Evaluation of the Book Collection and Periodical Collections of the College of Allied Medical Profession

De Leon, Rosa I (2004). Evaluation of the Book Collection and Periodical Collections of the College of Allied Medical Profession. Unpublished Master’s Thesis. University of the Philippines, Diliman, Q.C.

Introduction

The College of Allied Medical Professions, University of the Philippines was the first school in the Philippines (UP CAMP) to offer the Bachelor of Science degree in Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Speech Pathology, Masters in Clinical Audiology and Masters in Rehabilitation Science. In its 40 years of existence, the College has always maintained a quality of standards in its graduates who are unparalleled in the practice of their future profession. The profession must provide a vast amount of knowledge for each student. This basic theoretical knowledge must be translated into the practical clinical setting in which all students must go through. Through the College’s 39 years of servicing the Filipino public, the College Library has been at the forefront in providing the necessary, adequate, well-selected and organized information for its major clientele, which includes students, faculty, researchers and other users. The College Library is an essential source of information for the intellectual advancement in the health sciences.

The Problem

This study evaluated the library collections, namely the periodical and book sections qualitatively and quantitatively. It determined the strength and weaknesses of the collection through a descriptive comparison of the collection of the College Library in relation to two foreign institutions that have similar objectives. The study compared the collection to the Brandon-Hill List that is the standard list used by health libraries as basis for the contents of their collections. It also compared the College Library standards to the University of the Philippines Library standards. Lastly, it evaluated the Library collection according to the perceptions of the faculty and students.

Methodology

The main areas focused on the recency, adequacy and comprehensiveness of the collection. The results of the study may serve as guidelines in the planning and formulation of the Library’s collection development program. One hundred twenty three (123) respondents were asked to answer the questionnaires. There was 100% response rate, which may be attributed to the method of data gathering.

Discussions

The average age of the respondents is 22.7. Around 68 of the respondents are females while 32 are males. More than half (55% of the sample) came from the undergraduate level, while almost 20 percent came from the faculty. A little over 16 percent of the sampled library users were alumni. The top four (4) purposes in visiting the library was research (109), borrowing and returning library materials (90), studying (58), and leisure reading (49). Other purposes noted by the respondents were using the computer and internet, along with conducting group discussions and meetings. An assessment of the standards by UP System for UP Libraries revealed that the book collection of the UP CAMP: Library does not meet the set standards. UP CAMP only meets around 53 percent of the total volume of books required. On the other hand, the current listing of UP CAMP periodicals exceeds the requirement of 50 titles for a student population of less than 1000. It can be noted from the graph that the University of the Philippines College of Allied Medical Professions Library collections are greater in number compared to University of Queensland and University of South Alabama in all categories, Occupational therapy. Physical therapy, Speech Pathology and the journals. The University of Queensland was second and the University of South Alabama had the least amount of materials in all categories listed. Overall, the University of the Philippines, College of Allied medical professions Library had the largest collection of 1624, followed by the University of Queensland at 1179. The University of South Alabama had the smallest overall collection at 400. This comparison was done without regard to the Brandon/Hill List of recommended books and periodicals. Furthermore, the UP CAMP Library has in its acquisition 63 percent of the selected Brandon/Hill List of printed books and journals in allied health, while University of Queensland has only acquired 43 percent of those materials suggested in the Brandon/Hill List. The University of South Alabama had the lowest percentage of acquired materials in the Brandon/Hill List at 31 percent.

Recommendations

The CAMP Library collection be maintained and more books be added to continually be at par with the other institutions with the same specialization and to fulfill the standards set by the university and international boards.

The Agricultural Book Collection of Ladislao N. Diwa Memorial Library and Museum: An Evaluation Through Collection Mapping

Costa, Leonita C (2004). The Agricultural Book Collection of Ladislao N. Diwa Memorial Library and Museum: An Evaluation Through Collection Mapping. Unpublished Master’s Thesis. University of the Philippines, Diliman, Q.C.

The Problem and Methodology

The collection of an academic library is largely based on the degree programs offered by its institution. To determine if the agricultural book collection of Ladislao N. Diwa Memorial Library and Museum collection adequately support the degree programs offered at the University, the researcher evaluated the book collection. By assigning call numbers to agriculture courses of the degree programs using the Library of Congress Classification system (LCC), the researcher mapped the collection to the courses to determine the total number of titles and volumes per subject area.

Findings and Conclusions

The researcher found out that ninety six percent of the collection is relevant to Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and only four percent, for other courses offered under College of Agriculture. The decade of 1991 to 2000 had the highest number of collection was acquired during this decade (474 titles or 49.63 %). The reason for this is that the majority of the major course offerings of the College of Agriculture were offered during this decade. The decade 1981 to 1990 had the highest number of collection with 275 and 605 volumes, followed by the decade 1971 to 1980 with 134 titles and 451 volumes. A very small number of collection was acquired in the decade of 1961 to 1970 with 26 titles, and 16 titles from 1951 to 1960. The collection showed strong support for the subject areas of: Marketing of Agricultural Products, Agriculture, Finance, Development, Mechanics and Utilization and Operation of Credit Institution, Fundamentals of Agronomic crop Production; and Farm Management. The collection in these areas, though, need to be continuously developed, most especially for required courses to serve the increasing student population more efficiently. More books should be acquired in areas where collection is deemed weak. To evaluate the collection quantitatively, the researcher utilized the Guidelines on the Establishment of new Libraries. Data showed that library holdings for College of Agriculture only had 955 titles which are very much lower than the required number of book collection in the guidelines. It further indicated that the library of Cavite State University does not have enough resources in terms of book collection to support the curricular offerings of the College of Agriculture.

Recommendations

After evaluating the library, researcher offered the following recommendations:

1. Faculty must be encouraged to look into the areas of their own expertise and recommend book titles or suggest ways to further develop the specific collection;

2. Study the pattern of enrollment statistics and take into consideration the course with high enrollees and courses that are not taken by the students. Thus, book collection must be developed in the subject areas actually needed by the students;

3. The decline in collection building in the year 2001 and onwards can be attributed to the high prices of books and lack of adequate budget. It is recommended that financial resources be tapped for collection development. These include friends of the library, agriculture alumni and other similar organizations. In this regard, the librarian will know what collection needs to be developed so that the library budget for book acquisitions maybe better allotted.

4. Standards or formulas to measure the library’s collection and services be required as one of the criteria that agricultural schools must meet before they are given accreditation. Standards should be realistic, taking into consideration the Philippine setting for collection development.