Which Online Resources Are Right for Your Collection?
by Jane Pearlmutter -- School Library Journal, 6/1/1999
Policies for collecting virtual resources are not only desirable, they're essential
Jane Pearlmutter is president of the Wisconsin Library Association and a faculty associate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Library and Information Studies. She teaches an online course in virtual collection development.
Given the growing popularity of electronic journals, online databases, and other virtual or Web-based resources, has the time arrived for library media specialists to develop policies for collecting electronic resources? In a word: absolutely.
Although most online resources are still free, many (including full-text databases and electronic indexes) require libraries to pay monthly or annual fees and to sign licensing or access agreements. A virtual collection-development policy can help library media specialists navigate the intricacies of licensing agreements and stretch their budgets. And a well-thought-out policy can guide library media specialists to make wise decisions when selecting online resources.
Having a policy, or a set of clear guidelines, for selecting online resources also offers additional benefits. Here's what the University of Oregon's electronic resource development policy says: "While the Internet is easily accessible, the library recognizes that careful selection of Internet resources and availability of these through the library's catalog will accomplish several objectives: 1) increase awareness and maximize use of significant sites; 2) provide value-added access to Internet resources often absent when using various search engines to locate resources; and 3) enhance and expand the library's collection of traditional formats." (The entire policy may be found at http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~chadwelf/intesele.htm.)
As in traditional collection-development policies, your guidelines might define the scope of the collection, general selection principles, selection tools, and cataloging and weeding policies. Here's a few things you'll want to keep in mind when creating a virtual resources collection policy.
Selecting the Right Resources
A virtual collection needs to be developed in a way that's compatible with your print collection. The University of Oregon advises: "Select materials which meet the standards the library expects of all materials in regard to excellence, comprehensiveness, and authoritativeness." This is especially important when it comes to collecting virtual resources: the Web is primarily a world of self-publishing where, all too often, anything goes.
How can you separate the wheat from the chaff? One way, suggests the University of Oregon, is to consult reviews of Internet resources. But librarian beware: such reviews are still in short supply compared to reviews of print materials or even of CD-ROMs. And although there are Web sites that recommend Internet resources for library media specialists (see "Handy Web-Related Resources") not all sites provide full evaluations of online materials. Many merely post annotated lists.
What should a useful review of virtual resources include? Three things: a statement of the content or purpose of the electronic resource, the identity of the author, and an indication of the grade level or audience the resource is intended for. This last consideration, though important, is the one most likely to be overlooked.
Although as librarians we don't "own" online materials, certain selection criteria still apply. These might include:
1. Relevance and use: Does the material relate specifically to your school's curriculum units? Are there classes that will use it regularly? Does it enhance the reference collection? Is it valuable for the teachers' professional collection (e.g., lesson plans)?
2. Redundancy: Is this information already in the library in another format? Is there a demand for multiple formats?
3. Content: Does the material meet traditional selection criteria in regard to quality, grade-level, comprehensiveness, and authority?
4. Ease of use: Is the format easy for students to use? Is it easily searchable? Is the reading level appropriate for your students?
5. Stability: Has this resource been around for a while? Is it updated frequently (if timeliness is a concern)?
Navigating Licensing Fees
In the future, licensing or access fees for electronic resources may constitute a major portion of a library's nonpersonnel budget. What should library media specialists know before paying such fees? For one thing, recognize that licensing terms are negotiable. There are a number of online resources that can help you become a savvy negotiator. Two librarian-friendly Web sites are "Licensing Digital Information: A Resource for Librarians" (www.library.yale.edu/~llicense/index.shtml) and "Principles for Acquiring and Licensing Information in Digital Formats" (http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Info/principles.html).
One issue that frequently arises when negotiating is defining precisely who the users are. At first glance, this may appear to be a no-brainer; but it's not. And since Web vendors often base their fees on usage, this is a crucial point to clarify. For example, in a licensing agreement between a Web-based vendor and a public library, users might be defined as those who hold valid library cards. But, then again, they might also include non-card-holding customers who occasionally use public-access terminals. For a school library, the user population might be defined as the school's faculty, staff, and students. But if your library media center has, say, only one or two workstations, it's in your best interests to negotiate a contract based on the number of users who can be online at any one time, rather than on your school's total population.
When licensing online resources, consider joining a consortium. A consortium is basically a buying club, which may include libraries within your school district or state. The most obvious benefit of consortial licensing is, of course, the discounts, which can be quite deep.
How deep? Here's an example from my state. As a result of consortial licensing, Wisconsin's libraries, schools, colleges, and other Internet service providers have access to BadgerLink, a full-text database of 4,000 magazines and journals, 28 national and regional newspapers, 13 state newspapers, 1,000 health pamphlets, and several other databases. Contracts with the vendors of the magazine indexes EBSCOHost and UMI's ProQuest Direct allow the state to offer this wide range of resources to all of these information agencies. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has estimated that the cost of providing these resources to schools and libraries on an individual (rather than a group) basis would be $50 million. How much does the consortium pay? $2.1 million! That's more than a 95-percent savings. At last count, 17 states were providing similar services.
Are there tradeoffs to consider when joining a consortium? Sure. In our state, the ability to renew the contract is based on the health of our state funding, whose future is never certain. For other consortia, the tradeoffs may be in the mix of products: some products that library media specialists might like may not be available through the vendor who wins the consortium's bid.
The Pluses of Cyberspace
Fortunately, much on the Internet remains free. These resources can be a valuable way to expand your library's collection and may often take the place of an outdated, unwieldy pamphlet file. Online resources should be used to provide material outside the scope of your library's print and AV collections (for example, to provide up-to-the-minute information on current events or the latest values of foreign currencies), for material that will not appear in print (some government information is moving to electronic format only, available via government Web sites), and for information that comes with a "value-added" component, such as the ability to interact with a site and search within a database. The Web also offers free access to primary source materials that would otherwise be unavailable now that academic libraries and the Library of Congress are beginning to digitize -- and put on the Internet -- wonderful, searchable collections.
Online resources, which tend to be as suspect as they are plentiful, confront library media specialists with a formidable challenge: What is the best way to provide customers with access to quality online resources, while avoiding those that are questionable? A virtual resources collection policy may not solve library media specialists' every online problem, but it will enable us to vouch for the quality of those sites to which the library has given its stamp of approval. And given the sometimes unreliable content of cyberspace, that's a true comfort.
Handy Web-Related ResourcesMost library media specialists are familiar with the American Library Association's 700+ Great Sites: Amazing, Mysterious, Colorful Web Sites for Kids and the Adults Who Care About Them (www.ala.org/parentspage/greatsites/amazing.html), and its teen companion page, Teen Hoopla: An Internet Guide for Teens (www.ala.org/teenhoopla/main.html). While these are widely used by students and parents, they are also useful selection tools for the library media specialist, with the advantage of knowing the grade levels of the sites reviewed. Although the annotations are brief, the selection criteria are made clear and you can assume that each site listed meets those criteria, which include the source of the site's content, author-contact information, a creation/revision date, and update information. Also, sites recommended by Teen Hoopla must be easy to use, free of excessive advertising, and not require the highest-level of technology for access.Resources to evaluate web sites:Evaluating Internet Resources: A Checklist(www.infopeople.org/bkmk/select.html)"Sizing Up Sites: How to Judge What You Find on the Web," by Ann K. Symons, SLJ, April 1997, pp. 22-25. Symons's article features a 22-point list of evaluation criteria.
Places that lead you to recommended sites for students:Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators (www.discoveryschool.com/schrockguide/index.html) This is a list of sites on the Internet found to be useful for enhancing curriculum and teacher professional growth. It is arranged by subject, features short annotations, and is updated daily.KidsClick! (http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/KidsClick!/), created by a group of librarians at the Ramapo Catskill Library System, is an extensive, searchable subject guide, with some very nice features. The search features allow you to find a site's reading level or the number of illustrations it includes. The KIDS Report (http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/KIDS/index.html) is produced by K-12 students in two school districts. With teacher support, students select and annotate all resources included in every issue. A list of selection criteria is also included. The publication is supported by the Internet Scout Project and is also available by e-mail subscription. The Scout Report (http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/index.html) is the flagship publication of the Internet Scout Project. Published every Friday both on the Web and by e-mail, it provides a fast, convenient way to stay informed of valuable resources on the Internet. Professional librarians and subject specialists select, research, and annotate resources of interests to researchers and educators. "Surf For," SLJ's monthly column (available in print and on the Web at www.slj.com/articles/surffor/surfforarchive.asp) and Library Journal's "WebWatch" (available in print and on the Web at www.ljdigital.com/articles/multimedia/webwatch/webwatchindex.asp) also provide valuable information on worthwhile Web sites. |
