The second Collection Development SIG Topic Talk was held on November 7, 2019, and focused on eBooks. Approximately 15 people joined the call, representing various libraries from the ARLIS/NA community. The Topic Talk notes are available via the Google Doc link below and were taken by Mary Seem, Assistant Acquisitions and Cataloging Librarian at the Frick  Art Reference Library, and edited by Chantal Sulkow, Acquisitions … Continue reading Summary of Topic Talk on eBooks / Mary Seem and Chantal Sulkow

The Topic Talk on Gifts – which occurred on July 18th, 2019, and was open to members of the Collection Development SIG and the larger ARLIS/NA community – was an opportunity to discuss issues and concerns surrounding gifts and donations of library material. Approximately 16 people were on the call and they represented libraries in several states.  The call focused on institutional policies for accepting … Continue reading Summary of Topic Talk on Gifts / Mary Seem

This past April, I wrote a column addressing the Shitty Architecture Men list of 2018 and the reactions of some library patrons and staff to certain materials in our small branch.  See https://arlisnacdsig.wordpress.com/2019/04/12/metoo-and-the-library/. This second column includes the results of a brief survey distributed late spring to both the ARLIS and AASL listservs as well as students and faculty here. The results noted below are … Continue reading Gatekeeping and Library Ethics 101 / Barbara Opar

Having been responsible for developing museum library collections of different sizes through my career, I am currently writing a chapter of the upcoming book The New Art Museum Library. While the size of the chapter will be limited, I would like to make sure that I don’t miss any important museum-specific issues regarding collection development. I welcome topic suggestions from the Collection Development SIG membership. Please … Continue reading Request for Museum-Specific Issues Regarding Collection Development / Doug Litts

A recent and unfortunate trend in cultural institutions has been the defunding, reduction and elimination of libraries. Recently, in the art museum research library where I started working as an intern in June, I found myself in an unexpected situation. After the museum board enacted organizational restructuring and budget cuts, the head librarian, who was also my supervisor, was suddenly let go. Our library staff … Continue reading From Library Intern to Interim Librarian / Klaudia Kendall

Libraries must routinely identify and acquire new resources, but they less frequently make large-scale acquisitions to support entirely new academic programs.  This post describes the process of building a new graduate-level, practice-based collection to support a professional Master of Architecture (M.Arch) degree program.  Indiana University announced in March of 2017[1] that it would enroll its first cohort of Master of Architecture students within eighteen months.  … Continue reading Building from the Ground Up: Collection Development Strategies for a New Graduate Master’s Program / Sarah Carter

Thank you to all who attended the meeting of the Collection Development SIG at the 2019 ARLIS/NA Conference in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, March 27, 2019. We invite you to read the minutes, recorded by Christina Peter, which are attached here; please click the link below.  2019 Collection Development SIG Meeting Continue reading Meeting Minutes: The Collection Development SIG at the 2019 ARLIS/NA Conference in Salt Lake City

By Barbara Opar It was International Women’s Day and one of my student assistants mentioned that it has been bothering her for the past year seeing Richard Meier’s name front and center on the two hour reserve stacks which are directly opposite the circulation desk.  We discussed the Shitty Architecture Men list from 2018 and how disturbing it is to see it books on these … Continue reading #metoo and the Library

Without a doubt, collection development is far different from when I entered the profession decades ago.  At times, I even wonder if there is still the same level of interest in collection building across the profession as there was back then when librarians carefully reviewed dealer catalogs for that one gem they deemed noteworthy.  I entered the field when positions for subject librarians were gaining … Continue reading The New Era of Collection Development / Barbara Opar