Apologies in advance for multiple postings.

Looking Ahead: Research Topics in Acquisitions & Collection Development

August 16-17, 2011

Hosted by Members of the ALCTS Acquisitions Section Research & Statistics Committee: Jill Emery, Charles Hillen, Yumin Jiang, Rebecca Schroeder, and Tammy Sugarman

Please join us for an e-forum discussion. It’s free and open to everyone!
Registration information is at the end of the message.

Each day, sessions begin and end at:
Pacific: 7am – 3pm
Mountain: 8am – 4pm
Central: 9am – 5pm
Eastern: 10am – 6pm

Description
In the quickly shifting landscapes of Acquisitions and Collection Development, it can be difficult to identify and develop viable research topics that lend themselves to meaningful exploration and conclusion. There are myriad factors that affect decision-making, analysis, and budget management, and every library environment has local idiosyncrasies. Some issues stem from business models that are not fully mature, such as those that exist for demand-driven acquisition. Others arise as we wait to understand the full impact of developing technologies, such as electronic resource management systems. These two examples are by no means the only ones. In this e-forum, we'd like to hear from you and discuss which acquisitions and/or collection development issues need further research. What barriers prevent you from settling on a research topic? What research challenges, besides time, do you face?

Jill Emery is the Collection Development Librarian at Portland State University. She is Past-President of the North American Serials Interest Group, the social media coordinator for Electronic Resources & Libraries, LLC., and a past chair of the ALCTS Continuing Resources Section. She is also the current column editor of Heard on the Net for The Charleston Advisor.

Charles Hillen, current chair of the ALCTS-AS Research & Statistics Committee, is the Head of Acquisitions & Serials at Loyola Marymount University. In prior positions, Charles was the Head of Acquisitions at the Getty Research Institute and, at Old Dominion University, held positions as Lead Cataloger and supervisor of the Diehn Composers Room. Charles holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music performance from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music and an MSIS from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville where he served a three-year appointment on the School of Information Sciences Advisory Board.

Yumin Jiang has been the Technical Services Librarian at the University of Colorado Law Library since 2003.  Prior to moving to Colorado, she worked as the Serials and Electronic Resources Librarian at the Health Sciences Library System at the University of Pittsburgh, and as Cataloging Librarian for Serials and Electronic Resources at Cornell University's Albert R. Mann Library.  Yumin has been actively involved in several professional organizations such as AALL, ALCTS, CONSER, and NASIG.  She has a Bachelor’s degree from Peking University in China, MA in Agricultural Economics from University of Wisconsin-Madison, and MS in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Rebecca Schroeder is the Acquisitions librarian at the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University.  She received her MLS from the University of North Texas.  She is a member of ALA and active in the Acquisitions Section of ALCTS.  She also serves on the Utah Library Association board as chair of the New Perspectives Round Table.

Tammy Sugarman is Associate Dean for Collections at Georgia State University Library, Atlanta, GA, where she oversees cataloging, acquisitions, collection development and the institutional repository.  She is currently chair of the AS Publications Committee. Recent scholarship includes an article in the Journal of Academic Librarianship, “Academic Librarians, Professional Literature, and New Technologies: A Survey” and presentations, “Evaluating Usage of Non-Text Resources: What the COUNTER Statistics Don’t Tell You” and “Expanding the Ebooks Buying Experience: Approval Plans”.  She holds a MS in Information (University of Michigan), a MA in History (The Citadel) and a BA in History (Boston University).

*What is an e-forum?*
An ALCTS e-forum provides an opportunity for librarians to discuss matters of interest, led by a moderator, through the e-forum discussion list. The e-forum discussion list works like an email listserv: register your email address with the list, and then you will receive messages and communicate with other participants through an email discussion. Most e-forums last two to three days. Registration is necessary to participate, but it's free. See a list of upcoming e-forums at: http://bit.ly/upcomingeforum.

*To register:*
Instructions for registration are available at: http://bit.ly/eforuminfo. Once you have registered for one e-forum, you do not need to register again, unless you choose to leave the email list. Participation is free and open to anyone.

Posted on behalf of the ALCTS Continuing Education Committee