Applying IT Processes to Library Assessment Needs

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Denise Weldon-Siviy

I haven’t yet attended a THATCamp, so I feel really under-qualified to propose a session. Having said that, I have a strong interest in ways to apply IT processes to library assessment needs to facilitate collection development and weeding. I would love to discuss some of the applications I’ve found and to learn more about how other library professionals are doing this.
I’ve been working on a number of assessment projects in which I found it very helpful to apply the concepts of:
• Chunking
• Iterative processing [Implemented using saved queries to apply auto-assess criteria via Millennium Create Lists]
• Batch processing [i.e. Rapid Update via Millennium ILS]
• Parallel processing
• Asynchronous processes
My experience in applying these processes has been using the Innovative Millennium ILS, but I think the theories are applicable to any robust ILS.

Categories: General, Libraries, Session Proposals, Session: Talk |

About Denise Weldon-Siviy

I earned a masters in 1984 in Technical Writing with a cognate area of computer science, then spent the next 25 years writing mostly systems level engineering documentation. Being quite "done with that", I moved on to a library position in 2008 and am currently working on an MLIS at the University of Pittsburgh (online) while working full-time as Collections Associate at the Musselman Library of Gettysburg College. My strongest interests at the moment are data-driven collections analysis, urban gardening, and Star Trek.

6 Responses to Applying IT Processes to Library Assessment Needs

  1. Beth Transue says:
    September 17, 2013 at 6:17 pm

    As the collection development/analysis librarian at Messiah College, this sounds very interesting. I look forward to learning more! Perhaps we can meet individually at THATCamp for more discussion as well!

  2. ppowers says:
    September 18, 2013 at 1:06 am

    Thanks, Denise. This sounds like it would make a worthwhile “Talk” session proposal. Check out the different kinds of sessions under the “Propose” tab. I know we are trying to recruit librarians to the THATCamp (academic librarians and otherwise), so you might have fertile ground for a Talk session. It doesn’t require a whole lot, enough knowledge to set the grounds for why a topic is important, your own view of things, and then some responsibility to guide discussion and keep it going. Except for workshops, THATCamps are designed to be interactive and conversational rather than presentations or demonstrations of knowledge. If you think you’d like to sponsor such a session on Library assessment needs, I can go ahead and categorize this as a Talk session proposal. What happens then is on the first day all in attendance talk, vote, and make some decisions on which sessions are likely to garner the most interests, and we go from there.

  3. ppowers says:
    September 18, 2013 at 2:26 am

    Ok, Denise. I added categories for a talk session and for libraries. I’ll post to our School Facebook page and on Twitter to get the word out a little bit. if you know other librarians who have interests in digital humanities in the area please let them know about your talk session and about other things going on at our THATCamp.

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