Volume 4, Number 4: March 12, 1999
Virtual Collection Development
Jane Pearlmutter
UW-Madison
School of Library & Information StudiesElectronic resources are becoming increasingly important to all types of libraries. How does this impact traditional library collections, and how do librarians keep up with the changes? In an on-line continuing education course, Jane Pearlmutter, faculty associate in UW-Madison's School of Library & Information Studies, has been teaching librarians around the country -- and the world -- to select and evaluate these resources, develop policies, and consider methods of delivering electronic resources to library users. She originally developed the course, Virtual Collection Development, with the assistance of a grant from UW-Extension.
Participants connect from their libraries or homes via the World Wide Web, and use WebCT courseware to do readings, post assignments, discuss the topics with other students, create student web pages, and contact the instructor. The course is composed of six modules, which correspond to the six weeks of the course. In each module there is a short "lecture," readings for the week (which include articles from electronic journals and links to other web sites), and discussions questions or projects. Most students report working four to six hours per week on the course.
In the course Bulletin Board, students discuss topics such as the evolving responsibilities of a collection development librarian, budgeting and reallocating from print to electronic resources, evaluating Internet resources, negotiating licenses, cataloging and access issues, filtering, and copyright. Students also may email the instructor with private questions or comments.
In the first four sessions of Virtual Collection Development Pearlmutter has had nearly 200 students from 42 states and 10 countries. Students appreciate the exchange of information with librarians in a wide variety of locations and types of libraries. Ellen Buchberger, a student in the course, commented, "This has been a fascinating and valuable experience -- once I learned what I was doing. There was so much good information here -- especially the readings and diverse comments from a wide range of librarians. This method of course presentation is going to be the way of the future, and I'm glad to be in at the beginning." Helena Mlekus, participating from Ljublana, Slovenia, said, "I was very glad to participate at the Internet course and I have learned a lot from the course materials as well as from the answers of other participants."
The course was originally created in Lotus Notes/LearningSpace software and redesigned for WebCT when UW-Madison began its WebCT pilot project in the fall of 1998. Most students find this software very easy to use and report that they would take another course in this format. In addition, students benefit from the fortuitous match of the teaching medium with the subject matter. A fifth session of Virtual Collection Development is planned for May-June 1999.
The company site for WebCT has screen shots of all of the features of the courseware, accessible via an image map at http://homebrew.cs.ubc.ca/webct/imap/imagemap.html In addition, anyone interested in trying out the courseware as either a student or course designer can obtain a guest account to do so at http://homebrew.cs.ubc.ca/webct/try/
For more information about the specific course on Virtual Collection Development, please contact Jean Pearlmutter.