Columbia University participated in the 5th annual Cooperative Collection Development Workshop for South Asian Resources on October 17th, 2014, in Madison Wisconsin.
Overview of previous workshops:
At the 1st Cooperative Collection Development Workshop in 2010, 20 participants focused on monographic subject profiles for materials received from the Library of Congress Delhi office. 52 profile categories were decreased so as to free up funds to commit to 186 additional categories. The main focus of the new categories was on lesser covered subjects nationwide. Columbia specific deletions in 2010 included several English, Bengali, and Nepali language subjects. Columbia specific additions included a range of subjects including Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Manipuri, Marathi, Panjabi, Sanskrit, and Tamil languages.
The 2nd Cooperative Collection Development Workshop was held in 2011, and focused on serial literature profiles. There were 19 participants. Based on a detailed comparison of highly subscribed and lesser subscribed serials, it was discovered that of the slightly more than 4700 serial titles offered by the Library of Congress Cooperative Acquisitions, less than 10% of the titles were held by 10 or more institutions, and almost 70% of the titles were subscribed by five or fewer institutions. The goal of the workshop was to effect a 10% reduction (in number of titles) in each member’s serials subscription, and to increase by a 5% addition of new titles starting with the next serial renewal cycle.
The 3rd Cooperative Collection Development Workshop, in 2012, focused on local specialization of collections. 18 institutions committed to collect in specialized areas that simultaneously support local needs and contribute uniquely to the national collection. As an outcome of this workshop, Columbia committed to collecting art catalogs from South Asia.
The 4th Cooperative Collection Development Workshop, in 2013, focused on the theme of how to communicate the success, value, and impact of cooperative collection development to external groups including faculty, administrators, and the broader library community. The workshop included two in depth presentations on comic books collections and on diasporic Jewish materials, and a working group was created to draft a vision statement for the collective.
The 5th Annual South Asia Cooperative Collection Development Workshop focused on the theme of collection assessment and promotion, and revisited SACAP monographic profiles to examine continued overlap and specialization and to identify possibilities for collaboration. For purposes of the workshop, participants divided into “regional groupings” (SAC-East/Borrow Direct, SAC-West, and CIC) and into “affinity area” groups. (Affinity areas include a) language materials, b) subjects, c) geographic regions, d) miscellaneous including formats). Discussion was based on updated 2014 spreadsheets including data on participant costs and data based on region and subject affinities. There was also discussion devoted to collection assessment tools, such as OCLC WorldShare Collection Evaluation’s expert mode features.
More details of all five workshops are available at the South Asian Cooperation website.