Chapter III: The Bibliographer

Bibliographers are subject specialists, with funds assigned directly to them for the selection of materials appropriate for their unit or the library system as a whole. They may decide questions of selection, development, and management on their own and in consultation with faculty, both individually and officially with departmental library liaisons and chairpersons, through students, the Director, and each other. Their primary mission is to support the research and curriculum interests of Dartmouth's faculty and students.

The individual bibliographers meet formally and informally several times a year with the Director of Collection Services to discuss various aspects of their collection development and management activities, especially their funding needs. As the occasion arises, topics of conversation may include the current and future use of their collections, special preservation needs, new courses and new faculty, publishing and pricing trends, collection evaluation, gift policies, resource sharing, or other related collection matters.

A. Responsibilities: Collection development

The individual bibliographer has direct responsibility for the development of collections in the subject areas for which she/he is responsible and shared responsibility for the collection as a whole. Based on subject knowledge, familiarity with the specific collection, and an awareness of College curriculum, programs, and research which the collection supports, the bibliographer is responsible for developing and implementing a collection management strategy which will best meet user needs within the framework of current Library goals and priorities and available resources.

Specific responsibilities include:

Maintaining a thorough knowledge of the specific collection(s).

Maintaining a current awareness of curricular, programmatic, research and other user needs relating to the collection(s).

Monitoring and allocating individual budgets.

Developing, maintaining, and implementing collection development policies for specific areas.

Participation in the development of system-wide policies, programs, and procedures.

Working with Acquisitions Services to establish and monitor gathering plans appropriate for specific subject areas and to maintain effective vendor relations.

Interaction with Bibliographic Control Services and Bibliographic Records Management personnel to determine appropriate bibliographic control methods for specific collections. 

1. Collection development policies

Collection development policies are drafted by the bibliographer(s) responsible for selection in a particular subject area. The drafts are then reviewed by the Collection Management and Development Committee; once approved, the policies may be revised as often as every two (2) years. Collection development policies include the following sections:

General Purpose

Dartmouth College Program

General Subject boundaries

Languages

Geographical areas

Types of materials collected

Format of materials collected

Special Collections and manuscripts

Other resources available

Detailed subject areas

Levels of collecting intensity

Collection development policies, guidelines for writing collection development policies, and the timetable for revision of policies are available via the CMDC Web site.

2. Selection strategies

Selection strategies are based on the needs of the academic curriculum and the research interests of the faculty, graduate and undergraduate students. Each bibliographer is responsible for making selections which adequately cover his/her subject areas. Mechanisms utilized in making those selection decisions include: faculty suggestions, publisher ads, new academic programs, frequent ILL requests (i.e., items the Library borrows heavily), lacks in the collection, etc. In addition, many academic departments have individual faculty designated as library liaisons and these individuals may work with the bibliographer to insure adequate coverage for a particular subject area.

Acquisitions Services keeps a file of current publishers' catalogs. A file of antiquarian booksellers' catalogs is kept in Special Collections.

B. Responsibilities: Collection management

Collection management, or maximizing the value of materials acquired for the library's collections, is as important to achieving the Library's goals and objectives as developing the collection. Collection management begins with initial receipt and continues indefinitely thereafter and includes such activities as evaluation, preservation, and bibliographic control. Both bibliographers and collection services librarians are involved in each of these activities. The process of collection management is coordinated system-wide by the Collection Management and Development Committee. Within the framework of Library goals and priorities and current collection management policies, individual bibliographers are directly responsible for the management of collections within their areas of responsibility.

1. Collection Evaluation

a. Evaluation tools

Collection evaluation is an ongoing process, concurrent with selection activities. It may also become a special project, occasioned by such institutional events as accreditation reports, new degree programs, or new faculty members and interests. Evaluation of strengths and weakness in a collection are undertaken to verify effectiveness of collection development policies or to identify areas for retrospective development. An ALA publication that can assist bibliographers is "Guidelines for the Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Library Collections" (Perkins, David L. "Guidelines for the Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Library Collections." In Guidelines for Collection Development. Ed. David L. Perkins. Chicago : American Library Association, Resources and Technical Services Division, 1979.).

b. Monitoring collection use

The ability to analyze collection use through statistics generated by the Innopac system is something bibliographers have anticipated since the implementation of the Circulation module. Circulation and Systems personnel are planning to make this feature available to bibliographers in the near future. As of 1998 materials in the Library of Congress Classfication can be analyzed with circulation statistics reports. The Dewey, Old Dartmouth, and accession-number collections have not been set up in the Innopac Circulation System tables. Issues to be addressed through monitoring of collection use are:

1. Decisions on purchase of additional copies of certain titles based on reserve and class use.

2. Decisions to purchase new editions of standard works as they appear, or as required for research or class use.

3. Decisions on deaccession or storage to be made on basis of use of parts of the collection, research value of materials, or online availability.

4. Decisions to be made on physical format of materials to be purchased - microform or compact disk as opposed to or in addition to paper, based on frequency and convenience of use as well as available storage space.

2. Preservation

Preservation Services, a department newly formed in 1994, is charged to coordinate preservation activities within the Library, with the assistance of the Preservation Subgroup of CMDC. General guidelines for preservation are outlined in the Preservation Manual (2nd ed., 1986) published by the Research Libraries Group and the Preservation Manual (1989) created by the Library's Preservation Committee, which in 1995 became the Preservation Subgroup. Both documents serve as resources for information concerning practices and procedures that affect the collections and their protection.

a. An awareness of the physical condition of the collection is an important aspect of preservation and an important responsibility of each selector. The relative age of the imprints may indicate problems in the quality of paper, bindings, and adhesives, all of which have a definite impact on the life-span of the collection. Use patterns also have an impact on the maintenance/replacement/repair needs of the collection. Collection preservation necessitates that bibliographers track the condition of the collection, locate items needing "help", and designate the appropriate treatment.

b. In many areas of the Library's holdings, there are materials that may, for reasons of rarity, fragility, or financial value, require transfer to Special Collections, the Storage Library, or Special Locked areas. Bibliographers initiate such action according to the "Guidelines for Transfer of Older Materials".

c. Binding decisions and knowledge of the various binding options are the responsibility of the bibliographer, both at the point of acquisition and during the ongoing collection maintenance process. The Bindery Manual (1989) contains policies and procedures currently in force throughout the Library system.

d. As a part of disaster planning and preparedness, salvage priorities are set by each bibliographer for each area of responsibility. Priorities are established on the basis of rarity, difficulty of replacement, collection use, and the physical condition of the collection or portion of the collection under consideration. The Library's Disaster Manual delineates the physical treatment of damaged materials and describes the procedures to be followed in the event of a disaster.

e. The education of users to preserve and protect the collection is the responsibility of every member of the Library staff. Periodically, exhibits are organized for educating the general public. Bibliographers are expected to build into their bibliographic instruction classes a brief component regarding proper care and handling of materials. Preservation Services is charged to support educational activities and to assist bibliographers as the need arises. 

3. Bibliographic Control

Bibliographic control activities are designed to provide information about the organization of and methods of access to the collections so that they may be used to greatest advantage. In this process the bibliographer applies his/her specialized knowledge to help users attain access to materials which best satisfy their needs. This may include preparation of bibliographies or other guides to the contents of the collections as well as user guides for physical access.

Part of the process for bibliographers involves working with Collection Services.

Bibliographers make decisions, which are acted on by Collection Services personnel, regarding issues such as the following:

1. Determination of processing priorities for special needs and programs. Bibliographers may request that Collection Services process items needed for upcoming classes or timely research. Materials may be designated RUSH and "Hold for" requests may be included in any individual order.

2. Alternate classification/location decisions.

3. Method of treatment (such as analytics, contents listed, etc.) of monographic series and multi-part items.

4. Recataloging, reclassification, and correction problems.

C. Responsibilities: Fund management

The individual bibliographer has direct responsibility for allocating, expending and monitoring the budget(s) for his/her area(s) of responsibility. Acquisitions Services authorizes encumbrances against individual budgets based on bibliographer's instructions (i.e., firm orders, standing orders, etc.) and is responsible for the preparation of financial reports which provide bibliographers with complete and up-to-date information on encumbrances, expenditures, and cash and free balances. As of 1997, bibliographers may, if desired, produce their own financial reports from Innopac or receive reports from Acquisitions Services electronically as well as in print. The bibliographer is responsible for monitoring the rate of encumbrance and expenditure during the fiscal year. Other fund management responsibilities include:

1. Preparing and justifying major purchase requests.

2. Compiling and justifying regular budget requests. See Chapter II (Budget/funds) for description of institutional budgeting process.

3. Negotiating cooperative funding of expensive items with other bibliographers and/or academic departments.

4. Preparing proposals for alternative and external funding.

D. Responsibilities: Interaction with students and faculty