From: loken_at_wln.com
The WLN Conspectus Users Group met at 4:30pm on February 16, 1997 in
the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C.
1. Revision of definitions for collection depth indicators
Tony Ferguson reviewed the final draft of the revised definitions for
RLG Conspectus collection depth indicators. The new definitions were
accepted for general distribution, with many thanks to Tony for his
thoughtful and thorough work on this project during the past year.
2. Progress report on the new publication <Using the Conspectus
Method: A Collection Assessment Handbook> and revision of definitions
for subdivisions of collection levels 1, 2 and 3; Spanish manual
Mary Bushing, Burns Davis and Nancy Powell are the authors of the new
handbook, to be published by WLN in May. The handbook will include
revised definitions for WLN Conspectus collection level indicators 1a,
1b, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b and 3c. The process of revising the definitions
will be parallel to the one Tony used for levels 1-5: revisions will
be sent out on email to all those wishing to review them (a signup
sheet was circulated) and comments will be integrated into a second
draft. Following this, additional comments will be sought from a
wider audience.
Dora Biblarz distributed a review draft of the Spanish edition of the
<WLN Collection Assessment Manual, Fourth Edition>, by Dora Biblarz
with the assistance of Helen Ladron de Guevera Cox. This draft is
being distributed selectively for comments and suggestions, following
which it will be formally published by WLN and available for use.
Pre-publication order forms for both the handbook and the Spanish
manual are available from Lindy Smith at WLN.
3. Revision and update of the WLN LC Conspectus
June Pinnell Stephens discussed the revision and updating of the WLN
LC Conspectus, a task that she had just completed. The principal
objective of this work was to update the LC class numbers associated
with conspectus lines, as no systematic updating had been done in
fifteen years. Overlapping call numbers were eliminated as much as
possible. Following current LC practice, certain areas of the WLN LC
Conspectus were changed substantially, such as COMPUTER SCIENCE and
MEDICINE.
Major changes include: AGRICULTURE: Veterinary Medicine separated
from Animal Care; ART: Canada and Hungary were added; EDUCATION: (LB)
has been exploded into six categories; Environmental Science has been
added to GEOGRAPHY & EARTH SCIENCES and more categories were added.
Extensive changes were made in HISTORY. Missing LAW call numbers have
been provided. A new category under LIBRARY SCIENCE with class range
ZA, is used for information resources. LANGUAGE, LINGUISTICS &
LITERATURE now has a consistent pattern of categories and subjects.
Comics and comic literature have been added. MATH: duplication with
COMPUTER SCIENCE has been eliminated. MEDICINE: in addition to
revisions, alternative Medicine and Nursing divisions were developed.
Within SOCIOLOGY expansions have been added in the areas of social
work, criminal justice and criminology.
Questions discussed by the group:
How to alert librarians to major classification changes? Decision: use
DNC (do not count) as the classification range for the former
conspectus line.
How to handle minor adjustments and changes in the schedules from
now on? Decision: at each Users' Group meeting, ask for suggestions
of changes that should be made. Incremental changes in call numbers
may be the hardest to keep track of.
This topic will be on the agenda for the Users Group meeting at ALA
this summer, at which time we will have some experience with the
revisions. (WLN will distribute the revised LC Conspectus file to
software users during the spring.) Comments and concerns will be
solicited.
4. Sample methodology for establishing and validating collection
levels
Lewis Miller presented the background and history of conspectus work at
Butler University. Handouts of procedures and examples of the
assessment comments that have been developed so far were distributed.
These were discussed, as were summary reports of quantitative
collection analysis and journal use. Philosophical issues were raised
regarding the validity of comparisons between one's collection and
Books for College Libraries or the ACRL Standards. No conclusions were
reached and some of these issues bear further discussion.
5. WLN Report
Sally Loken said that the trend continues: there is increasing
interest in finding new ways to get information about the collection
and its use with a minimum of librarians' time and effort. Libraries
continue to request automated analyses and WLN is continuing to
develop these services. A combination circulation and collection
analysis is one new product being developed. Also, libraries are
increasingly requesting that the reports of their analyses be in the
form of database files rather than paper reports.
Sally thanked June and Tony for their excellent, timely work to keep
the structure and methodology of conspectus up to date.
The recently distributed WLN Conspectus Software 6.2 for Windows
incorporates the editing feature used in Word documents and allows
one to incorporate portions of policy statements into assessment
commnets fields quickly. A new MAC version with the same
functionality will be distributed this spring.
Dora Biblarz distributed a "Report from Australia, 2/3/97" which had
been prepared by Rachel Jakimow, National Library of Australia and
sent via email to give a brief update on conspectus activities and
accomplishments there.
The Sunday time slot we have been using for meetings is declared "no
conflict" by ALA for San Francisco, so we have to find another time
for the Users' Group. Date and time will be posted on colldv-l and
conspectusnet
Meeting adjourned at 6:30pm.
Notes submitted by Dora Biblarz, Chair
Received on Wed May 14 1997 - 08:25:35 EDT