Longmont Non-Fiction Running head: Longmont Non-Fiction

Longmont Public Library Adult Non-Fiction: Collection Assessment Deborah Harnke Sarah Harshorn Melissa Hisel Emporia State University May 1, 2012

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Longmont Public Library Adult Non-Fiction: Collection Assessment

The Library and its Service Population Originally a small agricultural community, the city of Longmont in northern Colorado has grown rapidly since the1960s stimulated by a growing high-tech manufacturing economy. The current population is about 86,000 people. According to community analysis data posted on the citys website (City of Longmont Planning Department):

24.6% of the population is Hispanic or Latino. 17.4% percent of the population speaks a language other than English. 8.6% of Longmont Families fall at or below the poverty level. Approximately 419 people living within the city limits are homeless. 18,911 students from Longmont are enrolled in the St.Vrain K-12 School District. 31.3% have a Bachelors degree or higher

The community is also home to a satellite campus of Front Range Community College with about 3,000 students taking career, technology, or general education courses. (Front Range Community College) There is a library on campus. Longmont also has a number of private K-12 schools and a for-profit trade school: The Institute of Business and Medical Careers, which has a small library for students. The local school district also offers an adult education program for residents 17 years old and older and offers English as a Second Language (ESL) classes. Adult Education also provides

Longmont Non-Fiction literacy, basic skills development, and academic studies (St. Vrain Valley School District). Other community resources include the Longmont United Hospital Library which provides a small medical library and nearby libraries including: Berthoud Community Library, High Plains Library District Erie and Firestone branch libraries, Firestone Public Library, Lafayette Public Library, Boulder Public Library, Norlin Library at the University of Colorado and the Allen Ginsberg Library at Naropa University. The Longmont Public Library (LPL) is a municipal library and part of the citys

Community Services department which includes a museum with local history archive, a recreation center, senior services, youth services, affordable housing, and the community and neighborhood resources department. The present library building is 52,000 square feet and opened in 1994. The building was designed to accommodate 60,000 volumes. (Nyboer, 2007). The first floor contains a large meeting room/event space, a conference room, technical services staff area, circulation and information desks, the Children and Teens Collection, and a computer lab with 25 terminals. The second floor contains the adult services staff offices. There are 2 private study rooms, multiple banks of study carrels, a large quiet study room, and a media viewing/listening station, an enlarger for the visually impaired, 3 reader/printers, and 20 OPACS. The Adult Collections include; Fiction, Non-Fiction, Large-Print, Periodicals, Audio-visual materials and microfilm. This floor also contains the following Special Collections: Adult Literacy, Automotive, Biography, Business Reference, Career Development, Colorado Files, General Reference, Holidays, Paperback Classics, and Spanish Language. The most recent annual report from 2010 indicates that when compared with 2005, library staffing is down 8%, the number of materials in the collection is down 5%,

Longmont Non-Fiction circulation is up 18%, reference questions answered is up 37%, childrens participation in story time programming is up 9%, and homebound delivery is up 304%. By the numbers the report boasts 531,139 patron visits and 1,125,345 circulations for 2010.

Discussion of Collection Plan The librarys detailed Materials Selection Policy requires consideration of the librarys collection philosophy, community analysis, materials selection criteria, details about special collections, maintenance of the collection and interlibrary loan and resource sharing. The collection philosophy of the Longmont Public Library is to provide public access to a variety of materials supporting a diversity of viewpoints as selection criteria, budget, and space allows. (Longmont Public Library, 2007. Adult Collection Evaluation: Collection Philosophy). The philosophy goes on to cite the librarys support of the guidelines of the American Library Association as expressed in the Patrons Bill of Rights, the Freedom to Read Statement, and the Freedom to View Statement. According to the selection policy section on Community Analysis, in order to meet the needs of their diverse and growing community LPL and a focus group consisting of members of their community develop a long-range plan every ten years. This examination is conducted to determine who currently use or potentially may use the library, specifically looking to identify the demographics of age and personal interests, along with ethnic and economic backgrounds. At the Longmont Public Library the responsibility of material selection rests with professional librarians on staff. Each librarian is accountable for assigned areas and

Longmont Non-Fiction consults a variety of resources to ensure a balanced collection. The selection policy suggests the following resources guide the librarians decisions:

Expressed or anticipated customer demand Reviews from professional journals, popular magazines and newspapers Catalogs Timeliness or permanence of the material Quality, accuracy, or authenticity of materials Inclusion of materials in bibliographies and indexes Scope and depth of the present collection Availability of materials in other library collections Reputation of the author or publisher Shelf space available Format factors: durability, technology required for access, etc.

Presently, the collection includes: books, pamphlets, periodicals, DVDs, CDs, audiocassettes, microforms, eBooks, databases, and maps. Gifts to the library are carefully selected and added to the collection when appropriate. (Longmont Public Library, 2007/ Adult Collection Evaluation: Collection Philosophy) LPLs Materials Selection Policy plan also notes the importance of resource sharing. Since LPLs collections cannot possibly meet every request, other alternatives are available. The library participates in interlibrary loan and will soon be a participating member of Prospector, a unified catalog of academic, public and special libraries in

Longmont Non-Fiction Colorado and Wyoming. Providing access to 30 million books, journals, DVDs, CDs, videos and other materials held in these libraries. (Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries) Assessment Tools and Methods For our assessment we decided to focus on the adult non-fiction portion of the LPL collection and we divided the ten Dewey classes amongst our three group

members. On a Saturday in April, we met at the Longmont Public Library and toured the facility and physically examined the adult non-fiction collection taking note of the size, scope, and condition of the materials. We benefitted from access to the librarys written collection evaluation completed in 2007. Because this evaluation has not been updated in five years, we further evaluated the adult non-fiction section of the library via the online public access catalog. This allowed us to more specifically target the scope and relevance of the subject matter for the community with consideration of more recent additions and withdrawals. According to the selection policy, the library utilizes a system for analyzing the collection by describing the anticipated user group for each subject area and describes the scope of the collection with intensity codes. This system offers the following guidelines: Level 1, basic information: material that provides a general overview. Level 2, general support: moderate collection. Level 3, introductory research: comprehensive collection. Level 4, advanced research: extensive coverage.

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A reference librarian on the desk at the time of our visit provided us with a report printed from the acquisitions modules of the ILS which detailed the 2012 materials budget information. We utilized those numbers in making our recommendations for a hypothetical 15% budget reduction.

The 001s: Computer Science, Information, General Works Within the area of the 001s are contained materials related to computer science, library and information science, encyclopedias, magazines, journals, and newspapers. It is a well-used section of the library for those studying computer sciences, library science, and also for young people using the encyclopedias. Much of the collection is recentpurchased in 2000 or later. Two 2010 encyclopedias are available in the Reference Collection, and a 2008 World Book Encyclopedia is available in the circulating collection. The intensity code for the existing collection is between a 2 and a 3. The computer science materials (001s) are fairly current and are also supplemented with magazine subscriptions, which are able to keep up with the changing field of technology. The library and information sciences (020s) have many recent titles. The encyclopedia collection (030s) includes not only encyclopedias, but the Guinness Book of Records, trivia, and other reference material. The rest of the 000s (050-090) include almanacs, self-publishing manuals, and titles on rare books. The library subscribes to the Job and Career Accelerator: a Learning Express and Universal Class two services which provides online training on a variety of popular software programs as well as

Longmont Non-Fiction general computing skills. The Library also maintains a subscription to Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

The 100s: Philosophy & Psychology The 100s are devoted to philosophy and psychology. They mostly contain fairly basic information in the fields, but do include some research devoted materials as well. The section fills 142 shelves, with about 1,000 titles printed from 2009 to present. These shelves are filled with topics devoted to ontology, cosmology, epistemology, parapsychology, humanism, naturalism, idealism, optimism and pessimism, logic, ethics, and other philosophy topics. They supplement this with audio-visual materials. The intensity code for this section is a 2.5. It has been consistently updated and covers a broad range of topics. This area seems well used with everything needed for a basic psychology class to the individual interested in self-help materials.

The 200s: Religion This section covers all areas of religion. However, it is primarily devoted to Christianity. The area has many churches, most of them Christian, and the library caters to that group. The area also has many other religions and individuals studying various religious practices. The library would benefit from expanding their scope of covered religions. The intensity code for this area is two to threehaving strong content and being applicable to the surrounding community. Many of the titles are newer, being added since 2001. They also have many audio/visual materials on devotionals and other

Longmont Non-Fiction religious topics. The pertinent electronic resources available include the Gale eReference books: The Encyclopedia of Judaica and The Encyclopedia of Religion.

The 300s: Social Science This section of non-fiction covers anthropology, statistics, political science, economics, law, public administration, social services, education, commerce, customs, and folklore. These topics are applicable to those attending school, whether it be middle school or community college. Each area is well represented and is also represented by cassettes, CDs, VHS tapes, and DVDs relating to the topics. The library also subscribes to numerous magazines and journals from Consumer Reports to Gifted Child Today, which cover recent events. The collection is mostly recentwithin the last ten years. The intensity code is a 2. This is a large area of the non-fiction section, covering 516 shelves. The 400s: Language French (440), Spanish (460), and German (430) are the languages most often found in the high school curricula, and LPL has well developed collections in these languages. Titles for learning these languages include grammars, dictionaries, phrase books, textbooks, and readers. The English section (420) is also a higher developed collection within the 400s. Materials include aspects of grammar and usage, spelling, dictionaries, work and phrase origins, and vocabulary building. There are also several items for ESL speakers. The sections that are underdeveloped are those that are not as popular. For instance materials on Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, and Native American languages are not overly abundant in this section, but are present.

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The intensity code for the existing collection is between a 2 and 3. The collection goes beyond the basics for several languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, and Russian, and offers basic grammar and dictionaries for several languages. Most of the collection is for general support. Nearly half of the collection has a publication date of 2000 or newer, the other remaining half of the collection is published from 1995 or newer. The collection is divided between print and audio materials as well as DVD items. Other languages in the DVD section include American Sign Language, Japanese, and French. The library also subscribes to Rocket Languages an online language instruction service.

The 500s: Science and Mathematics The area of natural sciences and mathematics can be difficult to select for since a balance must be maintained between the wide ranges of patrons educational levels. The collection is particularly strong in the earth science section (550), botany (580) and zoology (590). In the earth science section the geology, weather, volcanoes, earthquakes and roadside geology are strong and have recent titles. Some older titles on the geology of the solar system were found and newer titles should be acquired. The plant section is also strong with Colorado and Rocky Mountain plants and wildflowers. There are several titles to identify plants or flowers for the U.S. and other specific areas. Over half of the titles were published in 1990 or newer. Although many titles are classic or have local interest, this area needs updating with new titles and editions. About 70% of the collection was published in 2000 or earlier. While many

Longmont Non-Fiction items, like basic math or plant and animal identification books are somewhat timeless, the age of this collection needs to be updated. The intensity code for the existing collection ranges between a 2 and 3. The existing collection supports patron needs by providing basic textbooks, classic texts,

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and current developments in the sciences. There are also several coffee table books for areas of nature and science. This collection consists primarily of printed materials, although there are related DVDs, and periodicals. There is also access to several electronic titles, which are also available through Gale, several EBSCO databases including Science Online, Todays Science and Grzimeks Animal Life.

The 600s: Technology and Applied Science The intensity code of the existing collection ranges between a 2 and 3. The current collection meets the needs of the community. The collection should and is one that allows for general research. The 600s is a diverse collection ranging in many different subject areas. The 616s cover diseases; this is a popular area and needs current publications. The 618s is also a very popular area where pregnancy, childbirth, and infertility are included. Pediatric titles along with geriatrics are included here. The 620s covers the engineering collection, which serves a wide range of users with a large spectrum of interest from general repair and instructional information to books with indepth technical information. The library has a very large special Automotive Collection (629s), which houses hundreds of automobile, truck, and motorcycle repair manuals. The 630s covers agriculture; this is a popular area and is heavily used by the community. Management and auxiliary services is in the 650-659s and is a large part of

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the collection. The Career Collection is popular Special Collection with users searching for up to date job related information. The Business Collection is also a special collection and provides basic education support as well as access to more in depth coverage. The 680-689s are materials for manufacturing provides for specific uses like woodworking, which is a well-developed collection. Besides print format there are several electronic formats. LPL currently subscribes to Well Connected and Gale Health Reference databases. Within the career section electronic resources such as Fergusons Career Guidance Center is available. Within automotive the library subscribes to Alldata within the library and Chiltons Online which patrons may access from home.

The 700s: Arts The 700s appear to be a very well cultivated collection, with an intensity code of 2-3. There is a very large section with instructional materials on a wide range of arts and crafts. There is a wide selection of material about popular artists, entertainers, and sports stars throughout history as well as current popular figures like the singer Lady Gaga and football player Tim Tebow. The graphic novel/comic collection has grown extensively since the collections evaluation was written in 2007, while the shelves in this area (741.593) are not full, examinations of the OPAC with a key word search for the subject heading; Comic books, strips, etc., reveals 628 titles, many of which are checked out. The home dcor selection and home building plans appears far-reaching with many different styles and publishers, and a broad array of materials on green building methods which is popular in Boulder County. There was a noticeable collection

Longmont Non-Fiction of up-to-date guides to collectibles and antiques; such as Kovels Antiques &

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Collectibles Price Guide 2012, and other more specific titles (covering particular antique collecting like record albums, stamps & paper money, clocks, tea cups, fishing lures, etc.) many of which had multiple copies of each on the shelf as well as an additional copy in the non-circulating reference collection. There is a large collection of books on a variety of crafts; quilting, sewing, needlework, doll making, etc. -- most of these books appear to have been published from the late 1990s to 2012. There is a wide variety of books on self-instruction for playing a variety of instruments and a full shelf of sheet music and songbooks for various instruments. Sports and games take up four banks of shelves. There is overlap in this collection with the Biography Collection and the Holiday Collection with books related to holiday crafts, games, etc. and in the Career Collection which has material covering the business of art and being an artist. There is a wide variety of materials in the 700s in the DVD collection, and a number of popular periodicals related to music, art, crafts, and homes. The 800s: Literature This collection has an intensity code of 2. It contains literature, literary history, literary criticism, as well as education and research related topics (stylebooks, etc.). It is supplemented by the adult fiction section, and the special collection of paperback classic literature which contains multiple copies of hundreds of works of classic fiction. This collection also contains a large collection of Cliffs Notes and other study materials. There is a broad collection of English literaturea small collection of German literature and a few novels in German. A catalog search for German language literature yields only 62 titles, and a search for French language literature yields 142. There are a

Longmont Non-Fiction number of anthologies of modern and historical poetry and drama although the collection primarily contains works of American writers which is appropriate for the

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community but, the collection could benefit from the addition of works by more Hispanic or Latino writers although there is some coverage of these in the Fiction and Spanish language Collections. This collection does contain some notable works by Garcia Lorca, Isabel Allende and Carlos Fuentes. There are a very limited number of classic Latin and Greek materials. Online resources include Gale Contemporary Authors, Facts on File Writers Reference Center, and Blooms Literary Reference Online.

The 900s: History & Geography From travel and recreation guides, to local history, genealogy, politics and government, this collection contains information that will be useful to a wide range of patrons. There is a fairly wide collection of information relevant to Longmont and Colorado history and this material is also supplemented by information available in the local history archive at the city museum. There is also a collection of hanging files with Colorado and Longmont information some of which is of historical value, but this collection in incompletely indexed. There is a fully indexed collection of Longmont newspapers on microfilm dating back to the 1870s. There appears to be a very large collection of atlases and gazetteers and local travel information. This is also supplemented by the special maps collection which contains hundreds of maps both street and topographical wilderness maps. The genealogy collection contains more than 400 titles and is supplemented by the libraries subscription to Ancestry.com which can be accessed from within the library and Heritage Quest, which may be accessed from

Longmont Non-Fiction the library or at home. Other online databases relevant to this area include Modern

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World History Online, Ancient and Medieval History Online and a variety of Gale Virtual Reference titles on biography, history and culture. There is overlap with this collection and the biography collection.

General Assessment of the Collection Overall this collection appears to have been carefully cultivated for its community and we did not see any areas of the collection that were obviously lacking. If anything there were many areas of overprovision. In general the shelves were nearly full of books, leaving very little shifting room available and in some areas multiple copies of older, non-classic titles were on the shelf. At the time of our visit weeding and shifting was being conducted, but visible effects of this were not seen in the amount of space left available for new or returning books. It is not surprising to see full shelves in libraries considering the current economy. Budgets are being cut and staff is being spread thin. There is a tendency to want to keep as many materials available to patrons as possible. At the same time staff may have difficulty finding the time to weed a large collection.

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Action Plan

000s Reduce the budget from its current amount of $6,500 by $975, giving this area a total budget of $5,525. This section is an important element to the collection and the community with IBM and other high tech employers in the community. Encyclopedias and computer science materials are expensive to acquire and must be current in order to be effective. This cut should not stifle the collection development in this area, especially considering many of these materials are available as electronic resources.

100s Reduce the budget from its current amount of $6,500 by $975, giving this area a total budget of $5,525. The 100s have the same budget allocated to their area and are receiving the same budget decrease of $975. This will allow the area to continue to be updated with current issues in psychology and philosophy, which will allow the library to continue to be usable for college students and school aged children. The decrease will not hinder their ability to replace missing titles as well as purchase new ones.

Longmont Non-Fiction 200s Reduce the budget from its current amount of $5,500 by $825, giving this area a total budget of $4,675.

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Religious materials were already given a lesser amount of the budget, and will be further reduced. While they need to add to this area of the collection to create a more well-rounded representation of religions, the remaining budget should allow them to do so. Using the funds to purchase religious dictionaries and encyclopedias may help fill some of these gaps.

300s Reduce the budget from its current amount of $15,000 by $2,250, giving this area a total budget of $12,750. The 300s has a large budget, but is also responsible for keeping up with a large area with many well used topics of study. This decrease may force the library to not purchase titles in less used areas of study within the 300s. However, they will still have funds to continue supporting future educators, homeschooling students, and general information seekers.

400s Reduce the budget from its current amount of $1,200 by $600, giving this area a total budget of $600. Nearly half of the collection has a publication date of 2000 or newer; practically the other remaining half of the collection is published from 1995 or newer. The nature of the collection does not require the newest titles, since the emphasis is on language attainment rather than research. Since this area does not have a large budget to begin with, greatly reducing this area does not seem productive. A budget of $600 will allow replacement of damaged items and select new editions of other materials.

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500s Reduce the budget from its current amount of $5,000 by $730, giving this area a total budget of $4,250. Several areas in this collection were identified for needing newer editions. Some older titles on the geology of the solar system were found and newer titles should be acquired. The Colorado and Rocky Mountain plants and wildflowers section is a popular one and this area needs some updating with new titles or editions. About 70% of the collection was published in 2000 or earlier. This is a collection that has some timeless materials like mathematics, but overall the sciences need to be updated with the most current information. That is why this area will only receive a reduction of about $700.

600s Reduce the budget from its current amount of $20,000 by $2,600, giving this area a total budget of $17,400. The 600s have a vast subject area. This area covers such an assortment of subjects the budget was reduced by $2,600 which should allow the Selector to maintain the integrity of the collection. Some of these materials need annual updating. Books on patenting, medical exam prep titles, hotel/motel listings for travelers. Also, the newest editions of medical materials are needed for the layperson. Engineering is a rapidly evolving area with new findings in the field generating increase patron interest. Auto repair manuals are very popular and need to be continuously updated. Energy efficient technologies are currently exploding; this is an area that will need further attention and development. The optimum collection for the 650-699s will provide users with welldeveloped career, business, construction, and woodworking collections. It should also reflect trends and changes in the local business environment.

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700s Reduce the budget from its current amount of $19,000 by $3,100, giving this area a total budget of $15,900. The bulk of this collection is material such as how-to books, art, music, sports history which will not become dated quickly and as a result a cut of more than $3,000 is proposed. This will allow material such as popular musicians, entertainers, sports figures and video games to be updated regularly with new additions added to other areas slightly less frequently. . 800s Reduce the budget from its current amount of $5,000 by $1,100 giving this area a total budget of $3900. Although this collection may represent one of the greater deficiencies in the collection, with gaps in non-English literaturethere does not appear to be a high demand for such material. Should a need for such material arise, there is the option of interlibrary loan or patron-requested purchase orders. A $1,100 reduction in this budget will still allow for adequate collection development in this area.

900s Reduce the budget from its current amount of $18,000 by $2,100, giving this area a total budget of $15,900. This is another very popular area of the collection; with the travel collection in particular circulates frequently and requires regular updating. This area of the collection contains many oversize volumes and coffee table books which can be expensive. A $2,100 cut will be difficult but reflects an appropriate reduction when cuts of this nature must be made.

Longmont Non-Fiction References

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City of Longmont Planning Department. (2005). Longmont Community Profile. Retrieved from http://www.ci.longmont.co.us/planning/demographics/index.htm Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries. (ND). Prospector: About. Retrieved from: http://www.coalliance.org/prospector/prospectornews/about Front Range Community College. (ND) Boulder County Campus. Retrieved from http://www.frontrange.edu/About-Us/Campus-Locations/Boulder-CountyCampus/ Longmont Public Library. (2007). Longmont Public Library Adult Collection Evaluation: 2007-2012. Longmont, CO. Longmont Public Library. (2010) Longmont Public Library: Annual Report 2010. Retrieved from: http://www.ci.longmont.co.us/library/library_info/documents/2010ARFinal.pdf Nyboer, R.D. (2007) A Centennial History of Longmont Public Library 1907-2007. Longmont, CO: City of Longmont. St. Vrain Valley School District. (ND). St. Vrain Valley Adult Education. Retrieved from http:// http://ae.stvrain.k12.co.us/