Provision of Reading List Texts in an Academic Library
| Pages | 14-20 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01435129410055479 |
| Published date | 01 May 1994 |
| Date | 01 May 1994 |
| Author | Carolyn Stopforth |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
During May 1993, a project was set up at the
University College of North Wales, Bangor
(UCNW), the aim of which was to set in motion a
system for the collection of reading lists from
lecturers, and the checking of these lists to
identify books not stocked at one of the libraries
within Information Services (the university’s joint
computing and library services).
Background
Library staff at UCNW recognized that there was
a need for better liaison with academic staff with
regard to reading lists. This was an area where
the library was consistently failing to meet
student needs. Many texts found on reading lists
were absent from the library, and it was
recognized that other institutions were actually
making reading lists searchable through their
library system.
UCNW does not have a campus bookshop but
there are several good local bookshops in the
area. Co-operation with Galloway & Hodgson
(Arts) and Bookland (Sciences) was decided
upon because they already had a system in
operation for collecting lists. Rather than
lecturers being faced with two requests for lists,
it was felt that both schemes would be more
successful if lecturers were asked to supply one
list to the library who would arrange to send a
copy to the appropriate bookshop. Many
lecturers were already familiar with a request
coming from the bookshops, so by attaching our
name to theirs we were also guaranteeing
ourselves a higher success rate than would be
obtained on our own.
It was decided that a corporate headed letter
and form signed by the manageress of Bookland,
the manager of Galloway & Hodgson, and the
acquisitions librarian at UCNW, should be
designed because of the need to present a
professional image for Information Services, and
because professionally designed memos are more
likely to elicit a response. A suggestion was made
that the offering of “rewards” would be an
incentive to academics to return their forms
quickly, e.g. entry into a raffle, but it was felt on
reflection that this might be insulting to some
staff.
On the form we included sections asking for
information on author, title, publisher, ISBN,
price, whether the text was essential/
recommended or additional/optional, number of
students, term required and “any other
information”. This was the level of detail required
by the library and the bookshops in order to make
informed decisions.
Methodology
May 1993. Initial Discussions
An initial meeting was held between library and
bookshop staff. Subject librarians were consulted
regarding whether there were any schemes
currently in operation which aimed to obtain
course reading lists. Interest was expressed, but
no schemes were found.
May 1993. Summer Project Accepted
A proposal was submitted to the senior
management team for a summer worker to
undertake the project, and 288 hours of time were
granted. The extent of the 1993 project was
limited to the requesting of reading lists, some
chasing of non-respondents, bibliographic
checking of items not stocked by the library, and
informing individual lecturers of their absence
and whether they were in print or new editions
were available.
LIBRARY MANAGEMENT
14
Library Management, Vol. 15 No. 3, 1994, pp. 14-20
© MCB University Press, 0143-5124
Provision of Reading List Texts
in an Academic Library
Carolyn Stopforth
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