Artifact 6: Collection Assessment Note

SLO: Increase reference skills for academic libraries

Task: Write a letter of support for a new program from the perspective of the library. This should answer questions such as:

• How does the library support the faculty? Consider the following:

  • Materials, facility, human capital (librarians)

  • Budget for the future

  • Essentials vs Wants

• Can the library support this program? Where do we have support? Where are we lacking?

Evidence: A letter of support for a new program, no more than three pages in memo format. A personal assessment of the process taken and what tools were used for this project (bullet points or email).

Email sent to Joseph with the sources used:

Letter of Support:

Collection Assessment Project.pdf

Download PDF • 44KB

This project is one that my advisor likes to surprise interns with mid-semester. It was definitely an experiment in both a practical skill and the ability to take on suddenly take on projects. Writing this required me to work with a new graduate program proposal and research the ways the library can support that program. This is the unedited version, as I have not been able to make changes with the notes my advisor gave.

I particularly enjoyed this exercise as it gave me the chance to practice professional writing skills and explore an area that I wasn't aware would be necessary in this field. It also made me learn more about the university as a whole and understand their priorities, a skill that I've been able to explore in LIS 580. One of my favorite pieces of feedback I received from this was, "I'm used to longer letters, but this was succinct and hit everything that you would need in these letters."