Selection Process Selection process is one of the tasks in the library which requires you to understand the principal

reason why a collection must be built. The principal reason is to meet the users wants and needs. Collection development isnt about buying new books; it is about mixing new releases with standard titles. It is about weeding and maintaining, not just ordering everything on (a best of) list. It requires a balancing act between quality and popularity, single copies and multiples, old and new. (Patrick Jones) Process of Selection 1. Identification of the collection needs in terms of subjects and specific types of materials. 2. Determining how much money is available for collection development and allocating a specific amount for each category or subject 3. Allocation of fund for specific discipline and type of materials to be acquired. 4. Finding what, where, and how to acquire the desired materials. 4 Related Terms in Selection and Acquisition Work. Standing Order is normally placed for a series (e.g., Routledges Literary Criticism and Cultural Theory series). Blanket Order is placed for a subject field, grade level, or countrys publications (e.g., all books about politics in Latin America, all books for undergraduates, or all books published in Finnish in Finland). Approval Plan allow the library to examine items before deciding to buy. They are not firm orders, which are legal contracts. Till Forbidden to indicate that the publisher or supplier of a journal should automatically renew a subscription without any further approval from the library. This system saves time and money for both the library and publisher or supplier by reducing the amount of paperwork required to maintain subscriptions. Different Types of Selection Environment Academic Libraries Cover a very broad range of collections largely devoted to instruction, study, recreation and research in general and specific disciplines and with levels ranging from undergraduate, masteral, doctoral and even post doctoral degrees. Support of the curriculum is the primary objective of the academic library collection. In big university libraries, subject or area studies librarians are employed to act as selectors, thus reducing the involvement of faculty members in the selection process. The professional librarians in academic libraries are more involve in the selection of reference works.

Public Libraries Diversity is the primary characteristics of public libraries selection process. Customers of public libraries differ in terms of social, cultural, and economic status. Materials to be selected must reflect and cater to this diversity. The chief librarian does all the selecting, the professional librarian becomes the sole selector who after all is trained in this job.

School Libraries Similar to academic libraries, curriculum support dominates school library media center collection management. Materials acquired are devoted to teaching requirements and teachers are actively involved in the selection process. Teacher librarians rely mostly on recommendations and evaluations by teachers. Previewing is very important in the selection process because school libraries acquire more non-print materials.

Special Libraries One general characteristic of special libraries is small space usually in a single room of a commercial firm, corporate body, scientific and technical organizations, industrial enterprises and government agencies. Because of lack of space, collections do not grow and deselection is a must. The nature of the collection is highly specialized and usually focuses on a narrower subject. The collection of special library is more current. On the whole, items in the working collection of a special library tend to be no older than 25-30 years. Also a high proportion of collection is devoted to serials with as much as 80% of these titles have scientific or technical orientation. (Clayton and Gorman 2001 : 85) The librarian tends to be a subject specialist and heavily rely his selection to the recommendations and suggestions of the users and not so much with standard selection tools.

Criteria for Selection 1. Authority of creators What are the authors qualifications, and has he or she written other works in the same area? What is the authors reputation as indicated in the reception of his or her other publications? How reputable is the publisher, and is it known as a producer of works in the particular field? 2. Scope What does the work set out to do? Does it achieve this? Is it meant to be a detailed analysis of the subject addressed, or is it meant to present a broad overview? Is it meant to be exhaustive or selective in its coverage? 3. Treatment and level Who according to the author is most likely to read the work?
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4. Arrangement How logically does the author present a case? As a selector, you should look at the organization of content by paying attention to both content and format. The information in material can be arranged in a topical, chronological, biographical, etc, suitable to the subject and access through table of contents, bibliographic references, and index. 5. Format Two major formats print-based media digital media Has the material been produced to a high standard physically, and is likely to stand up to substantial use? Are the illustrations appropriate and produced to a high standard? Is the typeface clear and appropriate to the text? Is the quality of sound and visual imagery clear and appropriately expressive?

6. Special features This criterion insists that you should look for something special or star quality that will give the material some positive benefit to the readers. Procedures for selection 1. The first task is to check your existing collection first before deciding to purchase a particular item that was recommended for acquisitions. To be accurate, a complete check of bibliographic citation is needed. This task is called Bibliographic searching or verification 2. The second task is to check the price and the date of publication. 3. Third task is to check the format of the material. 4. The final procedure to attain effective selection is maintaining good relation with book dealers, suppliers, and subscription agents to make sure that if you accidentally committed an error in selection, negotiation with them is not a problem. Categories of Selection Aids Current sources of In-Print Books Catalogs, Flyers and announcements Current Review Sources Bibliographic Data Bases Recommended, best, and core collection lists Subject bibliographies Standard Guides Guides in Non-Print and Electronic Media Guides to Periodicals and Reference Materials

Electronic Materials - Another storage format in one sense, digitized data does allow compact storage of large quantities of information History of Electronic Resources it began with the development of computer assisted typesetting and printing magnetic tape was created magnetic tapes and punch cards process the queries so slowly any typographical errors in the query required redoing the entire search Magnetic tape was replaced by much faster disk cracks. these development provided the first truly online searching. The primary user was the professional librarian. Each vendor has developed powerful search language to support fast and precise retrieval of citations. people who use search systems to internet with databases directly without the assistance of an intermediary are termed end-users End users are unwillingly to commit the time and energy required to learn the command language. CD-ROM systems were developed for end-users services. if a library has a website, everything must be up on the web.

Types of Electronic Materials 1. Full text - most challenging and replete with options, or text without graphics. Formats: Online DVD Rom CD Microform 2. Music - legal recordings and variety of music 3. Numeric Data Bases - census, as tapes that were mounted on mainframes. 4. Traditional Reference Materials - online bibliographies, indexes, abstracts and other materials that is traditional. 5. Software - computing services that are most likely to maintain the collection of educational application. 6. Institutional Repositories (IR) - set of services that a university offers to the members of the community for the management and dissemination of digital materials created by the institution and its community members.

Tools in search systems: Database - is any collection of information with an internal structure that is organized so that its contents can easily be accessed, managed, and updated. Boolean Logic Refers to the logical relationship among search items, and is named after mathematician George Boole. Allows you to combine words and phrases into search statements to retrieve documents from searchable databases.

Boolean logic consists of three logical operators: AND Logic used to make more restrictive set by requiring that a criteria meet by the conditions stated to be included in the final set. The more terms or concepts we combine in a search with AND logic, the fewer results we will retrieve. OR Logic used to create a set by making an item eligible for inclusions if it meets at least one of the stated criteria Most commonly used to search for synonymous terms or concepts. Collates the results to retrieve all the unique records containing one term, the other term, or both of them. The more terms or concepts we combine in a search with OR logic, the more results we will retrieve. NOT Logic Used to make more restrictive set. It creates a set of items that meet the condition A and then removes from the set those items that also meet condition B. Truncation

Refers to shortening a word or eliminating some characters from a longer term to pick up variants. Truncation is a searching technique used in databases in which a word ending is replaced by a symbol. The computer is told to put into a single set all those items that share a common sequence of characters, even if they do not share all the same characters. This process can also be called a "wildcard" search or stemming. Truncation enables different forms of a word to a searched for simultaneously, and will increase the number of search results found. Example: If the truncation symbols is *, then the truncated word, laugh*, will search for results containing laugh, laughter, laughing etc.

Displaying Index a primary index, called the "inverted index", is built on an alphabetical basis Without the inverted index, the computer would have to scan the entire database. Thesaurus The function of the term is made explicit. a book of words or of information about a particular field or set of concepts; especially : a book of words and their synonyms a list of subject headings or descriptors usually with a cross-reference system for use in the organization of a collection of documents for reference and retrieval Positional Searching Allows great precision in identifying material. Proximity - computer retrieval systems that allow a searcher to specify a particular The end-user's information has expanded from a tidy solar system in an immense and expanding galaxy. Reference Collection - It's a distinct set of print and electronic resources selected and required by reference librarians and made available within a recognizable space to local user communities. - Can be helpful to see both the past and the present as preludes to discerning possible routes to the future. 4 categories of criteria in selecting electronic materials: 1. Content Aspects like quality, accuracy, authoritativeness, and currency of data are factors that you will consider. One final item on the list of content consideration is whether the product offers some value added advantage over existing print versions. 2. Access One aspect of access is availability of materials. Check whether the library has in its collection, titles of journals cited in the abstracting and indexing services that the library subscribes in the net. Another concern is the type of search engine or interface used by the product. 3. Support During selection process, the first question is: How much initial and ongoing library staff training is necessary to provide customer support? Is the telephone number of the vendors customer service open 24 hours to answer queries on technical problems? 4. Cost The most obvious costs are the initial cost of the product and ongoing charges for updates. Additional costs may include connection and telecommunication charges; print charges; downloading charges; optional features, such as saved charges; and charges for management reports or software.
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