Field Trip!

~I've been slacking with this blog, and so many interesting things have happened in the past couple of weeks. Today I went on a field trip for one of my classes, "Resource Selection and Evaluation", in which I'm learning how to build and manage a collection of materials for a library.

Our first stop on the trip was Perkins Library at Duke University. After some navigational difficulties caused by Duke's maze-like layout (and construction detours), I arrived and listened to the collections staff talk about area studies, foreign vendors, foreign-language materials, and so forth. The collections manager for China and Japan told me about the Japan National Library, and how ruthless the Japanese are about enforcing copyright law and restricting downloads from databases.

The next stop on the trip was the D.H. Hill Library at N.C. State University. This time, the panel consisted of the science collections staff, who discussed their work and relationships between the collections staff and faculty. This can be tricky, since many faculty do not understand collections issues, especially relating to academic journals which they want but the library cannot afford (or must cut other journals to compensate). The key is to engage the faculty and make them a part of the collections process, which helps to both minimize irritation when cuts are made and build a stronger overall collection.

I am registered for a course in Science Information next semester, which will cover many of these topics in more depth, so this visit to D.H. Hill was a great introduction to the subject for me.

Our final stop of the day was the Library Administration building for Wake County, located in eastern Raleigh. I'd been to the administration complex once before, to pick up free Hurricanes tickets as a gift for volunteering at Wake County Libraries. Here, the class spoke with Betty Utley, the head of collections development for the entire county system. I enjoyed this visit the most, as I am interested in a career in public libraries.

I also learned a lot of things about the library system that I wasn't aware of. For example, Wake County libraries have a "free-floating collection", which means that books are shelved in the library that they are returned to. So if one was to borrow a book from, say, Cary Public Library, and return it at Eva Perry, the book would "live" at Eva Perry until returned somewhere else.

While this system necessitates the periodic reshuffling of books to other libraries, there are several advantages. Books will tend to accumulate in libraries where they are most used; for example, one library is finding itself with more and more large-print books, which may be caused by many seniors that live in the area (a study is underway to determine exactly why). Patrons are better served when the books they tend to read are closer to them. In addition, the county saves money on fuel expenses, because books do not need to be transported back to a designated library when they are returned somewhere else.

I also learned about services that the libraries provide that I wasn't aware of. For example, did you know that you can access electronic databases from home, using your library card number and PIN? Also, you can request an item that isn't in the Wake County collection by using the Inter-Library Loan system, which will locate the book in the U.S. and mail it to a Wake library for pickup at no cost to you!

The field trip was a great experience, and I really enjoyed talking with the presenters. I may look into a field experience program (and job) with the Wake County library system.