HAWAII HANDS OVER COLL-DEV: HIT 3B

[Pat Wallace <DENWALL@AOL.COM>]

HAWAII HANDS OVER COLL-DEV
HIT 3B:  9/29/96
Fr  Pat Wallace   (DENWALL@aol.com)

This is a continuation of the HIT #3A  posted earlier today insofar
as the commentators are all public school librarians.

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 PUBLIC  LIBRARIANS DISCUSS PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS:
        THE ADVANTAGES OF CENTRALIZED OR PRIVATIZED
                COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT
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POST #35:  Laura Helpert/ lhelpert@ci.temple.tx.us
Children's Librarian/Temple Public Library
Subj:  multicultural collection development /Tue, Sep 3, 96

>>To respond to your inquiry about multiculutural availablilty,
I have a few things to say.

>>First of all, I am a children's librarian in Temple, Tx,   a small
town that lies between Waco and Austin.  I received my MLS from
UT-Austin in 1995, and have been working in my current position
for just over a year.  The city suggests that I use jobbers to order
most of my books, and it usually is rather beneficial in that the
discount allows my book budget to go further than if I ordered
directly from the publishers.  I can however order from any
publisher or small press that I wish.

>>The reality is, I hardly have the time to sort through all of the
publishers catalogs that I receive, and I barely get through my
review journals each month.  I can find the material I would like
to order 95% of the time through Baker &Taylor and Ingram, and
if I don't find what I want there, I go directly through the publisher.

>>I find that there is plenty of multicultural material available from
the jobbers, but what's more interesting is that the kids, of all races,
aren't particularly interested in it.  That isn't to say that it shouldn't
be on the shelf,  but it is more of a teacher/ parent push than a child's
demand.

>>I believe the issues that you are concerned with are academic ones
that will really only be useful at the university level,  once you begin
practicing librarianship, your time will be spent with more practical
kid on kid kinds of problems and queries.  From there you will figure
out what you need and how to get it.
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NOTE:  I can't resist a comment here.  What I haven't said yet is
that I have two bi-racial children, now grown.  As they were
growing up it was apparent to me that the availability of quality children's
literature for children of color was far from an academic
issue.  My daughters saw virtually no images of themselves in books
or on TV in those days.  Only animals came multi-colored, and they
routinely identified the black horse as  the "Daddy" and the white
horse as the "Mommy"!  They also went through a difficult period
of yearning to be Cinderella with golden hair and white, white skin,
and assuming that they were defective because they lacked those qualities.
Thanks to review guides like the Bulletin of the Council
on Interracial Books for Children, I found good and affirming books
for them which helped them grow up to love good literature as well
as themselves.  If your children are not interested in your
"multicultural" books, then you have the wrong books!       <Pat>
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POST #36:   OKLAHOMA   Cindy Carr, Librarian/  Sun, Sep 1, 96
home e-mail:   wccarr@ionet.net
school e-mail: cleve24@edumaster.net
Cleveland High School/ Cleveland, OK
Re: Multicultural Collection Building in School Libraries

>> 1.  Some book jobbers will get books from small publishers for you, even
if they don't stock their books.  You would probably not get a
discount on them, but it would allow you to buy them processed.
Ordering catalog records elsewhere, IF they're available, is time-consuming.
 Cataloging from scratch (which I enjoy) even more so.
Most of my orders are through a jobber.  Time and money costs are important
considerations:  selection, ordering, and processing are important, but I
have lots more to do.

>>I don't buy from publishers' preview collections.  It matches our
money with what they want to sell, rather than with what we need.
(just my opinion).

>>I'm not sure I understand the allusion to "The Emperor's New
Clothes." I don't think I'm going along with a con by buying from
a jobber.  Please remember that publication by a small press is not a
guarantee of quality

>>May I very gently caution you against being doctrinaire?  It's
laudable that you are concerned with providing books that are
"...bias-free, culturally authentic..."--just don't fail to buy those
that are, first, sturdy examples of"children's literature."
**********************************************************

POST #37  From:  DENWALL/Mon, Sep 2, 96
To:    CINDY CARR   wccarr@ionet.ne
Subj:  multicultural collections

>> I really wasn't trying to be "PC" or doctrinaire, nor was I accusing
you or anyone else of being conned by jobbers.  Its just as I said:
I was asking for honest input to put my own (inexperienced) sense of caution
into context provided by more experienced colleagues. We all
have to consider cost and time, of course, but we have an ethical obligation
to avoid inaccurate and/or stereotypical portrayals of the cultures our
children come from.  Of course one looks for quality children's literature
first.  But I would contend that while it is
possible to have bias free material that is bad literature, but it is
not possible to have biased or inaccurate material which is good literature.
                         <Pat Wallace>
















































































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POST #38:  NORTH CAROLINA    Earl J. Moniz
                     emoniz@christcom.net/9-23-96
Lillington Elementary School, Lillington, North Carolina

>>I was intrigued with the responses to the original  posting.
The responses indicated that the services were only being completed
for PUBLIC libraries, but the responses seemed to indicate that the services
were being implemented in the public SCHOOL libraries...
NOT the same thing. . .Why would it make a difference  (to me only,
probably)?

>>Well, I could see quite a few advantages for public libraries. . .

>>1)  They will have the time to study the demographics and gear
the collections to the data on the breakdown of users and ethnical
considerations;

>>2)  If the inter-library loan system works well, they will also be
able to determine how many copies to order in order to provide the
proper coverage on each island and within each branch on each island-
[granted, this type of concern may have been a part of the state
purchasing and coll-dev, BUT not necessarily];

>>3)  As the article explains, it will free the people who pour
over the coll-dev plans to provide more services to the using public;

>>4)  The primary focus of the department of Baker&Taylor will
become public library development.

>>These same advantages at the PUBLIC library level become
disadvantages at public SCHOOL level...

>>1)  The demographics of the school might change on a yearly basis
and unless the B&T folks begin collecting data on the students
OR visit the school OR both, they will have a difficult time adjusting
the user demographics and purchasing appropriate materials;

>>2)  Schools rarely have inter-library loan policies and so the
purchases must be made on a school-by-school basis and NOT
a district or even and island-by-island basis;

>>3)  Most public librarians can be forgiven if they are not aware
of the books in the entire collection (many functions are specialized)-
not so with school librarians (every librarian is expected to
know the entire collection - regardless of the size);  and

>>4)  The only way to bring the B&T folks to focus on a school
system and its individual components would be to assign a full-time person to
each school district - an intriguing concept, to be sure, but something that
I don't think B&T is willing to commit to just yet. . .

>>Some questions which I still have ...

>>1) Will the turning over of the collection mean that no other
purchases may be made individually by the library branches through
other vendors?

>>2) Will B&T also handle the complaints if the collection is
criticized by the public and an uproar begins?

>>3) How many requests for a book is required by the users before
the book is placed on the coll-dev list?

>>4) Does the consignment/buy-back policy remain in efect?

>>All in all, I have mixed feelings about the policy.
Strongly in favor in some cases and strongly against in others...
I am anxious to see what others have to say...

>>P.S.  As an aside,  we librarians often complain about so much to do
and not enough time in the day to accomplish it all ... and then, when
someone eliminates one of our major concerns, and probably a quite
time-consuming tasks, we complain even louder (or seem to be anyway)...
**********************************************************

POST #39:  Mary K. Chelton   mchelton@cadvantage.com
To: PUBYAC <pubyac@nysernet.org>/Sun, 22 Sep 96

>>While I understand Pat Wallace's concern (I think), I have a
different read on vendor-purchased collection development as
an alternative to the traditional book examination centers,
read-before-purchase systems.

>>First of all, in a political climate where taxpayers refuse to
pay more for goverment services, library  management wants to
reduce fixed overhead, and there is a serious question about the
added value of an in-house labor-intensive process when most
trade print materials are reviewed in professional journals.
(The issue for me in this regard is getting alternative
viewpoints which are not reviewed,  but which a local youth
audience many want.)  If the reviews are inadequate, we
should possibly put our energy into either reviewing ourselves
for those journals or asking them, as their subscriber-customers,
to improve the reviewing.

>>Having participated in such selection processes myself, I
also realize that, under the guise of training new staff to be
discriminating, a lot of time is wasted on titles rejected for
purchase, rather than asking  new staff to spend the time
familiarizing themselves with what is already in the collections
they are supposed to be using.  One might argue that a few "turkeys"
sent by a vendor would be worth a better use of training time.

>>Secondly, ever since the Supreme Court decision some 20 years
ago which said that businesses, including publishers, had to pay
taxes on unsold inventory, print runs have decreased and the
window of opportunity to get anything  is much smaller than a
ponderous local process  can respond to.  Vendors are on top of
this, as are centralized collection development staff in public
libraries,  another bone of contention with youth librarians
in this regard.

>>Personally, I think it is a much better use of professional time
to write a collection profile and contract for a vendor than read
book by book and discuss everything until it's out of stock.  If vendor
employees have MLS degrees, they offer another market for library
school graduates. If selecting books is most important to you, go
work for a vendor; if serving the public is, work in a library.

>>Collection development is an expensive management process. It is
not book by book selection. What I really worry about is whether any
of the academics who are either lauding the Hawaii decision or condemning it,
are also setting out to help evaluate the process, or
are we once again to be mired in rhetoric rather than real evaluation.
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POST #40:  TEXAS       Leslie M. Ross Thu, 26 Sep 96
Children's Specialty Librarian/Storyteller
Fort Worth Public Library
<lross@amon.pub-lib.ci.fort-worth.tx.us>
To: PUBYAC <pubyac@nysernet.org>

>>I realize that the original message was about multi-cultural
selection but I wanted everyone to know how the vendor collection development
is
working for us here in Fort Worth.  Due to enormous cutbacks from
the city, the library was forced to reorganize and one of the ways
that they chose to do this was to have a vendor do the selection for
the majority of the children's materials.  The first year they went
with Follett and for the last three years we have been with Brodart.
Linda Homa at Brodart has been super at working with us to refine
the profiles that we send in from each library and then ordering
materials that fit our communities.  She has a portion of our budget
to work with and a small portion is held in reserve for each librarian
to order materials for their unit if it is 'missed' by Linda.  We still
read all the review journals for ourselves and some of us make up
order slips for the materials that we 'just have to have` for our unit.
The profiles that we send to Linda include information about our
current collections, our community makeup and what we feel are our strengths
and weaknesses.  I for one really like this system because
it gives me more time to focus on programming and public service and
I know that Brodart is going to provide for the needs of my unit.
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POST #41:  VIRGINIA   Carolyn Caywood   22 Sep 1996
Virginia Beach, VA   <carolyn@infi.net>
http://duckdock.acic.com/carolyn/
To: PUBYAC <pubyac@nysernet.org>

>>I work for a system that centralized collection development
about 10 years ago.  At the time, I was certain I would miss
selection, and Iwas anxious about how well it would be done.
On the whole, I have not felt left out -- we planned in a lot
of feedback loops, and marketing, use analysis and weeding
are still decentralized.  I am convinced that the overall quality
of selection has improved since it is being done by librarians
who have that as their main job focus.  I can imagine that
centralized collection development would not be such a
positive experience if everyone were not involved in planning
the transition, if it were forced by an administration without
respect for staff, and if the collection development staff did not
see their job as including keeping the rest of the staff informed
and satisfied.  I would have to say exactly the same thing for
cataloging.  I find it curious that no one ever seems to be upset
about the centralization of cataloging, yet access to the collection through
classification and subjects is just as vital.  Fortunately our catalogers see
their job the same way as our bibliographers.

>>Privatizing collection development is a different matter from
centralizing it.
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POST #42:   Carolyn Caywood    <carolyn@infi.net>
To: PUBYAC /  Tue, 24 Sep 96
Re: Fwd: Privatization of libraries

 >>To me, the most interesting aspect of all this is the way two
diametrially opposite trends are developing in this decade.  While
jobbers and superstores loom larger in traditional commercial
publishing, technology from photocopiers to the Internet is
fostering the growth of amateur publishing.  On the one hand we
have the blockbuster best seller and on the other the ideosyncratic musings
of tiny SIGs.  It's really the middle ground that's gone.
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POST #43:   ILLINOIS    Jane M. Whiteside/ Sun, 22 Sep 1996
jmwhiteside@starbase1.htls.lib.il.us

Fountaindale Public Library District/Bolingbrook, IL
To: PUBYAC <pubyac@nysernet.org>

>>What concerns me most about the article regarding Hawaii
handing over selection to Baker and Taylor was the 100 percent
figure.  Vendors can certainly help with some of the process, but
to giveup all flexibility sounds to me like also giving up all
selection authority and responsibility as well.

>>I have worked with Baker and Taylor and now Book Wholesalers,
Inc. with approval plans for some years at our library.  We still
give them the list of authors and publishers, awards, review
sources,etc. that we want in our  library.  It takes the headache
out of paperback series.  From my perspective, approval plans
are easier to do for non-fiction than fiction.  It is also easier
the larger your budget.

>>I certainly like some of the convenience, but I would not want to
rely exclusively  on someone else's criteria.  If anyone has
additional comments on working with approval plans, please reply
to me directly.
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POST #44:   NEVADA   Susan Graf  Tue Sep 24,  96
e-mail susang@lvccld.lib.nv.us
Family Services Librarian /North Las Vegas Library District
To: PUBYAC <pubyac@nysernet.org>

>>I attended a presentation at ALA in Chicago with the Director
and Head of Children's from San Bernadino Pub Lib.  They had
made the move to outsource collection development due to the
high cost of coll dev meetings held each month (apparently this
is a very large county with far-flung branches that required
overnight stays to attend the monthly meeting). I would be
interested in hearing from someone there as to how this program
worked out.

>>As I remember, almost a quarter million dollars a year
was to be saved, and put to purchasing materials for children's
(why they agreed to the change).

>>Although I feel that material selection is an essential part of
my job, I do believe that the answer(s) to this might be more half
and half,  not either/or.    Like developing a "standing order" for a
major portion of the budget, with some individual selection. For
instance, I signed our library up for Library (formerly Literary)
Guild selections, and have been pleased with the books we've received.
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END OF HAWAII HANDS OVER.....HIT 3B     9/29/96