Executive Summary
A key strategic objective of this cooperative and collaborative effort
involves identifying the best use of the funds. All collection development
activities - print and nonprint - focus on determining what resources
will best benefit students within the Agribusiness Department.
The Library and the Agribusiness Department have each created a Fund
Allocation Committee. The Library's Committee includes:
- Dr. Hiram Davis, Dean
- Frank Vuotto, Business Librarian
- Johanna Brown, Collection Development
- Nancy Loe, Assistant Dean - Collections
The Agribusiness Department's Committee includes:
- David Schaffner
- Neal MacDougall
- Eivis Qenani-Petrela
In addition to the above two committees, the Student Advisory Committee
will serve as an oversight body to monitor the disbursement and successful
use of the funds.
Needs Assessment - A Strategic Approach
The Business Librarian regularly performs a needs assessment and carefully
reviews the agribusiness collection - particularly from the perspective
of curriculum support, industry expectations, and faculty research interests.
The logistics of this project include:
- Examine other academic agribusiness collections (books, subject
guides, journal subscriptions, Websites, specialized databases, etc.)
- Search online catalogs at other universities with a substantial
agribusiness focus and review new agribusiness-related titles
- Explore and document governmental sites (e.g. USDA, FAO, etc.) that
supply agriculture-related data, publications, links, etc.
- Review immediate needs of students in regard to marketing competitions,
senior projects, course assignments, etc.
- Evaluate the Kennedy Library's agribusiness collection including
the general business collection (marketing, real estate, trade, economics,
etc.)
- Utilize WorldCat to benchmark collections within the agricultural
economics genres
- Identify online, fulltext agribusiness-related journals held by
the Kennedy Library (e.g. Factiva, ABI/Inform, Business & Industry,
etc.)
The next step focused on identifying specific needs in the collection.
The following list of subject areas were immediately identified:
- Marketing and demographic data
- Trade journals
- International/Global trade resources
- Food and supermarket resources
- Specialized collections - wine marketing, category management, grocery
store data, supermarket and produce industry reports, etc.
Marketing and Public Relations
The Library and the Agribusiness Department both agree that this collaborative
endeavor should be promoted and marketed within the Cal Poly community
as well as in the national light. For example:
- Books and journals purchased from this fund should be stamped to
indicate that the money were from the fee allocation fund
- Marketing blurbs need to be sent out in all media -- Cal Poly Reporter,
MyCalpoly, etc.
- The Provost and President should be kept abreast of the success
of this initiative
- Website created and maintained
- Business Librarian delivers conference papers and writes journal
articles examining the success and impact of this effort on teaching
and learning.
Wise and beneficial use of these funds will go a long way in establishing
a lasting working relationship between the Agribusiness Department,
Kennedy Library, and the Student Advisory Committee.
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