticed that there is a general trend among children and the YAs away from books (especially hardcover) towards less time consuming material, with magazines and cds proving particularly popular. In an attempt to continue to attract this group to the library a small lending collection of Playstation games was established, following on from the example of Kempsey Library. This has proved remarkably popular, with stock turnover at around thirty issues per annum, or ten times the average stock turnover for NSW public libraries.[6]

A library service needs to ask itself if such temptations are appropriate. Nor need this principle apply solely to electronic games for YAs. Any material that acts as an attraction should be considered within the context of the collection strategy.

Conclusions

One of the greatest challenges a library confronts is to develop a collection and service to meet the needs of its community. A collection development strategy plays a vital role in both clarifying these needs and detailing the library's approach to meeting them. As user expectations, the rapidly changing variety and formats within which information can be packaged, and competition from new sources become more complex, the role of the strategy increases in importance.

In the digital world issues such as filtering of the internet, free provision of email, online collections and services, and even the ongoing existence of print media, come into play. If a library attempts to address these in an ad hoc fashion it will result in an ad hoc service, vulnerable to criticism from the public, staff and senior management. A collection development strategy enables the library manager to have some control over this challenging environment.

(*) Editor's note This is nothing new. Sixty five years ago, in 1937, W H Langham, president of the Board of Governors of the Public Library of South Australia stated, in response to the Munn-Pitt report's very strong criticism about the lack of free public libraries in Australia `Other countries are now paying dearly for free libraries, which are meeting with much the same competition'. The competition to which Langham referred was `the wireless', `modern enlarged newspapers and magazines' and `the talkies with their never ending sessions. The result is that books have to take a second, third and fourth place where formerly they were the first' and that in country areas `the Broadcasting Commission takes the place of the library, its program giving recreation and enlightenment to listeners'.

(*) Editor's note The Toowoomba City Library Old launched in May 2001 an innovation grant project `Libraries, ebooks and the future'. The project will see four different types of handheld ebook readers lent to users, containing the latest best sellers in a variety of genres. The contact for the project is Sue Hurley Electronic Services Librarian. Details of the project are at <libserv.toowoomba.qld.gov.au/ebook/ index.html>

(*) Editor's note A majority of Australia's public libraries also have the good commonsense not to charge for email usage. In states such as South Australia free public internet access is a condition of state government subsidy 

References

[1] Scully, P The internet: a core or value added service? Australasian public libraries and information services 11(1) March 1998 p36-45

[2] Cox, E A safe place to go: libraries and social capital University of Technology, Sydney 2000

[3] ibid

[4] ibid

[5] Williamson, K et al Assisting people with disabilities to use the internet: the role of the public library Australasian public libraries teal information services 14(1) March 2001 p21

[6] State Library of NSW Public library statistics 1998/99 State Library of NSW 2000

Chris Jones Chief Librarian Great Lakes Library Service NSW

Chris Jones BSc(Hons) GradDipLibSci GradDipBusSt is the library manager at Great Lakes Library Service, a position he has held since 1998. Prior to this he was the reference librarian at Armidale Dumaresq Library Service. Chris has worked in libraries since 1987, when he commenced as a library assistant at Parramatta City Library. He has also worked as a housebound librarian for Parramatta and a branch librarian at Baulkham Hills Library Service in NSW. Chris is a proponent of raising the profile of libraries in all levels of government and industry. He sees them as a vital and often underutilised community hub. Address: Great Lakes Library Service Breese Parade Forster NSW 2428 tel[phone] fax[phone] [e-mail]