In 2011, California Baptist University launched a new five-year Master of Architecture (M.Arch) program and the library was tasked with building a 5,000 volume collection to meet National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) criteria within five years. Starting with 1,000 books and $11,000, this is the story of our progress so far: how we got here, what we’ve learned, and our plans for the future.
My objective is to share my first-time experiences building a print and electronic subject collection from very little with a small budget and a deadline, and to discuss the various selection tools and resources I’ve found useful during this process. The audience will be able to ask questions and share their experiences and advice for building new collections, and can expect to learn what building a new subject collection has been like for our library (including budget and holdings/acquisitions statistics) and the various tools and resources that have helped with selection.
