Rationalizing Collections to Support Multidisciplinary Research

1
Rationalizing Collections to Support
Multi-disciplinary Research Teaching

• Dr. Don Wicks
• Associate Professor Kent State University
• School of Library and Information
  Science
• Melissa Spohn
• Collection Development Librarian/ Assistant
  Professor
• Kent State University Libraries and Media
  Services
• Edith Scarletto
• Liaison Librarian to Family and Consumer Studies
• Kent State University Libraries and Media
  Services
• Academic Library Association of Ohio
• 30th Annual Conference Dayton, OH 12 November
  2004

2
Multi-disciplinary Collection Development

• In order to examine the growing situation of
  collecting for interdisciplinary areas, we chose
  to focus on a mature field, Gerontology.

3
Rationalizing Collections to Support
Multi-disciplinary Research Teaching

• Questions
• Is there a match between the needs of
  gerontological researchers and resources
  available to them?
• How is collection development coordinated in
  cross-disciplinary fields such as gerontology?

4
Importance of Gerontology

• Seniors in the United States
• 2001 12.6 of population
• 2010 13.2
• 2030 19.99

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Importance of Gerontology

• Senior population in Ohio
• 2000 1.5 million ?2025 2.3 million
• Age 60
• 2000 1,963,489 (gt17)
• 2020 2,822,000 (a 44 increase)

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Rationalizing Collections to Support
Multi-disciplinary Research Teaching

• The Literature
• Studies of older adults and caregivers
• Bird, Gwen. Survey on the Use of Information
  Sources in the Field of Aging. Bulletin of the
  Medical Library Association v. 82, n. 1, Jan.
  1994, p. 30-35.
• Hepworth, Mark. (2004). A framework for
  understanding user requirements for an
  information service Defining the needs of
  informal carers. Journal of the American Society
  for Information Science and Technology. 55 (8),
  695-708.
• Spanner, Don. (2001). Border Crossings
  Understanding the Cultural and Informational
  Dilemmas of Interdisciplinary Scholars. The
  Journal of Academic Librarianship. 27 (5),
  352-360.
• Wicks, Don A. (2004). Older adults and their
  information seeking. Behavioral Social Sciences
  Librarian. 22 (2), 1-26.

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Rationalizing Collections to Support
Multi-disciplinary Research Teaching

• Studies of Interdisciplinarity Collection Devt
• Dodson, Cynthia. (1996). Collection evaluation
  for interdisciplinary fields A comprehensive
  approach. Journal of Academic Librarianship. 22
  (4), 279-284.
• Forte, Eric. (2002). Developing a training
  program for collection mangers. Library
  Collections, Acquisitions, Technical Services.
  26 (3), 299-306. Includes the Collection
  Managers Manual (http//www.library.ucsb.edu/col
  man/)
• Wilson, Myoung Chung. (1996). Collection
  development in an interdisciplinary context.
  Journal of Academic Librarianship. 22
  (3),195-200.

8
Rationalizing Collections to Support
Multi-disciplinary Research Teaching

• Methodology 3 Stages
• Interviews with scholars
• Content analysis of OhioLINK
  institutions and their libraries
• Survey of collections librarians

9
Rationalizing Collections to Support
Multi-disciplinary Research Teaching

• Stage I The Interviews
• Plan is to interview 20 faculty with an interest
  in gerontology
• Thus far 7 faculty from 7 disciplines
• Gerontology Nursing
• Philosophy Psychology
• Sociology Speech Audiology
• Communication Studies

10
Stage I The Interviews

• Interview Questions
• What is your discipline?
• How long have you been researching in this area?
• Identify a project or teaching experience in the
  area of gerontology.
• What resources did you use to prepare for this
  project or class?
• What indexing or abstracting services do you use?
  Are these available through your library?
• Have you used inter-library loan? Library staff?
• Do you collaborate with others? How is such
  collaboration facilitated?
• How is your research funded?

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Stage I The Interviews

• Research Interests
• Care giving
• Social cognition in older adults
• Relational communication
• Osteoporosis
• Bioethics end-of-life issues
• Chronic illness in older adults
• The voice aging
• Medical sociology

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Stage I The Interviews

• Research Teaching
• Grandparents raising grandchildren Grad. Seminar
  in gerontology
• Older mothers of adults with mental
  illness Medical ethics
• Web Information on quality care Health care
• Care giving of stroke victims
• Health education literacy
• Mass media campaigns re. depression
• Alcohol use in women 65
• Osteoporosis in women 50
• Surrogate decision-making
• Older couples where 1 partner has diabetes
• The voice the aging process
• Health aging body composition

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Stage I The Interviews

• Sources Used
• 6 Networking (email, conferences, committees,
  etc.)
• 5 Indexes Abstracts (see next slide)
• 5 Journals online
• 3 Journals - print
• 3 Inter-library loan / document delivery
• 3 Library staff
• 3 Other library
• 3 Personal collection
• 2 Books
• 2 Government Documents
• 3 Other (Google, Public Service Announcements,
  Films, NY Times)

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Stage I The Interviews

• Indexes Abstracts
• Medline
• CINAHL
• ERIC
• PsycINFO
• AgeLine
• Sociological Abstracts
• Philosophy Index
• Academic Search Premier
• Communication Mass Media Complete

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Stage I The Interviews

• PROs
• Availability of sources online
• Asked for training got it quickly
• CONs
• Getting help with government documents
• Hard to find prepared tests in library

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Stage I The Interviews

• Some kind of centralization of measurements they
  use in gerontological research, social science
  and health care research in general would be
  good. (Gerontology professor)
• I worry about maybe getting too fat and not ever
  walking over to the library. laughing Im sort
  of serious. There is something special about
  going over to the library, and I find myself
  doing that much less now than I ever did in the
  past. (Gerontology professor)
• Getting information without having to physically
  go to the library is the mainstay of our research
  trajectory so its been improved over the
  years. (Nursing professor)

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Stage I The Interviews

• I want to tell you the honest to goodness truth
  Ive hardly ever set foot in that library
  anymore, cause the part I do, I do online.
  (Psychology professor)
• The reason I dont use the library is not
  because I dont like the library laughter
  dont take it personally but its, uh, uh,
  theres no point for me to be there, you know,
  because it is a small enough area that Im
  familiar with most of whats out there either I
  have it myself or I can get it very easily.
  (Speech Audiology professor)

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Stage I The Interviews

• I dont think I have ever used the reference
  librarian here to help me sort of narrow down a
  focus topic. I pretty much got that under my belt
  laughter , I think. (Sociology professor)
• Would I, could I, and should I have contacted
  someone in the library to, say, help me answer
  this question on chronic disease in USA I
  think so. (Philosophy professor)

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Stage I The Interviews

• Conclusions
• Gerontology researchers come from many
  disciplines and are cross-disciplinary in their
  research interests.
• Gerontology scholars heavily use journals and
  indexing services.
• They strongly prefer electronic access.
• They seldom use library staff.

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Rationalizing Collections to Support
Multi-disciplinary Research Teaching

• Stage II Content Analysis
• Which OhioLINK institutions have a gerontology
  program?
• At what level? Offered through which department?
• Does the library home page show links to
  gerontological resources? What kinds?

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Stage II Web site Content Analysis

• OhioLINK institutional web sites examined to
  discover what programs in gerontology existed
• Library home pages searched to see whether and
  how users were directed to gerontology resources.

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Stage II Web site Content Analysis

• Findings
• OhioLINK institutions
• 84 (not including the State Library)
• Of these 84
• 25 (29.7) had some program
• 19 (22.6) had 1-3 courses only
• 44 (52.3) institutions with some offering in
  gerontology

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Stage II Web site Content Analysis
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Stage II Web site Content Analysis

• Do libraries in these institutions
• assist users to find gerontological
• information?
• How?

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Stage II Web site Content Analysis
Library Activities
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Stage II Web site Content Analysis

• Analysis of the Librarys web presence
• Links sometimes buried
• Usually, links are related to a subject area such
  as sociology, psychology, nursing, recreation
  leisure.
• One institution (BGSU) has many links.
• Only four libraries use the word gerontology
• It would be interesting to compare this to the
  treatment given other inter-disciplinary areas
  such as womens studies or area studies.

27
Stage II Web site Content Analysis

• Conclusions
• 52 of OhioLINK institutions have a gerontology
  program and/or courses of some kind.
• Libraries at 39.5 of these institutions identify
  gerontology resources on their web sites.
• Only two identify the person responsible for
  gerontology collection development.
• Not all OhioLINK libraries whose institution has
  a gerontology emphasis identify sources directly.

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Stage II Web site Content Analysis

• Most that do have only links or indirect
  connections to gerontology resources.
• A very few have several connections or have
  resources specifically named gerontology.
• Of course, patrons can use the catalog to search
  using the term gerontology.
• It is also possible that the libraries of
  institutions with no gerontology program provide
  guidance / tools for users.

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Stage III Survey of Academic Librarians

• Distribution method
• Ohio
• Cirm-L (Cooperative Information Resources
  Management Committee, OhioLINK)
• ALAO-L (Academic Library Association of Ohio
  members list)

• National
• ALA Family and Consumer Sciences Discussion Group
• ACRL Discussion Lists
• ANSS-L (Anthropology and Sociology)
• EBSS-L (Education and Behavioral Science)

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Stage III Survey of Academic Librarians

• Why use listservs to target the population?
• We are investigating multidisciplinary collection
  practices.
• Listserv discussion groups have a broad range of
  users both in collection development and in
  subject bibliography/ liaison practitioners.
• Choosing institutions or individuals with an
  interest in Gerontology for the population group
  would have limited the response potential of
  collectors outside that discipline.

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Stage III Survey of Academic Librarians

• Flashlight Online Survey The Instrument
• http//flashlightonline.wsu.edu
• Online survey builder
• Dedicated web address
• Anonymous response system
• Automated data collection and storage

32
Stage III Survey of Academic Librarians

• Survey Questions
• Who makes the selections for gerontology?
• What kinds of materials are selected?
• What programs does the collection support?
• How are gerontology collections funded?
• What resources are most often used?
• Is there any collaboration within your library or
  with other OhioLINK libraries on gerontological
  collections?
• What departments are interested in such
  collections?

33
Stage III Survey of Academic Librarians

• Observations
• Listserv medium creates unknown population size
• Data raises many issues
• No statistically significant results

34
Stage III Survey of Academic Librarians

• Who Answered the Survey?
• 7 Collection Management/ Development librarians
• 11 Subject specialists/ bibliographers
• 4 Library staff members

35
Stage III Survey of Academic Librarians

• Primary Collection Responsibilities
• 18 Librarian / subject specialist
• 14 Departmental / faculty representative
• 6 Collection management / devt staff
• 2 Other faculty subject librarian

36
Stage III Survey of Academic Librarians Size of
library budgets
37
Stage III Survey of Academic Librarians Funding
for Multidisciplinary Areas

• Multidisciplinary Areas with specific funding
• Womens Studies / Gender Studies / GLBT
• Area Studies Canadian, Caribbean, Latin
  American, etc.
• Cultural Studies African American, African,
  Jewish, Ethnic, Asian, Chicano, etc.
• Communications
• Anthropology
• Social Work
• Classics
• Other Architecture, Career, Linguistics

38
Stage III Survey of Academic Librarians Types of
Institutions
39
Stage III Survey of Academic Librarians Degree
Programs in Gerontology
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Stage III Survey of Academic Librarians
Institutions with Formal Cooperatives

• OhioLINK
• OhioLINK has cooperative collection groups, but
  not for Gerontology
• Non OhioLINK
• 12 other consortia members
• 5 have cooperative groups for interdisciplinary
  topics
• 6 not aware of any cooperative groups

41
Stage III Survey of Academic Librarians Use of
Vendors with Interdisciplinary Collections

• OhioLINK-YBP
• 7 YBP users
• 1 used YBPs Gerontology Interdisciplinary
  Topics selecting tool
• Non-OhioLINK
• 16 of 17 librarians have a collection vendor that
  allows them to specify interdisciplinary topics
• 12 utilize this feature most use it as one part
  of the collections process

42
Stage III Survey of Academic Librarians
Disciplines interested in Gerontology Materials
43
Stage III Survey of Academic Librarians

• Cooperation within Disciplines
• 16 primary collectors cooperate with others in
  selecting Gerontology materials
• 5 did not cooperate in selecting Gerontology
  materials
• 2 were not aware

44
Stage III Survey of Academic Librarians
Journals Selected for Gerontology

• AARP bulletin
• AARP the magazine
• Educational gerontology
• Families in society the journal of contemporary
  human services
• Generations
• Geriatrics
• Gerontologist
• JONA'S healthcare law, ethics, and regulation
• Journal of aging social policy
• Journal of applied gerontology
• Journal of gerontological social work
• Journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological
  sciences and social sciences
• Research on aging

45
Stage III Survey of Academic Librarians What
are the most important materials for users?

• Undergraduates
• Most useful Least Useful 1
  2 3 4 5 6
• Monographs 8 9 3
• Serials/ journal literature 17 2 1
• Conference/ proceedings 7 2 2 5
• Audios/ CDs/ Videos/ DVD 2 4 7 4
• CD-ROMs/ Data files 2 4 7 4
• Other 6

46
Stage III Survey of Academic Librarians What
are the most important materials for users?

• Graduate Students
• Most useful Least Useful 1 2 3 4 5 6
• Monographs 7 9 1 1 1 1
• Serials/ journals 18 6
• Conference proceedings 1 4 5 3 1 3
• Audio/CDs/ Videos/ DVD 2 7 5 2 1
• CD-ROMs/ Data files 5 6 1 2 4
• Other 6

47
Stage III Survey of Academic Librarians What
are the most important materials for users?

• Faculty
• Most useful Least Useful 1
  2 3 4 5 6
• Monographs 5 12 3 1 1
• Serials/ journal 20 1
• Conference/ proceedings 2 8 3 4 1 1
• Audio/CDs/ Videos/ DVD 1 3 5 5 4
• CD-ROMs/ Data files 6 3 1 6 1
• Other 5

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Stage III Survey of Academic Librarians What
materials are purchased for Gerontology?
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Stage III Survey of Academic Librarians
Allocations by material type

• Monographs Serials Videos Indexes/Database
  s
• 80 10 10 Indexes
• 80 10 10 ( DVD) 5 CDs
  5 Databases
• 65 15 20
• 60 30 10 ( Indexes)
• 55 35 10 (ea. audio/video/DVD)
• 40 40 20 ( Audio)
• 40 60 (includes
  databases/indexes)
• 20 50 3 10 Ref
  17 Indexes

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Stage III Survey of Academic Librarians

• YBP- Not Bought in Ohio
• Query for titles with the interdisciplinary tag
  Gerontology from 1/2004 present.
• Following are the titles found (only 23 titles).

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Stage III Survey of Academic Librarians Not
purchased in Ohio titles

• AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC PUBLISHING TEXTBOOK OF
  GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY
• BEING MINDFUL, EASING SUFFERING REFLECTIONS ON
  PALLIATIVE CARE.
• CALCULATING A FAIR PRICE FOR CARE A TOOLKIT FOR
  RESIDENTIAL AND NURSING CARE COSTS
• CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE IN THE ELDERLY
• COMPREHENSIVE GERIATRIC ONCOLOGY
• COPING WITH METHUSELAH THE IMPACT OF MOLECULAR
  BIOLOGY ON MEDICINE AND SOCIETY
• CURRENT GERIATRIC DIAGNOSIS TREATMENT
• DELMAR'S GERIATRIC NURSING CARE PLANS
• GERIATRIC SECRETS MARYA ANN FORCIEA...ET AL
• GERONTOLOGICAL NURSING PROMOTING SUCCESSFUL
  AGING WITH OLDER ADULTS
• HEALTH, WELL-BEING AND OLDER PEOPLE

• LONG-TERM CARE NURSING ASSISTANT
• NEW LIFESTYLES IN OLD AGE HEALTH, IDENTITY AND
  WELL-BEING IN BERRYHILL RETIREMENT VILLAGE
• NURSING DOCUMENTATION IN AGED CARE A GUIDE TO
  PRACTICE
• OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY WITH ELDERS STRATEGIES FOR
  THE COTA
• OSTEOPOROSIS YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
• PROLONGATION OF LIFE OPTIMISTIC STUDIES
• PROTEIN PHOSPHORYLATION IN AGING AND AGE-RELATED
  DISEASE
• TAX, HEALTH CARE AND ASSET PROTECTION FOR AGING
  CLIENTS
• TOWARDS QUALITY CARE OUTCOMES FOR OLDER PEOPLE
  IN CARE HOMES
• VIEILLISSEMENT ET EVOLUTION DEMOGRAPHIQUE AU
  CANADA
• VISION IN ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE
• WASHINGTON MANUAL GERIATRICS SUBSPECIALTY CONSULT
  

52
Stage III Survey of Academic Librarians
Conclusions

• Programmatic involvement in Gerontology does not
  necessarily drive collection interest
• Reliance upon a vendor for interdisciplinary tags
  cannot be the only selecting tool
• Collections librarians need to be aware of how
  research and teaching in Gerontology crosses the
  disciplines
• Funding for Gerontology materials is dispersed
  and rarely coordinated

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Rationalizing Collections to Support
Multi-disciplinary Research Teaching

• Overall Conclusions
• Dobson et al. suggest that an evaluation plan be
  developed for interdisciplinary programs,
  different from the traditional disciplines. We
  suggest that a similar plan be developed for
  collecting these materials.
• Librarians need to take the lead and set up
  collaboration groups within our institutions or
  consortia for maturing interdisciplinary areas
• Faculty are collaborating on research projects in
  order to compete for funding opportunities
  librarians need to collaborate to fulfill these
  research as well as collection needs