Cassell/Hiremath summary & commentary

Hi guys,

So I’ve looked through the Cassell/Hiremath text and taken out what I feel is most relevant – so it’s not really a total summary, more an abridgement for our benefit! I hope that’s okay and of course if any of you have looked through it and found I’ve missed something please let me know/add it in. I’ve kept it fairly top level to promote some discussion so again I hope that’s okay… if you want/need any more detail let me know:)

Note basic points made in the text are in standard typeface; my personal comments are italicised.

Cassell/Hiremath Summary

Definition of a reference book: “ …reference books are those texts set aside to be consulted for specific information rather than to be read as a whole” (p.9). They don’t leave the library, on-hand etc.

There are three types of reference question (P.6-7) –

• Ready Reference: these are the questions with one correct answer, e.g. What year was Brian Cowen born? What is the capital of Ireland?
Generally one, fairly general, resource will answer that and some libraries receiving a high volume of this type of query will have a specific ‘ready reference’ section within the reference collection.
• Research Questions: typically more complex and requiring more than one source of information. This is where a broad range of resources, and types of resources, comes into play.
• Bibliographic Verification: confirming citation for users.

These are three elements we should consider when building our collection, but potentially will happen naturally. Should we consider a ready reference collection?

Writing a Collection Development Policy (p.346-8)

It should include the following –

• Introduction that describes the library, goals, its users, subject area(s). Goals of the reference collections specifically should be addressed e.g. educational, up-to-date. Any secondary users should be mentioned.
• Describe the scope and size of the collection – what is/isn’t included and why.
• Formats of the collection; include separate section on electronic resources including future planning around these. Discussions on maintenance of the collection, how we choose resources in terms of formats.
• Collection levels by subject. (See Research Library Group system for how this should work)
• Types of reference material collected
• Description of staff responsibilities for selection
• Criteria for selection, assessment & weeding
• Sources of funding – planned initiatives etc.
• Relationships with other libraries e.g. consortia agreements etc

Selection & Evaluation of Resources

Methods –

• Book Reviews
• Catalogues from publishers – often subject specific.
• Experience of a resource

There are many of these resources listed in the Cassell but they are mainly general and not Irish so I would think we will primarily be getting these from the libraries/organisations we liaise with.

Potential criteria for assessing reference resources (p.10) –

• Scope
• Quality of content
• Audience-appropriate
• Format
• Arrangement
• Authority
• Currency
• Accuracy
• Ease of use
• Unique Coverage
• Cost

Duplication across formats should be avoided – costly and unnecessary.

When choosing between a print or electronic format, issues such as cost, usability, currency (level of updates with e-format) will play a major role.

Weeding is a necessary part of managing the collection and some policy of this should be looked at; possible criteria include(p.345) –

• Out of date
• New edition available
• Lack of use
• Information is duplicated elsewhere
• Bad condition

Potentially certain resources should have an expiration date e.g. an encyclopaedia has a life cycle of 5 years.

Managing Budget

• Typically an annual budget for reference specifically
• Potentially divided out by format
• Consider consortia, free online resources, exchange agreements, publishing in order to establish exchange agreements.

Staff considerations

Evaluating staff, customer satisfaction, staffing levels, staff training/education etc. ALA “Guidelines for Behavioral Performance of Reference & Information Service Professionals’ are referenced (p.12) –

• Approachability
• Interest
• Listening/Inquiring
• Searching
• Follow-up

There is more detail on these on the ALA website but it’s quite long so I haven’t included – they above bullet points are fairly self-explanatory.

Do we feel the need to include a staffing policy and/or staff evaluation procedure beyond the mention of resourcing reference in our policy?

Information Literacy

Within the various types of reference questions and services, Information Literacy will come into play – Cassell is a strong proponent of the didactic approach to reference and suggests that guiding users through your search for an answer will ultimately prove more beneficial …give a man a fish etc. (p.8-9)

Should we be looking at an IL programme as part of our policy development, or is it sufficient to mention it as an aim when dealing with individual queries?

Within this area, there is a brief mention in this opening chapter on the potential of developing tools and pathfinders for users – particularly around specific subjects. This may not be as relevant for us as our subject is specific anyway but we should definitely consider our website?

Reference services are changing all the time and we need to consider this – remote access, continuous access, mobile/iPod/iPad.

Ethics

Cassell summarises the ALA code of ethics (p.4-5); I’ve taken it from their website here –

• We provide the highest level of service to all library users through appropriate and usefully organized resources; equitable service policies; equitable access; and accurate, unbiased, and courteous responses to all requests.
• We uphold the principles of intellectual freedom and resist all efforts to censor library resources.
• We protect each library user's right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired or transmitted.
• We respect intellectual property rights and advocate balance between the interests of information users and rights holders.
• We treat co-workers and other colleagues with respect, fairness, and good faith, and advocate conditions of employment that safeguard the rights and welfare of all employees of our institutions.
• We do not advance private interests at the expense of library users, colleagues, or our employing institutions.
• We distinguish between our personal convictions and professional duties and do not allow our personal beliefs to interfere with fair representation of the aims of our institutions or the provision of access to their information resources.
• We strive for excellence in the profession by maintaining and enhancing our own knowledge and skills, by encouraging the professional development of co-workers, and by fostering the aspirations of potential members of the profession.

An ethical standpoint will, I think, be a necessary part of establishing our mission statement but it does seem acceptable to use the above rather than inventing our own – it may need some tweaking/specification however.

Marketing

Consideration of promotion and marketing is important generally…to us?? Website feeds into this…potentially so does an information literacy programme…guest speakers…events…can/should this be covered within a development policy?

Comments

Based on the reading I have done I would make a suggestion that perhaps at our next meeting we make some calls on what exactly is to be included, and why, and then perhaps each work on a section, doing some more in-depth reading.

Key areas to look at that will need including are –
• Evaluating Resources & Criteria
• Budgeting
• Website
• Shaping/organisation of collection

Key areas that I picked out as potential for further thought on inclusion/relevance are –

• Information Literacy Programme
• Staffing Considerations
• Marketing/Promotion

Then, in terms of some ideas around actual content, the following –

Encyclopaedias – ‘E of Ireland’? ‘E of Music in Ireland’ being published this year. Musicaviva.com.
Dictionaries – English, Irish, English/Irish, Music, Irish Music, other languages? – latter will be defined by our audience presumably…
Almanacs
Biographical Sources – see Encyclopaedia above, is there a ‘who’s who?’ (I don’t know of one)…
Companions to – Fintan Vallely
Dummies Guide – subject and potentially instrumental guides – although if we’re limiting to ‘history and development’ than instrumental guides may not be necessary.
Government/Official Publications – IMRO, Dept of Culture, Heritage & Gaeltacht (or whatever they’re calling themselves these days). Potentially these will all be free access online but nonetheless worth a mention.
Databases/Indexes
Audio/visual – mention by John about Claddagh records – could we do something with these guys/get their catalogue etc…
Periodicals – Irish Musical Studies, Comhaltas publications, JournalofMusic .com (this is Irish, but not genre specific, but it is free!)…
Consortia agreements – ITMA, UCD/Trinity…

Thinking that sheet music is less of an issue as it’s not really prevalent/valid with this genre...?

Also something that came into my head is that perhaps we need to look at some of the more important collectors and their collections as potentially these would be reference rather than open access – such as Turlough O’Carolan (collected at the 1792 Belfast Harp Festival), Thomas Moore (technically not trad as he re-worked a lot of his collection into fairly stylised balladry for a British audience) and George Petrie (similar to Moore but a little more purist). Although these guys have been somewhat discredited by the purists in the field their work certainly falls into the ‘history’ side of things…although reference, I’m not sure but worth checking out the collection set up in the various institutions we’re checking with.

In terms of modern day collectors I wouldn’t be that knowledgeable on that side of things at all but I know that Nicholas Carolan, who’s director of ITMA, is the/a main man on that front so worth picking his brain I’d say.

There are a lot of resources to look at and so before we get to work on any of the above maybe we should look to define what we are taking to mean by ‘reference collection’ for our purposes (and why) – what do you think?

Over and out…

Potential Visit Sites for Catalogue Build

Hi guys,

Off the top of my head I'm thinking the following -

• UCD music collection


• Trinity - also worth a visit I'd say as they've a really good music collection (by Irish university standards...)


• Irish Traditional Music Archives


• Contemporary Music Centre


• Na Piobairi Uilleann


• Ilac Music Library - Justin has already given this the once over!


• Comhaltas Ceoltairi Eireann

Also I'm thinking we should really get access to MusicPAL for this. (For some reason I can't include the link here but google MusicPAL and click on the Library.ie listing)

Something else to look at for reviews is Journalofmusic.com. I reckon the music librarians in ITMA/UCD will be able to give us pointers on good sources for evaluating reference books - hopefully anyway!

So that's it for now:)