Collection Specialists

From IPL Wiki

Collection Development for the IPL

The IPL is a popular site to begin research or find out information. As such, it is important to evaluate each proposed site carefully to ensure appropriate materials are available.

Key points to keep in mind when evaluating sites:

• Content is freely available and substantial

- Users should not have to pay to gain access to the information they want. However, many sites require free registration, and such registration is fine--as long as it remains free and includes a privacy policy.

• Authoritativeness

- This item depends on the source, but generally speaking sites should be authored by someone who is named and has credentials, or by a company in the industry. Objectivity is also a plus. Some sites will have "About" pages that will help establish the authority. Most blog sites rely on a subject expert or someone with experience in the subject.

• Popularity

- Less important than other items, but popular sites are worth investigating. If a site has very good information, it shouldn't necessarily be rejected because not enough people have visited it. Coverage in the IPL should help it earn more traffic.

• Uniqueness

- See notes below. Even very similar sites will have something different to offer, and in such cases, both sites should be listed. Sites that offer exactly the same information or services would more or less be considered duplicates and one of those should therefore be removed or not added.

• Author or Publisher's Contact Info readily available

- Such information includes a name or company, an email address, a mailing address, or a feedback page. More reputable sites will include this information, and if someone has a problem with the site, they will need this contact information.

• Reliable

- The site should not have broken links or images and should load to the correct page every time.

• Load time is reasonable

- The page should not be sluggish to load due to large graphics or large files. Time is often of the essence.

• Navigable

- See notes below. Sites need to be easy to navigate, and not cause sore eyes. Bright colors and flashing images are hard on the viewer, and sections should be organized intuitively.

• Content of site seems not to be plagiarized and adheres to U.S. copyright law

- It's the law! Don't spread around sites that plagiarize other sources. Try to find the original sources instead.

• Site is updated as appropriate to the subject area

- Some content should be regularly updated, especially blogs, review sites, and some research sites. Some sites, such as archives or history pages, do not need as frequent updates, so use your judgment about changing technologies and information.

• Contains few or no interfering ads or pop-ups

- No one likes to deal with pop-up ads. The more annoyed a user is by them, the less likely they will be able to navigate tot he information they need. Pop-ups can also be dangerous and install spyware/viruses, so avoid them as best you can and don't subject users to an overload. Make sure to disable AdBlock or other browser ad-ons when checking this--IPL users may not have this software.

• If web directory (a list of many sites), must contact staff members of IPL collection development team before setting to active

- Staff must first be contacted about the addition of such directories because directories naturally link to a great number of other sites. The majority of those sites should meet IPL collection development standards as well, especially since what is described as a safe directory might contain less than safe sites.

• Blogs must be well established, popular and have at least a few comments per post. They must also be authoritative and not just opinions, although well informed/expert opinions are acceptable.

- Blogs are a case where authority can be hard to determine. Look for biographical information, check out the actual content and comments, judge the accuracy of the posts, and judge the blog's popularity.

• Make sure abstract and information is age appropriate for each collection

- Especially if the item is being cross-listed between the General, Youth, and Teen sections. Abstracts should be age-appropriate, as should the sites.

Some Collection Development Notes

• Sometimes a source that should still be added to the IPL does not meet all of these requirements. These points are more guidelines than actual rules since collection developers must use their judgment about each possible source. Sometimes a source will have very good, unique information, but be bogged down in ads. Others might have suspect authority, but contain very hard to find information. Weigh the aspects that meet and do not meet the collection development policy and make a decision based on that balance.

• While you don't necessarily want to duplicate resources, note that variety is still a must-have. You might not want two Internet Radio sites, but both are worthwhile is they each offer something a little different. One site might offer computer-generated playlists based on favorite artists, while the other might be a directory to real radio stations that stream their broadcasts, either live or otherwise. If one site doesn't have what a user needs, the other might make that small difference.

• Look at sites as if you were the user. Is it well organized? Easy to navigate? Are the ads tolerable? Does the site try to force or trick you into buying something? Would you find that site useful?

• Good places to search for new resources, certainly, are search engines and the external links sections of other wiki sites. Friends and family can also be good resources, as many people will have favorite sites that are useful to them and therefore worth checking out. When you see pages with links sections, check them out as sometimes you will find a metaphorical trail of bread crumbs leading to a great site.

Miscellaneous Notes and Problems with Hypatia

• For adding language codes- is there an easier way to do it? Instead of only being able to add two at a time and constantly having to click the “add” button? Adding subject area and geographical tags has similar drawbacks, although more slots.

- Agreed. Note that it is wasted effort to add 3 or more language categories at a time since each click of the + button will only add two spaces at a time, and even pressing the + button multiple times in a row will not give you more than two open slots.

• Working with multiple records at a time, as when comparing to crosslist, can have odd effects (e.g. saving a record and then winding up on another record...)

- Yes, note that Hypatia saves your last search, and sometimes saves other things, so using the Back button isn't recommended.

• Was the policy on personal names (Last, First as opposed to First Last) changed recently? A lot of the records need their author's names inverted.

- Yes, all names must be in the Last, First format unless it is the name of a company or publisher. Hypatia very clearly states this requirement that has not been followed in the past.

• The training material doesn't seem very clear about closs-listing resources in different collections. There needs to be more information about two separate records versus one record with multiple collections, especially since working with adding materials to the general serials collection was very confusing.