Final Day: Assessment of Learning Experiences

As part of my practicum final submission, I wrote an assessment of learning experiences. I have decided to include it here as a final note on my practicum blog:

I had an educationally rich experience during my practicum this semester at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s Library and Archives. Though my goal before the practicum began was to gain experience in cataloging, I am happy with the decision I made to conduct my practicum with a different ambition at the Rock Hall and thankful for the experiences the practicum has provided me.

Before applying for this practicum, I had been quite interested in gaining experience in cataloging. I had planned on doing so at the Rock Hall library, but as the semester approached, the Rock Hall still did not have a need for such a practicum student (the library’s projected opening has been postponed until after 2011). Since I had been cataloging as a graduate student assistant at the Kent State University Library, I decided to continue pursuing a practicum with the Rock Hall, in the hopes of finding another interesting project to conduct. The Rock Hall’s Library Director, Andy Leach, and I were able to decide on a few small projects for me to work on for the semester.

First, I was to continue the work I had been doing as a volunteer for the Rock Hall Library, which was to develop a list of videos recommended for the library’s future collection. I was also to begin creating a list of biographies and other books about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s inductees. Finally, I set out to help the library research and develop a policy to shape the library’s patrons’ user experience.

The two collection development projects have been an excellent learning experience, especially since I was also taking the Selection and Acquisitions of Library Materials course this semester with Dr. Belinda Boon. The two experiences coincided to provide me with the best experience I could have imagined. You will find a detailed account of this process on my blog at http://rockhalllibrarypracticum.blogspot.com/.

The policy and procedure project also allowed for an interesting experience, as I was able to conduct a wealth of research to shape my recommendations for a brand new library. In addition to reading many peer-reviewed articles and reviewing many libraries’ policies, I conducted a survey that included public, research, academic, and special library professionals. Not only did the survey provide valuable information on how other libraries are run, but it also provided me with the opportunity to communicate and form relationships with library professionals across the country. I am very thankful to Mr. Leach for providing me with contact information for so many helpful people.

All of the research and development for these projects can be found on my blog and wikis. I created a wiki that contains all of my practicum documents (http://lauramaidensrockhallpracticum.wikispaces.com/), another wiki that contains my draft of a recommended policy for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library and Archives (http://rockhalllibrarypolicy.wikispaces.com/), and a blog (http://rockhalllibrarypracticum.blogspot.com/) that includes my activities and what I have learned throughout the semester. Although there is an overwhelming amount of information included on these sites, I encourage you to read them to learn more about my amazing experiences.

Now that my practicum is nearly finished, I am completely satisfied with my decision to take this experience rather than look for a cataloging practicum. I was able to learn so much more, and I now also have the option of doing some cataloging volunteer work for the Rock Hall; I may even apply for a cataloging position there in the future. Not only did this practicum provide a valuable experience, but it also allowed me to make important connections in the professional world that will be extremely important as I begin my career. Overall, I am thankful for and excited about the experience I gained during my practicum this semester at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s Library and Archives.

Coming up next: Who knows?! It's time to begin applying for jobs, so wish me luck in this treacherous venture. As always...

Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Laura

Day 21, Hour 105

This morning, I applied the revisions suggested by my Selection and Acquisition of Library Materials professor, as well as some revisions of my own, to the policy I created in Wikispaces. The tone of the document now seems much more professional and representative of the institution. If you would like to view the policy, please contact me and I will send you a personal invite, as it is private.

Today marks my 95th on-site hour, but I will continue to work here on collection development through December 9. I am really enjoying seeking out interesting and valuable materials about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's inductees. As I mentioned at an earlier date, if you would like to see a list of the materials I have suggested, please contact me and I will provide that information for you.

Coming up next: I will begin to work on the assessment of my learning experience, which is required as part of my final practicum submission. I do not think it will be difficult to provide examples of what I have learned, since I was able to chronicle most of my journey on this blog.

Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Laura

Day 19, Hour 95

As you may know, in addition to policy and procedure, I have been working on some collection development for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library + Archives. This is not exactly what you might have in mind when it comes to collection development, as there is no collection yet to analyze; rather, this is the building of a collection. This is my first experience with this, and I think it's been a great experience. I have gotten the opportunity to work on my research and selection skills, which are vitally important to the education of the future librarian. Here are some things I have learned so far:

1. It is very easy to go off on a tangent when searching for materials. In the instance of building a collection, though, tangents can be great! For example, I was searching for some books on The Rolling Stones and came across quite a few Beatles books that I had not yet discovered. I wrote down the titles to go back to later. The danger with tangents, though, is that you can lose your place or forget where you were going. This is why it's so important to keep a notepad in front of you at all times! Do not drop what you are doing; simply jot yourself a note, finish your task, and then revisit your new and interesting find.

2. There is no point at which you are finished with collection development. This can be a tough concept to wrap your head around, especially if you are a goal-oriented person. I could work for countless hours on the books and DVDs lists I am compiling, and as long as materials continue to be created and released and reviewed, I would never be done. As someone who, in the past, has relied on goals in her professional career, I have come up with a solution to this: Create small goals for yourself within a larger project. For instance, each day I hope to find at least three books for each inductee. Sometimes there are less, often there are many more. But at least I know that I have accomplished something I set out to do. Plus, I'll have this awesome list of titles to show for all my work in the end!

(Sidenote: I should have heeded my own warning about losing track of your place after a tangent. Now where was I? The Temptations? But what about that other Beatles book I read about? Did I finish looking into Rolling Stones DVDs?...)

3. Use multiple sources when searching for materials. This is something I have learned from experience. When there are bands that have hundreds of titles related to them, there must be some way of determining which materials are valuable and which are junk. The process I use begins with researching the inductee in The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Omnibus Press, 2007) and The Mojo Collection: the Ultimate Music Companion (Canongate, 2003). These books have suggested "further reading" lists for most of the individuals with entries. Sometimes The Encyclopedia of Popular Music will have a very long list of titles, but will suggest four or five of the best (according to the editor). After this initial inquiry, I conduct a search for the inductee on Amazon.com (narrowing by "books" or "movies and TV," depending on what I am looking for) and on WorldCat.org. I cross-reference the lists from the two books and from the websites and see which titles seem really valuable. Amazon.com has reviews, and I take these into consideration. I also search reviews on LibraryJournal.com and on GoodReads.com. After weighing all of these factors, I create the list of books or DVDs I would suggest for addition to the collection. (As I compile the Excel spreadsheets, I make sure to record title, author [with authority control from the Library of Congress], publisher, release date, copyright date, ISBN, OCLC record number, series, edition, notes, URL [usually to Amazon.com], and price. This is all in the hopes that the catalogers will be able to purchase and create records for these items quickly and efficiently.)

I am going to end the list here for now. I am sure I will come up with other things I have learned about collection development during my time at the Rock Hall Library, so if you are interested, stay tuned.

Coming up next: Since collection development is my focus for the next couple of weeks, I will possibly not create another blog entry any time soon. Of course, if I come across something interesting or learn something that I think adds value to my practicum experience, I will blog about it.

Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Laura

Day 18, Hour 90

Today I did most of my work in collection development. Since most of my policy research has been collected and compiled, and can start to focus on a great monograph and video collection for the library. I am going to continue working diligently on this until my final hours here!

My policy wiki has been graded, and though the content was thorough (for the most part) I seem to have missed the mark on the tone of the entire document. Many of the writing choices I made were not particularly what my professor was looking for, and I understand that. I wish I had thought more about this before I completed it. However, Andy is still interested in the wiki, so I will make some changes to give the document more of a professional tone. In general, however, it is mostly finished.

I think I will soon email my off-site practicum adviser, Dr. Roland, about my final project. I want to inform him of all of the research and collection development I have been doing, and to ask him how exactly it would be best to submit the work. As of now, documents of my work are included in the wiki I created for this practicum. Hopefully this will be a sufficient record of all of my work here.

Coming up next: I would like to continue with collection development (I have moved on to 1989, when there were only 9 inductees), to revise my policy wiki, and to begin work on the "Assessment of Learning Experience" paper, which is a reflection of my practicum that is due as part of the final project. Time is winding down...

Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Laura

Day 17, Hour 85

Thanks for hanging tight while I had another at-home work day on Tuesday. I have been feeling a bit under the weather lately and decided it might be best to work on collection development and my final practicum project at home.

With only 25 on-site hours left here, I have begun to look at my practicum folder and what will be involved. I have also been compiling all of the documents, reports, and research I have worked on so that I will be able to submit it in my final report. I have broken my practicum project into two parts: Collection development and policy/procedure. This will be the final project combination that I will submit at the end of the semester. It is amazing to look back at all the work I have done in what seems like only a short period of time.

I received one more survey response this week, and added important information into my survey response report. I also submitted a new report to Andy on the research I have been conducting since we last met. The new report focuses on survey responses, membership/registration options, in-house use tracking options, and collection development. Hopefully we will be able to meet and discuss the report; I am especially interested to hear Andy's thoughts on Clevnet and whether joining the consortium would be a good option for the Rock Hall Library.

I finished out my day with some collection development. I have been using more tools for comparison of resources (like reading reviews from critics and other readers), and I feel like this is helping with the quality of materials I have chosen. I am also including more titles for each inductee as Andy expressed that he would like to have as many options as possible. In order to differentiate stand-out materials from materials with less-remarkable reviews, I am including much more bibliographic information for the sources I really recommend. This way, the library will have more options and will be able to make its own decisions.

Coming up next: Now that I have a pretty solid idea of what my final projects will look like, I would like to be able to complete a lot more in the way of collection development. I am really interested in trying to create great go-to title lists for the inductees and videos. I am imagining the lists as a sort of "thank you" to the Rock Hall Library and Andy for allowing me to complete such an interesting practicum here!

Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Laura

Day 15, Hour 75

It has been really interesting and enjoyable to read the responses I've received from my survey. I have compiled all the responses I have gotten so far, and each one has been valuable to my research in some way. For instance, the Southern Folklife Collection at UNC-Chapel Hill has a Search Room that seems similar to what will be the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library's Archives Reading Room; I took some time to look at their policies on using the room and got some good ideas. Also, I learned from Beth Farrell at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Library that there is a Greater Access card provided to patrons by Clevnet that allows members to use all libraries that belong to the Clevnet consortium. This is definitely something to look into.

Something else that Beth shared with me is that the Innovative Millennium program (an integrated library system that the Rock Hall Library will be using, which is also used by the Kent State University Libraries) has a "Count Use" function in its system that could help the Rock Hall Library to track the usage of items in-house. It seems that the function keeps track of usage when a librarian scans into the system items that she/he sees have been used. This would be great, since there will be no information gathered by circulation records (since items here will not circulate).

I finished out my day by continuing with collection development. I found it interesting and reassuring that when I looked into starred reviews on Overbooked.com for Elvis books, the top two books selections were the two titles I recommended for addition to the collection. (On a quite unrelated yet interesting note, I just realized that the web address for Overbooked.com is www.overbooked.org. How curious...)

Coming up next: The survey responses have slowed, but I am hoping I will continue to receive at least 5 or so more in the next two weeks. I am also looking into other local institutions I can send the survey to, since I received such great information from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Library. As always, if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!

Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Laura

Day 14, Hour 70

Today was the day I finally sent out my policy survey...and I was nervous! I must have checked, double-checked, and triple-checked each email I sent out, making sure that I cc'd Andy, I attached the survey, and I spelled the person's name correctly. It is both nerve-wracking and exhilarating to know that your name is going to be out in front of experts in your field. The shocking and pleasant part of the whole experience is that within an hour and a half, I had already received four responses!

Since last week, I have also been doing a lot of work at home on the policy and procedure wiki that I created. I decided to scrap the mock website I was working on, since wikis are so much more accessible; I can work on a wiki from any computer with an internet connection, and I can send access permissions out to anyone I choose to. Since I also have a wiki for this practicum (through Wikispaces.com), which I have a paid subscription for, I am able to control the security of my pages. These are all reasons why I am so in favor of wikis! (You can check out a post I wrote for another blog on wikis here.)

I finished up my day by working on some collection development. I was happy to discover that the list of inductees for 1988 is much shorter than the previous years, so hopefully I will be able to get a lot more of the inductees list finished than I thought. I also was able to search more effectively thanks to a site I found called GoodReads.com that offers a wealth of user reviews.

Coming up next: I will be continuing with collection development, and hopefully--if more responses keep coming in--will start compiling the results of my survey. With each day I spend here, the time seems as though it is moving faster and faster...

Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Laura

Day 13, Hour 65

Sorry if you've missed me; I worked from home on the collection development policy on Tuesday. It is going quite well, and I hope it will be helpful for both my Selection and Acquisitions class and the Rock Hall Library.

I have a pretty good policy and procedure survey drafted, and Andy agrees that it will be quite helpful. He provided me with an amazing list of contacts to present the survey to, and hopefully they will be generous enough with their time to participate. I have drafted an email to send out along with the survey and have submitted it to Andy for comments and suggestions. I'm not entirely sure why, but it makes me a little nervous to be sending out a survey to such important professionals!

I have also been continuing with collection development, and have gathered books and videos representing all of the inductees from 1986 and 1987. I am anxious to keep working on this, and would like to hopefully finish another 3-5 years of inductions before my time is up here. Thankfully, the inductees list grows shorter as the years progress; I may be able to finish more than I think I can.

Coming up next: I will hopefully be sending out the survey within the next couple of days or so. I do not want to wait until next week as I want to be sure to compile and review the results very soon. On a side note, if you or someone you know has any comments or suggestions on library policy or would like to participate in the survey, please contact me through this blog. I would graciously accept any input you can offer!

Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Laura

Day 11, Hour 55

Today was another great research day, and I found some interesting and helpful articles. One article I liked in particular--"The Use of Registration Forms in Special Collections Libraries" (Kristina Southwell, 2006 in Collections Management, Volume 31, Issue 4)--made a really strong argument for obtaining registration information from patrons, regardless of whether items circulate or there is a fee for membership. I think this is quite important to the library to protect the integrity of the library's materials and policies and to keep accurate records of patrons' information needs. It is also a great way to track any items that are used in an environment where none of the materials will ever be checked out. This process helps to solve questions about collection development, as the library staff is constantly being made aware of the kinds of information their patrons are seeking. It also helps with security, as a certain amount of responsibility comes with membership when a registration process is involved.

I also compiled a second report for Andy that contains the research and questions I have come up with regarding some of my focuses lately. The report covers web filtering, the registration and membership process, and a survey I have been working on. I would like to submit the survey to librarians at similar institutions to find out some information on their policies and procedures. I do not have a solid idea of libraries to send this survey out to, so if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to contact me through this blog.

Coming up next: I want to make sure I have ironed out all the kinks in my survey by the end of the day next Tuesday, as I feel I should be sending it out soon. I would also like to continue researching, and maybe spend some more time on collection development. Now that I am past the midway point in my hours, time seems to be moving much more quickly.

Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Laura

Day 10, Hour 50

It's amazing how invigorating a break can be! I took some time off from collection development since I've been working on policy, and I am back with an energy you would not believe. As you may remember, before I began my practicum here, I was volunteering by developing a list of videos that would complete the library's collection. For my practicum, I decided to expand this collection development to include books about past inductees. After all, the Rock Hall would not be the Rock Hall without its inductees. Since I now have both lists going, I can work on them simultaneously, which is helping me to fill in holes in each.

When I began to compile the videos list this summer, I had absolutely no experience in collection development. I decided to break down my search into categories, so I started by looking for concert footage. I then moved on to biopics and dramas centered around rock (fictional artists, great soundtracks, etc.). Documentaries were easiest, so I left those for last; interestingly enough, many of the documentary titles I found fell into my lap through looking for the other types of films. I did most of my searching through four sources: WorldCat.org (which is a great site that allows you to search libraries around the world for all kinds of materials), Amazon.com, The Rock & Roll Film Encyclopedia (Applause Theatre and Cinema Books, 2007), and bibliographies in two books (The Encyclopedia of Popular Music [Omnibus Press, 2007] and The Mojo Collection: the Ultimate Music Companion [Canongate, 2000]). I particularly enjoyed browsing through The Rock & Roll Film Encyclopedia because the author gave great depictions of the films and included some of my favorites. Unfortunately, I sometimes have difficulty deciding which films to include, especially in cases where the artist or inductee is in or is the subject of a long list of titles (such as Elvis). In those cases, I tried to look into the films' ratings through Amazon.com and the Internet Movie Database.

Since I was focusing mainly on books based on inductees, I put off the list of videos for quite a while. It was a pleasant surprise, then, to find that I was able to fill in some empty slots in my videos list with films about inductees. This had not been a category that I was previously searching, so I have been able to find a vast amount of films to add to my list. It is really coming along quite well!

It is possible that some of you would like to see what books and films are on my lists, for personal interest reasons, so I would be happy to provide them to anyone who contacts me through my blog. I know that I, personally, have been adding a lot of titles to my Netflix.com list as I go!

Coming up next: As of today, I have reached the half-way point for my required on-site hours. This means that it is time for me to re-evaluate my practicum wiki, to make sure I have tracked all of my logged hours correctly, and to contact my off-site practicum advisor to inform him that I have complete 50 hours. I think we are supposed to discuss my project at that time, as well. I have been really enjoying my experience here, and I cannot wait to continue with policy and collection development for the Rock Hall Library!

Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Laura

Day 9, Hour 45

I continued researching web filtering today, and I'm now thoroughly interested in the topic. I looked into several real-world examples, such as Phoenix Public Library's controversial decision (see further deliberation here) to filter all computers--with no option to turn the filters off--in 2004. After checking the library's current policy on their website, it appears that they continue to adhere to this policy, although they have included the stipulation that patrons can request to have a site unblocked (which is not guaranteed and may take up to 48 hours). I cannot believe that this decision has been upheld at a public institution, and I believe that this is a definite violation of the First Amendment.

That being said, I will once again remind you that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library + Archives, while open to the public (as of May 2011), will not be very comparable to a public library. This library will exist mainly for research purposes, although it will encourage use by the community for any rock and roll information needs. The very nature of the items that will be available for in-house perusal does not lend itself to a situation where children would be walking around unaccompanied. Therefore, there is not much danger that a child would be subject to encountering porn on any of the computers.

Measures will be taken, however, to discourage the use of computers for pornographic viewing. I am working on a mock acceptable use policy that I will submit to the director for suggestion, should he decide to include one in his final policy. There will also most likely be some sort of membership number required at time of log-on to discourage use of the internet for solely personal reasons.

Regardless of any of my findings, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library will be sure to implement its own policies, as it sees fit. I am merely providing the research necessary to make a sound decision, and you can rest assured that--despite my own opinions--I am presenting research on both sides of the argument.

All of the research I've done on this topic has ignited my interest in defending intellectual freedom in libraries. What a truly interesting topic!

Coming up next: I did not get into any collection development today, so I will be continuing with that soon. I spoke with my Selection and Acquisitions professor, Dr. Belinda Boon, about my methods of finding sources so far; she responded that the method I am using to locate quality materials is not unlike what any other collections development librarian would be doing in my position. I will also be using the Rock Hall Library as an example for a collection development policy that I am creating for Dr. Boon's class, which will enrich my practicum experience!

Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Laura

Day 8, Hour 40

I got to read a lot of information on web filtering (content control, internet filtering, etc.) today, and almost all of it confirmed my personal view that filters, if implemented, must be used with caution and in an appropriate fashion.

This, the Rock Hall Library, is not a public library. Therefore, one could surmise that it should be used for research purposes mainly. This library will not serve as an internet cafe like so many public libraries do. One would think, then, that filters would be appropriate here; they would keep people within the research context and steer them away from browsing for porn, right?

This is where things get tricky. Think about the one phrase that everyone knows to describe a certain lifestyle: Sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. What would rock be without sex? What if patrons wanted to browse photographs of John Lennon, and some of them happened to be nude photos? Should the library censor that?

There are so many questions to be considered still, and I am thankful for the opportunity for real-world decision-making that this practicum has provided me so far. I will continue to research this topic, and compile my findings into a report for Andy. These are questions that a lowly practicum student cannot answer, but I am happy to provide the research to help others to do so.

Coming up next: I was able to fit some more of the policy draft I created into the mock website, and I will continue this next week. I will also continue researching on filters, with a focus on different filters that exist and their functions. I also need to work some more on the collection development for works on the inductees, so maybe I will set some time aside for that next week.

Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Laura

Day 7, Hour 35

Just as I had hoped, I was able to meet with Andy today to narrow down some details for policy and procedure. I asked a lot of questions, got some really helpful answers, and was able to implement these new findings into my policy draft.

I also looked into some public research libraries--like the Newberry in Chicago and the Boston Public Library Research Libraries--to get a better idea of how they interpret their policies. I am hoping that the next time I am in I can find some other research libraries that are public and not affiliated with a university or other private institution. In the mean time, if you have any suggestions, I would be happy to take them!

I did not work on the mock policy website today at all, as I was more concerned with the details of the policy itself. I have a really great working policy going so far, though, so I should be able to put it into the site on Thursday. The only basic component of policy (using other institutions' websites as a guideline) I have not yet touched on is collection development. It's a pretty big undertaking to write a collection development policy, so I am going to put that off for a bit longer. Luckily, this is something we will be working on in my Selection and Acquisitions course, so I will get some great experience.

Coming up next: Like I said earlier, I will be working on getting the policy I have created so far into the mock website I have created. I am also interested in doing some research on internet filters, as this is a topic that Andy and I spoke about. Neither of us is really in favor of filtering in general, but we did agree that this is a research library--not a public institution--that should be used mainly for research purposes. Thus, it may be worth looking into a mild filtering program, just to make sure the library is being used in the correct fashion.

Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Laura

Day 6, Hour 30

This is really starting to feel official! The practicum, I mean. I submitted my first report to my SLIS advisor (to be completed after 25 hours) regarding my final paper/project for this experience. We have a choice, so I've decided to do a combination of the two.

I think that the nature of my practicum, which involves both collection development and policy/procedure development, lends itself well to the combination of a paper and a project. I have already gathered some great research on policy and procedure, which will lend itself well to a discussion paper. I will also include this blog and the wiki I have created in the project portion, as well as a mock website containing my final ideas for policy and procedure. As for the collection development portion, I will have several Excel documents that include the items I have suggested to the library for purchase, as well as a reflection paper on the collection development process.

After three weeks, I can say that I am really enjoying my time here. The topics I am dealing with are interesting and compelling, and I am getting a sneak peek into what goes into the opening of a brand new library. I have met some great people so far, and I look forward to learning all that I can from them.

Up next: I submitted some suggestions and questions to Andy, and I am hoping speak with him next week about policy. Once I get some more concrete ideas, I will be able to put that information into my mock website!

Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Laura

Day 5, Hour 25

Not content to simply offer Andy a list of rules and regulations, I set my sights today on creating a mock website--not unlike other institutions'--to house my workup of policies and procedures. I was delighted to see that the laptop I work on here has a copy of the Microsoft Publisher program. I have never used the program before, so it was exciting to try it out in a practical way without any instruction. I like learning in hands-on ways and figuring things out for myself, so I had a lot of fun today.

I was able to find more information on similar libraries' policies and procedure, like BGSU's Browne Popular Culture Library and The Cleveland Institute of Art's Gund Library. Many of the libraries have a similar structure where the "university community" is allowed borrowing privileges for circulating materials and can browse freely in the non-circulating materials, like reference collections. The policy for those outside of the community usually states that those members may browse materials but not check them out, may browse or check out items for a yearly membership fee, or may only access certain areas of the library, like the main stacks. The Rock Hall's library will differ, however, in that it does not have a clearly defined membership community. While the library is located on the Tri-C campus and is directly affiliated with the school, browsing privileges will not be permitted solely to faculty and staff. This may simplify our policy and procedures by allowing the rules to apply to all who visit the library, not just a specified community.

On an interesting side note, I found some great articles on the Library + Archives through my research that I'd like to share with you here. One was written by Library Director Andy Leach himself, and they all provide a really exciting idea of what the library is going to be all about. (Keep in mind that the library's original opening date of December 2010, which you will read in all of the articles, has been moved to May 2011.)

The Library and Archives at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Andy Leach (Ohio Archivist's Spring 2010 Newsletter, p. 4.).

Music History Finds a New Home Inside Rock Hall's Library and Archives at Tri-C's Center for Creative Arts, John Soeder (The Plain Dealer, February 28, 2010).

Rock and Roll Never Forgets, Anastasia Pantsios (Cleveland Scene, March 10, 2010).

Coming up next: I spoke with Dr. Belinda Boon, who teaches Selection and Acquisition of Library Materials at Kent, about getting some ideas for good resources for biographies and reference books that would fit into the library's collection. She said she will try to get back to me later on this week with some ideas, so I am going to put any collection development on hold until I can pick her brain a bit.

Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Laura

Day 4, Hour 20

I focused today on more research, as I am hoping to give Andy a rough outline of policy and procedure by the end of next week. I am finding more and more that there are many research libraries that do not lend their materials; most of the repositories that do circulate materials only do so for faculty, staff, and doctoral or graduate students for the purpose of completing a research project. In light of this information, I do not think it is unreasonable to say that the materials here in the Rock Hall Library will not circulate.

I have considered the idea of allowing faculty to check out materials, but there is a slim chance this would work. First, we would have to determine if only Tri-C faculty would qualify or if we would include faculty from other colleges. There is also the issue of policy, and how well it is implemented and adhered to. I found a case study today in Library Journal titled "Faculty Borrowing Privileges" in which a university branch library director was faced with the problem of the university's faculty abusing borrowing privileges. She had a difficult time convincing the Director of Libraries that this was a problem; this director was more concerned with maintaining a good working relationship with the faculty, and feared that reprimanding them would only cause problems and subject the librarians to unfair judgment. Nancy R. John, in her response to the case study, wisely stated that "few library policies are as open to emotional attack as those concerned with borrowing privileges." Perhaps the best policy will be to not let items circulate at all, regardless of the patron's status.

Many libraries, like The Getty Research Institute Library, have differing levels of users that maintain differing privileges based on what each level permits. A high level, for example, may allow the user a wider array of browsing materials and extended hours in the library; a lower level patron may be restricted to a certain area. A great number of these libraries, however, are vast institutions with many different collections, and some collections cannot even be browsed, but require a request for materials that would later be supplied for use for a short period of time. The Rock Hall Library will contain both a browsable collection and non-browsable archives. It would not make sense to limit the browsing of the open stacks collection, since it is in the open in one large room, but perhaps the paging of items in the archives could be limited to those with a higher library status.

Coming up next: As you can see, I still have a lot of research and work to do regarding creating a working policy and procedure. I should mention that I also began compiling a survey to send to various research and academic libraries, so that we can get an idea of how their institutions operate. This will all continue into next week, so stay tuned!

Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Laura

Day 3, Hour 15

Today, I wanted to get back to the list of biographies I am compiling for the inductees. So far I have added 1-3 sources for almost every person inducted in 1986 and most of 1987. However, I am still having a difficult time narrowing down which biographies are "better" than others. Since this is a brand new library and we are going to need to acquire basic sources first, I need to know which are the most important to get for right now. I imagine that the librarians will also be working on a limited budget, so selection will be important.

The most important thing I must focus on, especially since I am currently enrolled in the Selection and Acquisition of Library Materials course at Kent State, is to choose items fairly and intelligently. I do not intend to censor or reject certain items, and I know this can be a difficult topic to consider. Not having any experience in collection development until now, I believe this practicum is going to prove extremely valuable in helping me to develop a keen eye for quality and a discern for the most important materials.

That being said, I would be interested to hear ideas from others on how you would choose the "best" sources on certain artists. Keep in mind that sometimes, the list of biographies for one person can reach up to twenty; I am trying to keep the titles I add to the list at under three per person.

Coming up next: I will continue to research policy and procedure to get a working idea of how patrons will use this very unique library.

Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Laura

Day 2, Hour 10

It is Day 2 of my practicum at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library, and I did some great research and other basic work toward my end experience.

I started today by creating a working list of notes, which is really just a collection of questions I come up with as I think about what the user experience will look like from start to finish. Today, I was mostly considering membership and who that would be extended to. For instance, Andy and I discussed that students would be able to use the library, and I was assuming he meant Tri-C students, since the library is on their campus. However, I was thinking that membership should be extended to all Northeast Ohio college students. Could we also include other regional college and high school students, faculty, and staff?

This is not to say that the library will not be open to the public, which it will. However, there is a question of membership and whether or not the library will charge for it. I think a good policy would be to offer membership for free or at a discounted rate for students, faculty, and staff of regional institutions. This would allow for the fostering of great research skills in an interesting and important subject field.

I also began researching information on libraries that allow for lending of materials to patrons on-site, but do not all borrowing off-site. It seems as though this is the policy for many academic research libraries, and for university libraries who allow "unaffiliated users" to utilize their facilities (in many universities, unaffiliated users--such as those who do not fall into the category of students, faculty, or staff--are allowed to utilize materials in the library but cannot check them out). I gathered citations and abstracts from several articles that expound on this subject, and I have begun to analyze the information to come up with a policy on lending for the Rock Hall Library.

Lastly, I created a wiki that I will share with my practicum supervisors and advisor that will contain pertinent information about the work I complete this semester. I made a calendar with dates of deadlines and created spaces to publish my notes and research bibliographies, and a place to keep track of my practicum hours, as well. All in all, I feel like I accomplished quite a bit today!

Coming up next: I will continue to work on my wishlist for inductees next Tuesday. I am finding that through my research for that, I am able to add some titles to my DVD wishlist, as well. Sometimes going off on a tangent can be a good thing!

Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Laura

Day 1, Hour 5

Today was the first official day of my practicum at the new (and not yet open to the public) Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library and Archives, though I volunteered here this summer. After a grueling one hour and forty-five minute commute (thanks, I-77 construction!), I sat down with library director Andy Leach (check out his Rock Hall blog posts here) to discuss opportunities for my practicum experience.

As I mentioned earlier, I volunteered at the library this summer. During that time, I got some collection development experience while compiling a basic list of DVDs that should be a part of the library's collection. Andy and I decided that it would be a good experience to continue this work, but to now focus on biographies and other books related to and about the inductees of all years past.

We also talked about my practicum having a second focus: Policy and procedure. Andy has asked me to come up with information to help them decide what their patron experience will look like; we discussed things like membership, borrowing, and organization, just to name a few.

For my day today, I spent my time compiling lists of biographies for the inductees, starting with inductees from the first ceremony in 1986. I began by looking in the bibliographies of two books, and expanded my search with Wikipedia and other informational websites. For some artists, it is difficult to weed through the massive amounts of biographies--books about Elvis are surely in the hundreds--so I tried to narrow my search with recommendations from the authors of the bibliographies and ratings on Amazon. If I determine any other ways to limit those searches, I will surely list them here.

Coming up next: After today, I am really excited to begin research on policy and procedure. That is how I will spend my day here next time I am in, which is Thursday.

Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Laura