School of Information Resources and Dr. Bill Edgar

Library Science Office Phone: 520-621-5220

E-Mail: bedgar@u.arizona.edu

                                                                                                                                            Office: No. 2

Course Description: This course is designed to familiarize students with the theory, practice, and issues of collection development. Upon completion of the course, students should be able to develop and maintain library collections meeting the needs of various user groups. Specific topics covered include selection and acquisition of materials in various formats, value provided by collections, types of materials, types of users, collection development policies, collection evaluation, intellectual freedom, weeding, and cooperative collection development. Learning will be through lecture, group presentations, virtual discussions, evaluation of collection aids, guest speakers, and completion of a final project proposing a library collection in some detail. Three credit hours.

Prerequisite: None

Virtual Class Meetings: Class discussions will be on-going. This means that students do not have to be at their computer at specific times.

The instructor will be responding to postings and initiating new ones on Monday and Wednesday afternoons from approximately 3-5 p.m. P.T. (M.T. after the time change) and on Friday afternoons from approximately 1-3 P.T. (M.T. after the time change.) This means that responses from the instructor during the work-week will be at most on a 48 hour turn-around.

The first posting, of the class information and schedule, will be done on Mon. Aug. 27 or as soon after that as allowed by Web CT. Thereafter, all assignments will be due on the assigned Friday by 10 p.m. and all lectures will be posted on Friday afternoons. The lectures and assignments posted or due on a given Friday will form the basis of the next week's discussion.

In addition I will hold office hours on Tuesday afternoons from 1-3 p.m. and on Wednesday afternoons from 1-3 p.m. During these times I will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis for drop-ins or phone calls. Of course, I will also be available for phone or in-person appointments. Please note that I will be at conferences the week of Aug 20-24 and the week of Nov. 5-9 and so will not be available those weeks to respond to postings.

 Required Texts:

There are no required texts.

Assignments and Evaluation:

All students are required to:

1. Complete five collection development tool assessments. A description of this

3. Complete an opening day collection assignment. A description of this assignment

Please note:

• Late work will lose one letter grade from the grade it would have gotten had it been turned in on time. However, the final project, the opening day collection, will not be accepted late.
• Assignments are due no later than 10 p.m. PT (MT after the time change) on the their assigned due date.
• Please include your name at the top of all your assignments.

Grading criteria:

A=90-100

B=80-89

C=70-79

D=60-69

F=59 and below

Attendance and Class Participation:

Active participation is expected. Class participation will have no specific grade value. However, meaningful and active participation will contribute to a student’s final grade by increasing it slightly (for example from a high B to a low A.). Conversely, inappropriate and disruptive participation will lower a student’s final grade.

Academic Misconduct:

Academic misconduct is unacceptable. The appropriate UA regulations regarding it will be enforced.

Class Calendar:

Week of Aug. 20-24

No class
 
 

1. Week of Aug. 27 to Aug. 31

8. Week of Oct. 15-19

 9. Week of Oct. 22-26

10. Week of Oct. 29-Nov. 2

12. Week of Nov. 12-16

  Lecture