Medical Library Collection Development

Emporia State University, School of Library & Information Management

Beth Edson and Christina Magnifico

What is a medical library?

Medical libraries are organized exclusively for scientific and educational purposes, and are dedicated to the support of health sciences research, education, and patient care (MLA, 2013).

Collection Development and Management

Collection Development Responsibilities
The essence of collection development is choice, (Carrigan, 1988) and that is exactly what the responsibility of a medical librarian in charge of collection development must always keep in mind. Developing the collection requires thinking about acquisitions, withdrawals, management, preservation and future trends all at the same time.

Types of Resources Collected by Medical Libraries What does a library mean by collection development and management?
Collection development, as defined by the American Library Association (2009) is the process of systematically building library collections to serve study, teaching, research, recreational, and other needs of library users. Collection management, on the other hand, is defined by the American Library Association (2009) as a process of information gathering, communication, coordination, policy formation, evaluation, and planning.
*indicates resource is atypical to medical collections

Monographs Application Software* Numeric data sets* Dissertations Encyclopedias Ephemera or grey literature* Directories Journals

Planning, Fiscal Management and Policy Creation

Planning
Medical libraries develop their collections by creating a plan of action that allows for continuity, maximizes positive effects and allows the library to anticipate change (Keller, 1983). Many medical and health sciences libraries use a strategic planning approach that aligns itself with the mission of the institution with which the library is associated. Since strategic plans often encompass several years, medical librarians must develop long-term goal and mission fulfilling objectives. Strategic planning also requires the collection development team to utilize information gleaned from environmental scans, which are assessments of the current environment. When planning a collection, medical librarians must consider the fact that much of the research done by health professionals occurs at the point-of-care. This means that access to the library collection does not often take place in the library. Developing a collection with the proper usability for end-users can be a daunting task for medical librarians. One of the most difficult aspects when planning a collection, comes from the fiscal/budgetary responsibilities all institutions face.

Criteria

Magazines Newspapers* Textbooks Government documents Manuals* Indexes and abstracts Pamphlets* Novels*

The number one evaluation criterion in most medical library collection development policies was needs of primary clientele (A.R. Dykes Library, 2012; Arenales et al., 1993; Welch Medical Library, 2002). Other criteria included: Relevancy Cost-effectiveness Scholarly level Language Reputation Maintenance commitment Currency Accessibility Uniqueness Value added Technicality Fair use issues Quality Legal issues Archival issues Customer support

Selection
Medical librarians use a variety of tools in order to develop a balanced collection. These tools include: reviews in scholarly journals, publishers announcements, sample journal issues and stock lists from vendors. Many academic medical libraries also use recommendations from faculty and interlibrary loan requests in order to evaluate acquisitions.

Selection Process
To see a review of the selection process in a medical library, scan the QR code with your phone or visit: http://bit.ly/medprocess

Fiscal Management
Budgets are an important planning tool in collection development. Budgets serve both to document planning decisions through allocations and to coordinate achieving the goals and objectives laid out in a planning document (ALA, 2010). Budgeting and fiscal management require librarians to consider many extrinsic and intrinsic factors, such as: Pricing trends Volume of publications Publisher pricing trends Demographic changes Changes in research Additional academic programs Changes in educational needs Use of resources (print vs. electronic) The cost of biomedical resources weighs heavily on the fiscal responsibilities of medical librarians assigned to collection development. The average price of scholarly journals in health sciences literature tend to be some of the most expensive, with subscriptions for medicine/health sciences averaging at $1,482; and chemistry an incredible $4,450 (ALA, 2013).

Deselection/Withdrawal/Weeding
A medical collection is difficult to use when one must sift through large amounts of irrelevant, outdated materials. This is especially true with medical collections targeted at research. As such, deselection is an essential part of collection management (Carman, 2013)

Gifts and Donations

Gifts and donations are accepted at most medical libraries. A common practice is to use the same selection process that is used for acquiring new materials (A.R. Dykes Library, 2012)

Copyright, Legal and Privacy Issues

Medical libraries comply with the United States Copyright Act and copyright laws. It is common for medical librarians to take HIPPA compliance courses, as well as HIPPA training. Patrons privacy is strictly monitored (Carman, 2013)

Preservation
Valuable research and medical information is storied in archives on-site, or in repositories within off-site facilities. It is common practice to convert monographs to electronic format to conserve space and ensure information is stored for historical purposes (Carman, 2013).

Collection Analysis
Key: Many Collected Few Collected

Materials Centered-Approaches
List checking: books Citation analysis: books Citation analysis: journals Cost-effectiveness Impact factor Classified profile: books Internet resources

Balancing the cost of serials with print monographs, eResource package subscriptions and other materials is difficult task. In order to create a balanced collection, funds have to be allocated for a variety of resources to allow for the best access and research output.

Policy Creation
Medical libraries tend to use a combination of classed analysis--modeled from the National Library of Medicine classification systemand narrative when writing collection development policies. Each medical library utilizes an introduction to their collection and their affiliated institution, a mission statement or vision statement, a list of selection criteria, an assessment regarding the diversity and quality of the overall collection, and a collection of general policies that apply to multiple subjects. Other areas often included in collection development policies for medical libraries include: a disaster recovery plan, statement of copyright, gift policy, schedule for policy review, preferred format of materials, and physical space considerations. For examples of collection development policies see: Norris Medical Library, University of Southern California Dykes Library, University of Kansas Medical Center Lamar Soutter Library, University of Massachusetts Medical School Becker Medical Library, Washington University School of Medicine- St. Louis

Use-centered approaches
Interlibrary loan: books, journals Circulation: books, journals

Collection analysis varies between libraries due to the different scope of each collection. These two approaches materials centered and use centered tend to be the most commonly utilized forms of collection analysis in medical/health science libraries.

Other Resources
Medical Library Association (MLA) http://www.mlanet.org National Library of Medicine (NIH/NLM) http://www.nlm.nih.gov Association of College Research Libraries http://www.ala.org/acrl/ Midcontinental Chapter of the Medical Library Association (MCMLA) http://www.mcmla.org National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) http://www.nnlm.gov National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) http://www.nnlm.gov

References - American Library Association. (2010). ALCTS Collection Development and Management Course. Retrieved from http://www.classes.ala.org/? - Carrigan, D. (1988). Librarians and the dismal science. Library Journal, 113(11), 22-25.
- A.R. Dykes Library. (2012, December 10). A.R. Dykes Library Collection Management Policy. Collection Management Policy. [website]. Retrieved October 4, 2013, from http://library.kumc.edu/library-policies/collection-management-policies/collection-management-policy.xml - Black, S. (2006). Serials in libraries: Issues and practices. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. Retrieved from http://elearning.emporia.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-820849-dt-content-rid 4768275_1/courses/LI855XS201350/Black%202006%20chapter%201%281%29.pdf - Bosch, S., & Henderson, K. (2013). The Winds of Change | Periodicals Price Survey 2013. (April 25, 2013). Library Journal. Retrieved October 24, 2013, Retrieved from http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2013/04/publishing/the-winds-of-change-periodicals-price-survey-2013/ - Carman, D. (2013) Personal interview with Deborah Carman, MLS - Johnson, Peggy. (2009). Fundamentals of collection development and management. United States: American Library Association. Retrieved from http://www.alastore.ala.org/pdf/9780838909720_excerpt.pdf - Keller, George. (1983). Academic strategy: The management revolution in American higher education. Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press. - Arenales, D., Byrnes, M., Eannarino, J., Kaiser, M., Krueger, C., Whittaker Lucas, B., & Richards, D. T. (1993). Collection Development Manual of the National Library of Medicine. [PDF Document]. Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/cdman.pdf - Welch Medical Library. (2002). Collection Development Manual. Evaluation Criteria. [website]. Retrieved from http://web1.welch.jhmi.edu/about/CDPolicy.html#evaissue