You are asked to recommend library resources needed by a small private
college in Canada.  The college library already has a good collection
of general reference materials and language texts (the college was
formerly providing only language courses).  However, a new 2-year
Associate Degree Program is proposed for 2006 offering first and
second year courses in  a variety of disciplines including,
Anthropology, Accounting, Communications, Earth Sciences, Economics,
Finance, Philosophy, Sociology, Art, English, Math, etc.  How would
you  identify the appropriate number and scope of reading and research
resources (texts, periodicals, etc)necessary to support an initial
enrolment of 150 ? 200 students? The school is not expected to grow
beyond 350 students for the first few years.

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Clarification of Question by celtic_rice-ga on 15 Apr 2005 14:32 PDT

Thanks for your comment Myoarin.  I need to recommend a budget, so I
really need to get an idea on what would be considered to be
"sufficient" in terms of scope and volume of resources.  Are there any
rules of thumb? Per student allocation? That sort of information.  But
yes, I'll probably need to talk to librarians at other colleges.

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Clarification of Question by celtic_rice-ga on 20 Apr 2005 08:07 PDT

Thanks to Omnivorous and Badger for their comments.  

I have started to use Google to find course outlines for courses
similar to those we are offering and that use the same recommended
textbooks that we have selected.  Many of these outlines recommend
additional reading materials to complement the course or have links to
relevant articles.  In this way I have been able to compile a good
list of relevant resources to start with.

Asking for sponsorship from alumni is not an option yet because this
is a de novo program.

Thanks again for considering this request.

Celtic

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Clarification of Question by celtic_rice-ga on 21 Apr 2005 10:25 PDT

Thanks to Luciaphile-GA for those suggestions.  I am in the process of
searching for core lists as you recommended.

As you and others suggested, I think I need to visit some libraries
and make contacts with similar colleges... so I will cancel this
question today.

Thanks to all for your help.

Celtic

You have a real challenge.  How much money is available?  
I would suggest contacting librarians of similarly sized colleges that
offer the same courses  - not all of them, of course.  And also, talk
to the librarians of major universities who may better structured
ideas of how you should proceed.
Maybe do that first, letting them know what your budget is.

G-A researchers (I'm just a commenter) use and recommend use of
libraries a lot, and I hope one of them can give you a good answer.

1. identify peer schools and ask about budget, per capita acquisition
and specific reference books.
2. ask faculty at your school what books are considered standard in
their fields and what needs they anticipate as the school grows.
3. find out about inter-library loan options for students.
4. create a long range plan for budget and books based on above info.
Get it approved by the governing board.

And think about an appeal to alumni/ae for financial support of the library.
As a hardened recipient of letters from my school and college, I think
begging letters geared to the price of a few books could be more
effective.
Good luck.

Celtic_rice -- 

My recommendation would be to cancel this question, then address a new
one specifically to Luciaphile-GA.  As  you can tell by the Google
Answers screen name, this researcher is a professional librarian.

They will certainly ask you about budget and other parameters of
organization.  Try to be as specific as possible as to what's known --
and how the researcher would create a program with upside potential.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

I don't really have time to tackle this question (thanks omnivorous-ga
for the plug). Couple of suggestions though.

1. Consult with faculty who will be teaching these courses/get a look
at proposed curriculum/syllabi.
2. Look at peer institutions - most OPACs are online, but a site visit
would seem to be warranted.
3. Depending on budget, general bibliographic database (Expanded
Academic, InfoTrac, EBSCOHost) will answer some of the serial needs.
4. Choice, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews are great collection development sources
5. Some subjects have core lists (e.g. the former Brandon-Hill list
for nursing, small medical libraries)
6. Consult the library literature to see what others have done. 
7. Listservs for collection development librarians - if you're a
librarian, there will be no problem with you joining and asking
questions. If you're a student, they may or may not have guidelines
about posting, but usually they have archives you could search.

Does your library have any type of consortial arrangement with other
area libraries/institutions? If so, it may be possible for you to have
access to various databases either for free or for a reduced cost.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

Regards,
luciaphile-ga