Action research: Meredith College’s carlyle campbell library Sarah Clemons LIS 610 Fall 2015

About Meredith College Women’s College founded in 1891 Located in Raleigh, NC About 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students Accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools

Carlyle Campbell Library Named after former Meredith College president Built in 1970 60,000 sq ft and 12,000 sq ft of remote storage space Library Mission Statement Advance knowledge by providing access to materials, tools, and information that open up global perspectives. Empower learners in their pursuit of excellence and academic success. Strengthen the Meredith community

Technical Services Department Includes the following Services: Cataloging Archives Acquisitions Four staff members Head of Technical Services Technical Services Assistant Archives and Technical Services Assistant Catalog Librarian

Head of Technical Services Ted Waller Has worked at Meredith for 29 years Oversees acquisitions, cataloging, collection development/management, library website, ILS, and college archives

Collection Development Policy General Guides to Selection Priority Format considerations Format selection considerations Current publications v. out-of-date publications Multiple copies Non-English language materials Cooperative agreements Consortial purchases

Collection Development Process Each department of the library supplies a list of materials they would like to add to the collection and the Technical Services department acquires the items Library sends out a list of potential materials to each academic department and the faculty highlight and sent back their choices The library doesn’t receive a lot of student requests for materials, but if they do the students tell the circulation desk

Working with vendors Established leasing agreements for e-books Approval Plans Use lists of recommended materials provided by book vendors to determine what to buy Library saves a lot of time in the Collection Development process by relying on vendor’s assistance Demand Driven Acquisitions (will buy materials based on how often they’ve been used) Saves the library money, by only buying materials that are being used, but allowing them to have a large amount of materials available if needed

Buying From Vendors Negotiate with vendors on pricing Typically have a set discount or incentive (Ex. free shipping) Buy collections of books as a package

Deselection Process An on-going process at Carlyle Campbell Library Heavily driven by space/storage issues Assess use statistics to determine what to weed Evaluate material formats that are no longer useful or used For example, recently discarded a large collection of Laserdiscs, records, and VHS tapes that weren’t being used and were taking up a lot of space Goal of this process is to lighten the research process for students so they aren’t bogged down with materials they can’t use

College Archives The Archives focus on preserving Meredith College’s history and culture Very active department in the library Archives contain DVD recordings of annual traditions like Cornhuskin’ event Hold Meredith memorabilia from different time periods Display case on third floor features rotating materials from the college archive

Display Case Featuring Items from the Library’s Archive

Special Collections The library houses a large collection of vinyl records featuring many classical and opera recordings.

Strengths and Weaknesses Successfully adapted to emerging technologies Established system and process for development and management that doesn’t need a lot of revision every year Weaknesses: Lack of faculty and student involvement in the selection of materials

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