Yale University Library Collection Development Council

Annual Report: 1996/97

Submitted by Max Marmor, chair

The Collection Development Council (CDC) is a standing Library committee charged with helping the AUL for Collections successfully address the entire spectrum of collection development and management issues with which the Library is engaged. It takes a leading role in the formulation of policy, facilitates budgetary processes and procedures, fosters the professional development of selectors, and serves as an information resource and communication forum for selectors and the wider Library and University communities. CDC is by design representational in nature, with members drawn from the humanities, sciences, social sciences, and special collections arenas, and with further departmental representation on the part of Research Services and Collections, Acquisitions, Systems, Beinecke, Law, and Medicine. It employs a mix of standing committees (memberships are recorded elsewhere) and ad hoc task forces to further its work.

In the course of the 1996/97 year, CDC has fruitfully addressed a host of important issues. Foremost among those are: off-campus shelving (LSF); electronic resources; education and training of selectors; communication among special collections staff; and a range of budgetary issues. Improved communication vehicles have been an important priority.

Off-Campus Shelving

CDC has engaged with LSF issues on several fronts. A CDC task force (Kimberly Parker, chair) generated a set of compelling selection criteria for off-campus shelving (see http://www.library.yale.edu/Administration/Shelving/ocs.html). The LSF Selection Group (Margaret Powell, chair) is presently engaged with a range of implementation issues in this arena. It has conducted two forums for library selectors on LSF issues.

Electronic Resources

CDC's involvement with e-resources is now routine. A CD-ROM server task force (Diane Goldenberg-Hart, chair) has submitted a draft report regarding implementation of a CD-ROM server; that report is presently being revised. An Audio/Visual Materials task force (Ken Crilly, chair) has similarly submitted in draft a set of recommendations for the disposition of A/V materials throughout the Library.

In the online arena, CDC has been engaged with issues surrounding the licensing of online databases, and especially with the activities of the North East Regional Library consortium (NERL). CDC is exploring ways of strengthening NERL's negotiating posture and capabilities by providing it with appropriate discretionary funds. It has similarly explored ways of creating a centralized fund for licensing and purchase of e-resources of general utility throughout the Yale Library and the University. This effort will be much enhanced through the recent appointment of Kimberly Parker as Electronic Publishing/Collection Development Specialist, and through the creation of a new CDC "e-committee" which will represent the Library's electronic interests system-wide and will be charged with assessing and acquiring electronic resources that are of interest and utility to more than one or two departments.

Education and Training

CDC is committed to fostering the professional development of YUL selectors. The Education & Training Subcommittee (Andy Shimp, chair), which met six times this year, has performed a host of invaluable services including: offering collections budget preparation workshops; organizing forums or presentations on the implications of electronic journals for collection development at Yale, on the Dialog@CARL system, and on the ISI "Web of Science" database. A forum on the implications of remote access information resources in the Yale Library is in the planning stages. The committee has further assisted the Budget Committee in developing a web site of book pricing sources (http://www.library.yale.edu/colldev/).

Special Collections

The Special Collections Subcommittee (Christine Weideman, chair), has also met six times this year. It has provided the first such forum for information exchange among YUL special collections staff. In the course of the year it has addressed the following issues: disposition of unwanted special collections materials; uncataloged backlogs; financial support for preservation activities; and issues surrounding copyright and visual materials. As a result of these discussions, unwanted materials will be described on SELECT-L for the benefit of colleagues; unrecorded backlogs will, it is anticipated, be described on the YUL "special library catalogs" website maintained by Ellen Cordes; preservation support needs have been articulated and ways of addressing these needs explored.

Budget

The Budget Subcommittee (Martha Brogan, chair) works with and advises CDC on policies and procedures in the area of budget allocation and implementation. It seeks to systematize the annual budget process for all selectors by providing a time line for budget proposals, fund allocation, and expenditures, and by compiling a centralized resource file of reports, price indexes, and literature useful in writing annual budgets. It recommends models for budget proposals and identifies types of demographic and fiscal analysis that are best provided centrally for the benefit of all selectors. It reviews the price mechanisms used by YUL in its presentation to the University and presents its findings to the CDC.

This year, the Subcommittee has successfully revised the Library's annual budget proposal letter; created models for budget proposals; recommended methods for funding significant electronic resources; identified budget factors that should be analyzed centrally on behalf of selectors (see the web site above, under Education and Training); reviewed price index mechanisms used by YUL (Ms Brogan's recent appointment to the ALCTS Price Index Committee will permit her to keep CDC apprised of national developments in this arena); compiled an annotated list of reports, price indexes, and publications useful in the budget process; and identified factors influential in budget allocation decisions.

The Subcommittee remains engaged with many of these issues, as well as with: establishing a timeline for the budget process and calendar and advising CDC on budget allocation policies and procedures (a project only partially realized this year due to the accelerated due date for budget proposals).

Communication

CDC has devoted special effort this year to enhancing communication within CDC, among selectors and across the Library generally. Present communication vehicles include: email distribution among CDC members for agendas, announcements, draft minutes and news; SELECT-L, serving the entire selector community; a closed CDC web site serving as an archive of agendas, minutes, and committee documentation; and routine distribution of minutes over YULIB-L to the entire Library staff. LMC time is solicited as needed to seek counsel or to advance CDC agenda items.