1. Users' needs
   
2. Preservation and/or conservation needs
   

1. Evans, G. Edward. Developing Library and Information Center Collections. 4th ed. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 2000.
   
   • Chapter 2: "Information Needs Assessment," pp. 32-68
     
   • Chapter 3: "Collection Development Policies," pp. 69-90
     
   • Chapter 4: "Developing Library and Information Center Collections," pp. 97-124. (1995)
     
2. Introducing Archives - http://www.archivists.org/catalog/catalog/archives.html
   
3. Introduction to Archival Terminology -
   http://www.nara.gov/arch/geninfo/terms.html
   
4. Intrinsic Value In Archival Material -
   http://www.nara.gov/arch/techinfo/intrin.html
   
5. Fink, A., & Kosecoff, J. (1998). How to conduct surveys: A step-by-step guide. 2d ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
   
6. Survey Research -
   http://trochim.human.cornell.edu/kb/survey.htm
   

1. Conduct a research on the ALA Archives Reference Services to see what types of services and what type of the archives used most by the users/researchers.
   
2. Ask ALA Board and staf what type/part of the ALA Archives they would prefer to be digitized.
   
3. Select types of archives that:
   
   • have the most value to be digitized
     
   • needed to be preserved the most
     

1. Define goals to be achieved and ways to measure success.
   
2. Draft an initial Collection Selection Policies Statement
   
3. Browse through the ALA Archive at the University Archives
   
4. Design forms to assist in organizing the findings, ideas, terms used in archival realm, etc.
   
5. Consult with the University Archivist regarding which types of archives will have the most added value in digital format and what types of archives need to be preserved "against time"
   
6. Obtain permission from ALA to reproduce and distribute the digitized archives in digital format and media
   
7. Obtain permission from the University Archivist to access the records of the ALA Archives Reference Services correspondence (any media) and web log of the ALA Archives website.
   
8. Browse through the correspondence archives to determine what types of archives used most
   
9. Design a questionaire to be distributed to ALA Board Members and Staff to know their perception of what types of ALA archives would be best to be digitized
   
10. Consult with the University Archivist and/or ALA regarding the questionaires
    
11. Obtain ALA permission to use its resources and/or mailing/distribution list to distribute the questionaires
    
12. Distribute the questionaires
    
13. Compile the questionaire results
    
14. Compose the research report for the University Archivist and ALA
    
15. Revise the initial Selection Policies
    

Project Progress

Below I list all the tasks which I have done, being done and will be done. You can compare the list with my plan listed above.

1. Goal & Success Measurement
   GOAL :" To be able to utilize the existing ALA Archives optimally for providing access and services to the ALA and researchers of the history of ALA and librarianship in US, and to preserve the valuable and rare content of the archives.
   
   As can be inferred from the goal statement, the intended users/audience of this new digital collection are:
   
   • The American Library Association Offices (directors, executives, staff etc.)
     
   • Researchers
     
   
   It is not intended to be, at least not for this pilot project, a digital archival repository for ALA. Rather, it is intended to mine the ALA Archives to reveal valuable resources within ALA Archives that will better serve the community of researchers by enhancing access to them.
   
   It does however, take into consideration the preservation issues of the archives. It means that some items will be digitized if they are deemed by ALA and/or the archivist(s) to be of some archival values. Thus, some items don't have to be heavily used by the users/audience to be qualified for digitization.
   
   Some of the success measurement that can be used are:
   
   1. Increase in the number of reference requests
      
   2. Increase in response time for each reference request.
      
   3. The emergence of new digital collection of interest to the library and information science community
      
   4. New use of ALA Archives in ways never before possible in print (non-digital) format.
      
   
   
2. Collection Selection Policies Statement
   My initial assumption - which can also be the initial selection policies and has to be revised according to the survey result - is that some of the item of ALA Archives that are considered to be the best candidate to be digitized to achieve the stated goal are the ones that fit to one or more of the following criteria:
   
   
   
   • Used most frequently by the users/researchers
     
   • Specifically requested by ALA to be digitized for certain purposes
     
   • Will be deteriorate by the passing of the time (needs to be preserved)
     
   • Have significant added value in digital format
     
   • Have the copyright clearance from ALA for the reproduction and distribution in the digital formats
     
   
   
   
3. Exploration of ALA Archives
   On-site visit has been conducted to the ALA Archives sites at the University Archives and the basement of the Child Development Laboratory. The Graduate Assistant has showed me the "huge" collection of priceless historical "artifacts" that will be valuable resources for research. The archives is still lack of good physical arrangement to support fast retrieval of the archives.
   
   Further on-site visits will be conducted to be able to know better the physical arrangement and the various types of the archives.
   
   
4. Forms Used in the Learning Process
   In order to better organize my learning process, I have created various kinds of form. These forms are useful to keep record of my progress and everything that I have learnt throughout the project execution. It will be a useful source of information also for the final report.
   
   The forms are:
   
   • Activities Log for ALA (American Library Association) Archives
     http://www.inquiry.uiuc.edu/xml_units/u10838/ALA-log.doc
     
   • Things Learned at ALA (American Library Association) Archives
     http://www.inquiry.uiuc.edu/xml_units/u10838/ALA-learn.doc
     
   • List of Ideas for ALA (American Library Association) Archives
     http://www.inquiry.uiuc.edu/xml_units/u10838/ALA-ideas.doc
     
   • List of Abbreviation used in ALA (American Library Association) Archives
     http://www.inquiry.uiuc.edu/xml_units/u10838/ALA-abbrev.doc
     
   • List of Media & Tools used in ALA (American Library Association) Archives
     http://www.inquiry.uiuc.edu/xml_units/u10838/ALA-mediatool.doc
     
   • List of Question & Answer on ALA (American Library Association) Archives
     http://www.inquiry.uiuc.edu/xml_units/u10838/ALA-QandA.doc
     
   
   
   
5. Consultation with the University Archivist
   Ongoing.
   
   
6. Obtaining permission from ALA for digital reproduction and distribution
   To be done.
   
   
7. Obtaining permission to access the correspondence record of ALA Archives Reference Services
   The University Archivist has granted his oral informal permission to access the records. However, the web log of the ALA Archives website is currently unavailable due to some technical problems. This log will be examined later.
   
   I will try to categorize types of reference services and types/parts of archives that have been used from ALA Archives and try to do some spreadsheet compilation to yield a quantitative measure to determine which items of ALA Archives is/are the best candidate to be digitized.
   
   
8. Exploration of the ALA Archives Reference Service correspondence records
   Ongoing. From the first impression, the general reference requests were/are generated from two groups of users, the ALA Offices and the researchers (writing books, articles, biographies, documentary film production etc.)
   
   
9. Designing Questionnaire for ALA Offices
   The questionanaire is available at http://www.inquiry.uiuc.edu/xml_units/ALA-survey.doc
   
   
10. Consultation with the University Archivist regarding the questionnaire
    The questionnaire has been submitted to the University Arcvhivist for feedback. A discussion regarding the questionnaire is expected next week (10/08/01).
    
    
11. Obtaining ALA permission for distributing the questionnaire
    Will be discussed next week (10/08/01).
    
    
12. Questionnaire distribution
    It was planned to use only paper questionnaire but initial feedback from the University Archivist is to use the online (web) questionnaire. Further discussion on this issue will be on the next week meeting (10/08/01).
    
    
13. Survey results complitaion
    A spreadsheet application (Microsoft Excel) will be used to complie the survey results.
    
    
14. Composing the research report
    To be done.
    
    
15. Revising the initial Collection Selection Policies
    To be done.
    

1. Discussion with the University Archivist (face-to-face and email)
   
   • An official letter to ALA will be drafted together for the purpose of this project, including the survey that will be conducted
     
   • The University Archivist will help in "fine-tuning" the potential users/audience of the new digital collection in order to achieve the optimum result in the collection selection policies
     
   
   
2. Discussion with ALA Archives Graduate Assistants (face-to-face and email)
   
   • Informal discussions have been conducted to learn about the types of reference services they used to and do give to the ALA Archives users.
     
   • First time discussion about the tasks conducted to process incoming archival materials from ALA Offices. This might not directly related to the selection process but it might give some insight of the various archival materials to be examined later.
     

1. On the process of determining which part of the ALA Archives needed to be digitized, I realized that there are two criteria involved:
   
   • Users' need (providing more access to users)
     
   • Preservation and/or conservation issues. Some types of ALA archives might not be heavily used, but they need to be digitized as a historical or cultural heritage for future use. Who knows that we might be able to increase the use of those types of archives by providing the digital version.
     
   
   
2. Copyright Issues in developing a digital collection are very crucial and complicated, especially in U.S. :)
   
3. Since there is noone interested in this project, I have to do it on my own. This has brought advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are that I can work on my own pace and I don't need to spend any time for coordinating and communicating among group members. The disadvantages are lack of feedback and ways to view the project from different perspectives, which is a very important aspect of a project.
   
4. It's exciting to see the survey results since it will prove my initial assumption for the selection criteria to be right or wrong or partially right :)
   

1. Exploring a wealth of information resources such as archives has always exciting for me. It provides so many opportunities to be explored and developed as new digital collections for the benefits of its users/audience/community.
   
2. This Inquiry Unit (Collection & Selection) can be used also as my assignment for LIS 450RO course with different deliverables.
   

1. Christopher Prom (prom@staff.uiuc.edu) - Assistant University Archivist & Assistant Proffesor in Library Administration.
   
2. Angel Dalida Nicolas (nicolas@uiuc.edu) - Graduate Assistant at the ALA Archives
   
3. Susanna Belovari(belovari@uiuc.edu) - Graduate Assistant at the ALA Archives
   
4. Ann P. Bishop (abishop@uiuc.edu) - LIS 380 Professor
   
5. Leslie G. Gasser (gasser@uiuc.edu) - LIS 380 Professor
   
6. Bryan Michael Penne (bpenne@uiuc.edu) - LIS 380 Instructor