Evaluation
Skills
In Gestion des Ressourcs Informationnelles (ISI 5703), my final assignment provided me with an opportunity to research and evaluate resources provided to new Canadians in public libraries. In order to demonstrate that I was leaving the class with a solid understanding of how to properly conduct a research project and retrieve relevant information from a variety of different sources, I consulted both online resources from the Ottawa Public Library (such as their Library Settlement Partnership Program and their Systemwide Programming Guidelines) and was able to interview some of the key players in bringing Newcomer Services to OPL branches, Tony Westenborek, Jordana King and Laura Cordukes. This project served to not only research the valuable services that were provided to new Canadians, but also intended to research the removal of these services, and how the Ottawa Public Library is struggling to maintain them. Through my interview with these key players, I was able to discover that OPL had been enduring the federal government’s funding cuts towards services such as help with citizenship tests, language groups, and helpful Newcomer Officers stationed in branches – a battle that the OPL ultimately lost. It was through my attempts to provide a more in-depth research paper that went beyond simply citing written and online sources that I was able to discover what is still an on-going issue within Ottawa branches. Not only did this experience equip me with a unique research experience, but it also hopefully helped to bring some more attention to this issue.
Evaluation skills are also required when working Customer Service Assistant or a Public Service Assistant roles in the Ottawa Public Library, as these positions are often in charge of weeding our collections. Collections must be evaluated based on circulation time, availability, relevancy, and condition. Often, collections can look crowded or unkept if there are too many books jammed into shelves – especially if these books are old, damaged, or unpopular. It is especially important that our collection at the Stittsville branch remain weeded, as we are a smaller branch in a less popular area, and many of our resources are older and slightly more damaged (or, as we call it, 'well-loved'). To keep up with the expectations set at other branches, we must keep our collection looking its best, a task that is often up to me to complete. To evaluate if a book should be discarded, I first see if it has been found to have not circulated within the past year, as this is usually an indication that it should be weeded. This could be because the book is not popular, or because there is not a huge demand for it (ex: extremely niche craft books, books on less popular areas about history, books on stamp collections). I must also take into consideration how many holds has been placed on this item – as if patrons are also not attempting to request this book at other branches, it usually means that there is an extremely low demand for it. I check for this information on our Symphony software that we use to conduct everyday library tasks and keep a record of our circulations. I must also evaluate books based on their condition, as old, tattered books make collections look unorganized or not cared for. Books with excessive stains, rips, or water damage generally results in my discarding of the material as this damage is often too severe to repair. Generally, my rule is: if I do not want to curl up with this book in bed, it gets weeded. These books must then be replaced, especially if they are popular materials (quite often the most popular or ‘well-loved’ books get damaged quicker due to the high turnaround rate and time spent in delivery or sorter bins). I then notify Collection Services, or check our book donation room just in case there is an replacement copy that can be acquired immediately.
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I currently also work at the University of Ottawa Press, and my evaluation skills are very often utilized when working with our book records. Though the University of Ottawa Press only publishes 25 books a year, it has been operating since 1936, and therefore has a large amount of books that need to be organized, managed, and sometimes analysed. This can be done through the database BookSonix, a program that enables us to easily create or retrieve book records and view, create or edit information on these publications. This often includes territorial rights, formats (creating ebooks from our traditional publications), prices, taxes on prices, or vendors that are allowed to sell our products. Often, older records will have “Error Reports”, issues that stop these books from being disseminated to third parties and ultimately stops them from being sold or distributed to the public. These errors must be found and fixed in a timely manner to be able to provide buyers with important resources and to ensure the Press continues to make a profit. These errors can also be complicated and come down to certain technical issues, such as a Main Description for a book being formatted incorrectly in a way the database does not support, or even due to the database not understanding the book’s barcode. It is up to me to review these records, evaluate their functionality, ensure there are no errors or warning messages, and send them to vendors quickly.
My evaluation skills can also be seen in my creation of ads for the Press and in my creation of some of our book covers, as both of these tasks require me to evaluate if my work is clear, contains appropriate information, and often if it is aesthetically pleasing. The University of Ottawa Press advertises most frequently with the Literary Review of Canada (LRC) and Choice ALA, and it is my job to evaluate what new publications will appeal to readers/users of these entities, how they should be organized in order to make the ad visually appealing and easy to read, what information or descriptions to include, and how to format the ad to fit the appropriate number of new publications and the logos of our sponsors. Of course, it is also my job to evaluate the colour schemes in the covers of these new publications and create a complimentary different colour palettes.
A typical ad for LRC. I created this ad for their
March 2019 issue.
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An example of a 'square banner ad' for Choice ALA - ads such as these are meant to be displayed on websites, generally in the margins of a web page.
An example of a 1/4 page ad for Choice ALA. This advertisement was meant to be published in March 2019 and advertises a publication that the University Press will be releasing at a similar time.
