Juanita Leatham e-portfolio

Core Competency F: Use the basic concepts and principles related to the selection,

evaluation, organization, and preservation of physical and digital information items.

Introduction

In order to select, evaluate, organize, and preserve physical and digital information items one must be delegated to do so. The library manager is responsible for collection management. The topic of information and library management reminded me of: “I also learned that learning on the job is done through organization of information management. ‘Using information management skills to learn about a domain, discipline or industry’ stood out to me in the “Competencies for Information Professionals” and Information and Knowledge Services section of the article” (Leatham., 2024). In order to evaluate physical and digital information items one must know what they are looking for. In order to organize, one must be familiar with knowing what the items are and where they need to go – make it digital or shelve it. In order to preserve physical items one must know where and how to keep them in working order. 

Selection 

Having a diverse library full of books, media, and other materials doesn’t just happen over night.  Librarians and library managers need to listen to what their patrons are asking for and then order those types of books and materials. They also need to do research with the School Library Journal, for example using their article called “6 Seasonal Offerings That Celebrate Fall Holidays and Beyond” in order to find books and other materials that reflect their patrons during any season. “The Library Director has the prerogative to delegate to Library staff the responsibility of selection and maintenance of Library materials. Purchase suggestions from patrons shall be considered by the Library Director and the appropriate materials selector” (Simi Valley Public Library, 2019). As for physical information items, one must select items that reflect the library as an institution. Having exhibits is a good way to show a selection of physical items.

Evaluation

Being a librarian, one would have to evaluate or assess according to collection development policy, what kind of books and other media the library has ordered and what they currently have shelved or in circulation. “Library materials selectors maintain close ties with the departments, institutes, and research programs, which comprise the primary user group for a particular subject or area. Additionally, they keep, for resource development purposes, records of research activities, grants received, and the curriculum for their areas” (Simi Valley Public Library, 2019). So, it’s not just looking at books and media, it’s also assessing subjects, it’s also making sure to evaluate the type of research and grants their programs have. This is seeing through data which type of material is working well (what people are reading or researching) and what isn’t (what people aren’t reading or using). Evaluation is also assessing how much of the budget is being used and how much is left after books and materials are ordered and how much of a grant or budget is being used.

Organization

Keeping books and materials organized and filed by call number is of utmost importance. It is important that a library like the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences organization has an organized collection and development policy that is enacted. Development policies are a rule book that are to make sure there is a correct way to organize materials and books and other ephemera. Phillip Garcia “[…]says, “we collect the history of our institution and organization”, “open to the public”, and “we collect greater history of cinema and Hollywood history”” (Garcia, P. & Leatham, J., 2024). Sure there might be boxes everywhere, but they will soon be organized and there for looking or browsing and reading materials and media.

Preservation

In preservation, librarians must make sure everything is covered in plastic and filed or boxed away in call number order. The next step in keeping books and materials in their best condition is to box or file them away. “Now, these books from the 1600s that are in French or Latin, which can’t be read are preserved better than before. Phillip says that the collection isn’t organized yet for the public. But, once they are, they’ll be used a lot more. But as far as I go, I like to read and look at the books, magazines, and journals. I like screenplays. It’s all very fun stuff to look at” (Garcia, P. & Leatham, J., 2024)”. Without preservation the library and its products would be in disarray and without organization. The books and media would age quickly and would leave the budget to go to waste.

Evidence

1 – INFO 234: Intellectual Freedom Seminar – Selection Policy

This is my first piece of evidence for Competency F for the selection section. “The Reconsider Policy says that the person who can challenge a resource ‘must be a Scarsdale resident’ and must not be an anonymous requestor. Those who decide the fate of the resource are first, a committee made up of the Director, Assistant Director and a subject specialist librarian. Then, ‘The Director will inform the Library Board of Trustees of the committee’s decision.’ Next, the Director will let the requestor know what the committee decided. Appeals should be sent in writing to the Library Board of Trustees. The fate of the resource is determined by the committee and then Library Board of Trustees” (Leatham, 2024). This is the selection process of challenging a Scarsdale, New York book to be banned or kept on the shelves. This is in good timing especially since Banned Books Week is in October, just a month from today as of this being written. To keep the book on the shelves means that the process would have to be undergone in the above way and fought for. The “person filing should print out a Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials Form and submit it, in writing, to the Library Director.” (Leatham, 2024). I would hope that no matter the material it would stay on the shelves. I choose a bipartisan way of selecting and keeping books on shelves. 

2 – INFO 234: Intellectual Freedom Seminar – Interview 11 Questions w/Reflections

This is my second piece of evidence for Competency F for the evaluation section. In the evaluation section I talked about grants and other types of funding. In the interview that I did, I did a Zoom call with a librarian Nina Hull, Library Manager of Agoura Hills Library. In the interview, when asked about receiving grants or other funding the following was said, “Nina: […] So the library with the most needs get all the services. A good example of that is San Fernando, which is a really small library, but has every program that there is they have. […] It’s got a great need, lots of kids, almost everything that’s done is done there. But they would not choose us for the grants because we don’t have the need. Most of our funding comes from Friends of the Library that will pay for a program. They have violinists who come in and put on programs for the community. These are a lot of older people. […] That’s how we go through our programming” (Leatham & Hull, 2024). So, I found out that the library I interviewed did not need much funding except from Friends of the Library due to an evaluation that pointed to their wealthier visitors. And I also found out that the San Fernando branch received all types of the funding that there is due to the evaluation that there is a lack of funding from its low income visitors.

3 – INFO 231: Issues in Special Libraries and Information Centers – Topic Unit 2: Management-Class Discussion

My third piece of evidence for Competency F will be for organization. “Learning how to organize information in order to manage information is important to note. Without organization there would be chaos in what’s being filed away. There would be no growth if the person’s mindset had no organization to it. There would also be no learning as one goes. Organizing is key to learning” (Leatham, 2024). In this essay, I focused on organizing the library as a whole. The key of it being call numbers, spines being printed, and making sure that everything gets organized and squared away. This is essential for patrons to find what they are looking for. 

4 – INFO 231: Issues in Special Libraries and Information Centers – Music in Special Libraries

This is my fourth piece of evidence for Competency F, which will be preservation of physical and digital information items for music librarians. “The traditional responsibilities of librarians are at the heart of most music librarians’ activities: organizing, cataloging, and maintaining collections; providing instruction in use of the library; answering reference inquiries; selecting music, books, journals, recordings, microforms, and sometimes manuscripts and other rare materials for acquisition. Music librarians recommend means of preservation and housing of materials in their custody and use electronic bibliographic and reference resources to their full potential” (Leatham, 2024). I saw sheet music digitized on a website that dated back to the early 1900s. That piece of music is probably stored in a file with protective film on it. It’s been preserved in two ways. Storing it online is better than just protective film. Some of those same preserved items also had the music played and saved online. That’s a third way of preservation.  

Conclusion

In Competency F there was a lot of information and organizing of books and digital materials that followed a collection development policy. This policy was dedicated to organizing whether the books and materials were in good working order, attributing call numbers, and creating spines and sleeves, then organizing where they were to go. There was a focus on consistent organization and preservation of materials. There was also space for selection and organization of music materials.

References

Garcia, P. & Leatham, J. (2024). Phillip Garcia – Librarian interview. [Zoom]. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QjGTli-BOUlULFHgh8OPdZNWhl5pA651/view?usp=sharing

Leatham, J. (2024). Music special libraries. [Google Doc]. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1t7YngGpX7Ou-WpVdnA2w20dyx0JCBoIGhCoDzn_NHCU/edit?usp=sharing.

Leatham, J. (2024). Real reconsideration policy. [Google Doc]. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Nyr0moEPHqO2C4SrsyIlT3Xqhx_0r0s1rIn4mR9zeus/edit?usp=sharing. 

Leatham, J. (2024) Unit 2: Notes: Competencies for information professionals. [Google Doc]. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ncjk61ZYzDj3j8qCo4hLS6gBWa0UwReOnvNnvQfNl_E/edit?usp=sharing. 

Leatham, J. (2024). Issues in special libraries and information centers. Topic unit 2: management-class discussion. [Google Doc]. https://docs.google.com/document/d/19GBt-28yq1eW7GTjhdAtwGvpHdypU2AcmxJRkEBHiDc/edit?usp=sharing. 

Leatham, J. & Hull, N. (2024, November 9). Interview 11 questions w/reflections. [Google Doc]. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yg7NCGX7qprPxE4bIXjGXlagOm8DyqwzRmpeyj_aEB4/edit?usp=sharing. 

Simi Valley Public Library. (2019, April 22). Material selection policy.  https://simivalleylibrary.org/material-selection-policy. 

SLJ Reviews. (2025, October 6). 6 Seasonal offerings that celebrate fall holidays and beyond. School Library Journal. https://www.slj.com/story/6-seasonal-offerings-for-fall-holidays-and-beyond.