Assignment3Reflection

Collection Analysis Reflection

In reflecting back on the collection analysis process I cannot help but think about my reluctance or concern regarding what I would find. Although, I know I picked the area because I had already recognized it was an area of concern, I still wasn’t sure how I would feel when faced with the concrete evidence. I knew the teachers were not happy with what we had and I knew the students were not using the resources. In the end it was no real surprise by what I had uncovered and I did end up feeling inadequate to some degree. I somehow felt I had not been doing my job in keeping up with all areas of the collection. In addition to the shortcomings of the collection which wasn’t a surprise I was surprised by the overall lack of use with our library compared with the use of the public library. I wasn’t surprised that they had better resources but I was surprised by the frequency of use due to convenience.

The quantitative data was quite easy to collect as the Destiny system is very easy to work with. The system would be even more perfect if the reports could be generated down to the decimal point. Next time I would like to take more time to try to use the customized report generator to see if the data could be more specific. The qualitative data was challenging to gather. It is hard to gather information from teachers as they are extremely busy. I emailed my questions for them to consider. I gave them the option to email me back responses or to give me verbal responses. I ended up getting verbal responses from both teachers. I found they were reluctant to give me the negative feedback. I am not sure if they felt guilty for not using the library or if they felt bad telling me their honest opinions. Next time I will be more emphatic that any information will be helpful in improving our collection. I would attempt to reassure them that any information will be helpful for collection development and not taken personally.

It was equally challenging to collect data from the students. Again, I believe they were reluctant to give me negative feedback. Observations of the students were also difficult. There are so many factors that could impact how different students are using resources. Making generalizations regarding student use was very difficult.

Overall, I found the results to be informative and motivating. I am now faced with the challenge of finding new resources and finding ways to encourage their use.