Examining the Current Collection Development Practices in the Uganda Institute of Information and Communications Technology

Abstract

Collection development practices facilitate the development of quality collections. This study aimed at examining the current collection development practices in the Uganda Information and Communications Institute (UICT) Library to determine if they were effective for building relevant collections at the UICT library. The objectives of the study were: i) to find out how collections are developed at the UICT library; ii) to determine the factors that influence collection development at the UICT library; iii) to investigate the challenges affecting collection development at the UICT library; and iv) to obtain strategies for improving collection development at the UICT library.

A case study research design was adopted for the study. The researcher used a qualitative research approach with study participants from the library, faculty and student representatives. In total, the study had 14 study participants. The data collection methods used were an interview guide and document reviews.

The study findings revealed that UICT had a collection development policy although it was only known to the library staff. The faculty staff and students had no knowledge about the collection development policy nor its contents. The study also revealed that students were entirely not involved in the collection development process although faculty staff were asked to provide titles for collections they deemed necessary through a group email from the librarians. All study participants complained that their recommendations were never considered. The researcher also found out that collection development was limited by budget constraints, lack of user involvement, lack of ICT training among others. The study participants proposed being involved in the collection development process, taking their recommendations seriously and using library fees for collection development among the ways to improve collection development.

The study concluded that the collection development practices at the UICT library were not effective in building quality collections because they left out students who were the major users of the collections. The study recommended involving all library users in the collection development process, taking into consideration staff recommendations and training library staff in collection development among the ways of improving collection development at the UICT library.