Like a good neighbor, collections are there

There has been much talk about collection development this past week between class and an interview with my librarian who works in the acquisitions department at Bird. Collection development is a vital step toward increased intellectual freedom and more available information, but it's important to look at the context of the community, and see what its needs and wants are because the members matter.

Each library community is going to be different in how it approaches the collections-development process. Depending on where the library is located and the physical makeup of the community, there are going to be more wants and needs in some areas of development than others.

For instance, the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, N.Y. will most likely have more reference materials focusing on engineering, graphic design and computer programming than Russian philosophy or ancient civilizations. Since RIT is a more science- and technology-based school, student and faculty needs and wants would be in this area; so, it would be no surprise to find more of these materials in the collections.

Also, my local school and public library have a large collection that helps ESL individuals. In Solvay, N.Y. there has been a large influx of Ukrainian and Russian individuals who have settled in the area in the past two decades. These people do not know much English, so the public library and the school (especially this one) have obtained materials to help them learn the language.

These libraries in central New York have looked at who their communities are, and they are attempting to purchase materials to meet needs and wants. This is exactly what the libraries should be doing: examining their population, and gaining feedback as to what the library should hopefully have.

However, it may be difficult to provide everything the community needs because of lack of funding or resistance to change among members. Decisions of what to buy and for whom will no doubt be a concern in our future as librarians, but it’s vital for us to remember to keep a level head and find creative ways to tackle these problematic opportunities.

But, the chief purpose a library is to serve its community, and these libraries in New York are doing that. If these libraries did not even take into consideration its population, the library would most likely not have much use for that public.