Collection Management Organization

The Collection Management department has four functional areas. Each area has one librarian and one or more staff members assigned to it. However, all staff members are cross-trained to support multiple functional areas.

One of the librarians also serves as the Department Head, coordinating the activities of all functional areas and directly supervising the other librarians and the staffers within his or her area. In other areas, the staff are supervised by the librarian in that area.

The four functional areas are Collection Development, Acquisitions/Periodicals/Microforms, Electronic Resources, and Interlibrary Loan.

The following activities are assigned to each functional area:

Collection Development:

Overseeing selection of library materials, including the liaison program

Review of subscriptions (journals and databases)

Acquisitions/Periodicals/Microforms:

Firm orders - ordering/receiving/accounting

Periodicals & Microforms - ordering/check-in/claiming/shelving/accounting

Electronic Resources:

Maintaining access to subscribed materials in electronic format

Interlibrary Loan:

Borrowing materials from partner libraries for UM patrons

Lending UM materials for use by patrons of partner libraries

These duties are cross-functional in many cases; for example, the Collection Development team recommends journal titles for subscription, the Acquisition team orders them, and the Electronic Resources team ensures that access is available.

Please send questions/comments/suggestions to
Karen Brunsting, Acquisitions and Collection Development Librarian