Demystifying Library Resources & Expenditures: Faculty Discussion Series

The acquisition of library resources for scholarship and teaching known as “collection development,” is a complicated process that strikes a balance between access and ownership. Factors, such as price, budget, availability, and licensing, increasingly impact the libraries’ abilities to provide the most relevant and useful set of resources for our campus community. We seek creative solutions, focus on broad and deep access to information and resources, as well as open scholarship.

Join us for a series of discussions about key library collection issues that impact research and study at Vanderbilt. Each standalone session will be presented twice and is described below with times and registration links. We look forward to your participation and input. Sessions open to the Vanderbilt Community only. For questions or more information, please contact Julie Glascock.

 

Session 1: Understanding Library Subscriptions and their Impact on the Collections Budget 

Vanderbilt University Libraries constantly monitors developments related to scholarly publishing across the globe to manage the collections budget and to ensure a broad array of relevant resources for faculty and students. Annual journal price increases are consistently higher than library budget increases. This forces many institutions to cut subscriptions, favor open access initiatives, and even cancel the “big deal” subscription agreements with major journal publishers. Join us to learn more about the libraries’ subscriptions and licenses and share your ideas and priorities regarding future solutions for Vanderbilt. Two sessions available.

Watch the Recording (VUnet ID and password required for access to the recording)

Session 2: Providing Scholarly Resources to the Vanderbilt Community 

Join us to learn about library collection strengths and how the library makes decisions regarding acquisitions and subscriptions. Library liaisons representing a variety of disciplines will discuss unique challenges and approaches to meeting user needs. In advance of our conversation, we invite you to read “How does the Library provide scholarly resources to the Vanderbilt Community?” Two sessions available.

Watch the Recording (VUnet ID and password required for access to the recording)

Session 3: Explore Alternatives to Traditional Subscription-Based Access Models 

Given rising costs and increased demand for subscriptions, libraries around the world struggle to find room in their budgets for new resources that will help advance scholarship. Join us to learn and discuss opportunities for open resources, transformative subscription agreements, and how Vanderbilt may be able to take advantage of these creative and equitable solutions. Two sessions available.

Watch the Recording (VUnet ID and password required for access to the recording)

Session 4: Providing Broader Access to Library Resources– Embracing Creative Opportunities 

Please join us in a discussion about how the library is creatively stretching our budget, increasing the discoverability of resources, and ensuring just-in-time service to meet the needs of faculty and students. COVID-19 has accelerated these efforts benefiting researchers across campus. We’d like to share what we have done and hear your feedback on just-in-time resources that benefit your research. Two sessions available.

Watch the Recording (VUnet ID and password required for access to the recording)

Session 5: Text and Data Mining (TDM) Scholarly Resources – a Library Collections Perspective 

TDM is a powerful way for researchers to find patterns and relationships in large data and information sets. Are you Interested in text or data mining your favorite library resource? Do you wish you could scrape your favorite online resource? Join us to discuss your TDM needs and learn more about existing publisher tools and their licensing limitations. Two sessions available.

Watch the Recording (VUnet ID and password required for access to the recording)

Session 6: Demystifying Library Resources and Expenditures: Collecting Distinctive Collections

The university’s distinctive collections –those rare materials housed in special collections, the archives and the art gallery were initially formed through donations. While today’s curators make strategic purchases to fill gaps in the collections, it is their cultivation of donors that helps us acquire important collections that support instruction and research, and makes collecting distinctive materials so different from that of collecting circulating collections. Please join us for this lunchtime talk to learn more about how distinctive collections are acquired, the costs associated with making these collections accessible, and the role instruction and research play in the acquisition process.

  • The Delia Zapata Olivella Collection and Special Collecting Initiatives, Paula Covington, Librarian for Latin American and Iberian Studies, Latinx, Spanish and Portuguese and Senior Lecturer in Latin American Studies
  • Recent Manuscript Acquisitions and Donor Relations, Zach Johnson, Curator of Special Collections
  • Charles Baudelaire: A Tale of Two Salons, Yvonne Boyer, Librarian for History of Art & Architecture, French & Italian, and W. T. Bandy Center for Baudelaire and Modern French Studies
  • New Works in the Art Gallery: Collecting Remarkable Marginalized Voices,  Kali Mason, Registrar and Collections Manager, and Emily Weiner, Interim Curator
  • The History of Medicine and Surgery Society, Physician Historians, and Future Collections, Christopher Ryland, Curator, History of Medicine Collections
  • The James Lawson Photograph Collection: Purchasing through Specialized Vendors, Kathy Smith, University Archivist and Associate Director, Special Collections

Watch the Recording (No password required)          Transcription available

 

 

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