2001 LCATS RESEARCH AWARD
D.G. DORNER
Library Collections, Acquisitions, and Technical Services (LCATS) is
pleased to announce the recipient of the 2001 Research Award, D.G.
Dorner. Dorner is on the faculty at the School of Communications and
Information Management, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
His proposal, "The Impact of Digital Information Resources on the Roles of
Collection Managers," has been funded as the 2001 Library Collections,
Acquisitions, and Technical Services Research Award. His study aims to
analyze the extent to which the arrival of digital information as a major
resource in libraries is affecting the roles of librarians, archivists and
information managers in the area of professional practice known as
collection management. None of the current literature bases its opinions
or views on fieldwork data. Rather, the evidence drawn upon is anecdotal
and theoretical. The purpose of this investigation is to collect 'hard
data' that can be used to quantify and substantiate what is actually
happening to the collection manager in the workplace.
Initial data will be collected by a questionnaire administered to a
stratified sectoral sample of libraries (public, academic, government,
private sector) in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the USA and the UK. The
questionnaire will collect data on a range of quantifiable variables
related to collection management and provide the baseline information for
subsequent interviews. Based on questionnaire returns, focus groups will
then be established in up to four Australian and New Zealand centers
(Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland, Wellington). The purpose of the focus groups
will be to obtain in-depth opinions of practitioners on the nature of their
work as collection managers, on their role perceptions, on the degree of
'fit' between actual practice and desirable practice, on attributes
required of successful collection managers, on the overall impact of
digitization on all of these factors. The results of focus group
discussions will be a range of qualitative data that will add
multi-dimensionality to the quantitative data, answering in particular the
'why' and 'how' questions arising from the questionnaire survey.
Dorner's proposal was the clear choice of the five-member LCATS review
committee. To quote one of the reviewers, ""This project may be one of the
few attempts to use surveys and focus groups to gather real data to
indicate what we sense is happening in collection development/management."
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Carol Pitts Diedrichs
Assistant Director for Technical Services and
Acting Assistant Director for Collection Management
Editor, Library Collections, Acquisitions
and Technical Services
The Ohio State University Libraries
1858 Neil Avenue Mall
Columbus, OH, 43210-1286
tel: 614-292-4738
fax: 614-292-7859
Internet: diedrichs.1_at_osu.edu
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Received on Mon Dec 04 2000 - 11:58:43 EST