Library & Information Science, Course 266: Collection Development.
Dr. David Loertscher
Summer 04

 c2 cirriculum.html

Tips for this chapter (presentation):

Schools/com college, college (academic institutions): You need to understand the courses that are taught in your institution and the major topics in those courses that are likely to require an information-rich environment. This is often an overwhelming task if the institution is very large. Start with a college catalog, a list of courses, textbooks used in those courses, curriculum outlines, school handbooks. You may have to interview persons teaching in the institution to get a better idea of what is really taught vs. what is listed as being taught. Course descriptions in college catalogs are so brief that they are only hints and not what you would really need. I do not expect you to become an expert in the "curriculum" at this time, but you should be able to get well enough acquainted that you can write intelligently about it. In your brief chapter, try to describe the curriculum the best you can. Formal lists of courses can be in an Appendix.

In the second part of this chapter, take a look at a single course of instruction and list the major topics covered in that course. For example, an American history course might cover colonial period, revolution..civil war...20th century, etc. This will demonstrate to the professor that you understand the curriculum as a whole and can look into a single course for topics that are likely to be covered in depth. The textbook or course outline will often be helpful in looking at a course.

Public/special libraries (Needs Assessment): You should try to find out the type of information-rich environment that would help the patrons of your library succeed. This is often called a needs assessment or user analysis. Try to see if your library has already done some sort of needs study. Many do. You might need to conduct a few brief interviews of the patrons. This might include both users and nonuser groups. You might seek people who are "in the know" rather than just random selection. Since I do not expect you to conduct a formal and thorough needs assessment yourself, try to envision how you might do this and act as though you had done something in a formal study. It would be nice to have a quarterly random sample of our entire patron base answer a few pointed questions so we could chart progress over time and spot new needs as they evolve. In your chapter, describe and summarize the needs that you have discovered. If you found a formal needs study, this can be put in the Appendix if it is of reasonable size. Convince me (an outsider) that you understand your patrons - both those that come and those who could - and you can anticipate what information/materials they require before they walk in the door (real or electronic)

Public Libraries

 • Professional article (c2b.pdf): Saxton, Matthew L. and Ruth D. Greiner. "Public Participation in Strategic Planning of Library Services: Soliciting, Assessing, and Balancing Community and Staff Input," Public Libraries, March/April, 1998, p. 126-32. - Doing a needs assessment.

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