Listed below are areas about the Department of Education and Training's Library and Information Services. Please click on the hyperlink to the area that interests you.

• Collection Development
• Acquistions
• Cataloguing
• Weeding
• Binding
• Privacy
• Deposit Collection
• Vet Clearinghouse
  

Collection Development

Objectives

• Respond to clients' current information and research needs
• Develop a quality collection capable of supporting those needs now and in the future
• Support and develop the culture of lifelong learning to which the Department is committed
• Provide relevant resources to support the professional and personal development of staff
• Capture, organise and make available all Departmental publications, past, present and future
• Manage the WA Vocational Education and Training (VET) Clearinghouse
• Provide limited services to the wider education and training community and the general public

The library's objectives are served through its book, journal, video and microform collections, in print, multi-media and electronic formats. Additional support is realised through cooperation with the WA TAFE Library Network, the WA Government Library Network and through the National VET Clearinghouse Network and access to national and local interlibrary loan networks. It should also be noted that the library aspires to be a contributing member of these networks by acquiring some limited specialised collections that could be shared with others.

Collection History
The current collection consists of the former Departments of Education and Training collections, brought about by the merging of the two Departments in February 2003.

Department of Education Central Library
The library was established in 1950 and known as the W J Rooney Library. It was to provide information and resources to the professional administrative staff at Head Office, District Offices and regional offices and teachers within the Government schools and colleges throughout Western Australia . In (1993?) the W J Rooney Library closed and reopened as Central Library.
The Mission of the library was to provide a library service that was effective and efficient and have a library collection that was relevant and current to the needs of all teachers and administrative staff.

Department of Training Library & Information Service (LIS)
Up until 1995 the LIS, located at Prospect Place, West Perth , was the TAFE External Studies (TES) College library. It had a staff of five and consisted of a very large and varied collection.
In 1995, the TES College began to be dissolved, with external courses being devolved out to the metropolitan colleges of TAFE. At this stage the LIS became part of the Curriculum and Customised Training Network (CCTN) and continued to offer services to the remaining staff and external clients of the former TAFE External Studies College , and also to TAFE International WA (TIWA) staff. By the end of 1996 all external courses and clients had been relocated.
At this stage, most of the collection had also been relocated to the various metropolitan colleges and the staff had been reduced to two. The LIS's main clients were now the CCTN and TIWA staff.
The collection that was left consisted of varied subject areas and a unique open learning / distance education / flexible learning collection, which had not been relocated. At this time the collection was only marginally maintained as the future direction of the LIS was unclear.
In 1997 when the Professional and Career Development (PACD) Unit of the Department of Training was relocated to Prospect Place it was decided that the LIS would become attached to them, as TIWA no longer felt the need for a full library service.
The collection now began to be developed in the areas of training, employment and professional and career development.
In 1998 the LIS officially became the Department's Library & Information Service, still attached to the PACD Unit, under the Human Resources Directorate.
The Department's collection and the Western Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET) Clearinghouse collection, both of which had been located at the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Centre (AMTC), were physically moved from AMTC to the LIS at Prospect Place in April 1998. Approximately 6000 items (including microfiche) were relocated.
The collection now began to focus on vocational education and training.
The LIS was situated at Prospect Place, West Perth , with the majority of the its library users being situated at Level 2, 151 Royal St, East Perth . The collection was identified as a specialist vocational education, training and employment collection and was an amalgamation of the former Department of Vocational Education and Training (DEVET) Library, the TAFE International WA Library and the TAFE External Studies (TES) College library. The Service also included the management of the WA Vocational Education and Training Clearinghouse.

Collection Development Goals
Through the merger of the Departments of Education and Training a significant specialised collection of education and training resources has been created.

The library proposes to maintain, develop and provide access to this collection through the following goals:

• Collection of primary source material in the areas of education and training, in the form of monographs and journals, in print and electronic format, with a further expansion of resources in electronic format, to support the information and research needs of our clients
• Collection of current and innovative material in the areas of management practice, professional and personal development, to support and develop the lifelong learning requirements of clients, in the format most suitable to client needs
• A virtual library of online reference resources whilst maintaining a core selection of print reference resources
• Collection of WA research resources, in all formats, for the WA VET Clearinghouse
• The Deposit Collection of Departmental publications
• Providing the most efficient means of access to these collections

The Collection
The Collection consists of a wide range of materials such as books, videos, serials and reports to cover all aspects of primary and secondary teaching practices, vocational education and training practices, employment, curriculum, administrative and management practices, and professional and personal development.
The library acquires primarily English language materials. Exceptions to this are foreign language dictionaries that are used for reference enquiries.
The library does not contain classroom-based resources and holds curriculum support materials for teachers only - materials for student use are no longer held.
The Collection does not contain resources in more general areas which can be found in a Public Library.
Monographs and serials make up the majority of the collection, with a small number of videos, kits and other multi-media. Most of the current collection is in print format with some reports and journals available electronically via the Web. However, it is expected that more resources will be collected in electronic format, enabling clients to immediately access the most current information.
Western Australian and Australian materials are specifically collected, with resources from other countries - the United Kingdom , the United States of America and Canada in particular - also included.

• Access and equity Information management
• Apprenticeships and traineeships Information technology
• Communities of practice Labour market
• Curriculum support Legislation & policy
• Distance education Lifelong learning
• Education - general Management & organisation
• Educational - special needs Online learning
• Educational administration Post-compulsory education
• Educational research Project management
• Employment Psychology & counselling
• Flexible delivery Staff training and personal development
• Higher education Vocational education and training

• The WA Vocational Education and Training (VET) Clearinghouse Collection, which includes a microfiche collection
• The Combined Deposit Collection

For further details see the LIS Special Collection Policy.

Clients
The library's clients include all Departmental staff - regardless of location - listed as Core Clients, and the following Secondary clients.
All services are available to Core clients, whereas limited services relating to general enquires, ability to carry out research within the library, and the interlibrary loans facility, are available to Secondary clients.

Core Clients

• Central Office staff
• Centre for Inclusive Schooling
• District Office
• Government Schools
• Office of Youth Affairs
• Regional Employment Officers
• Schools of Isolated and Distance Education
• State Training Board
• TAFE Information Centre
• TAFE International WA
• Training Accreditation Council
• WestOne Services

• Australian libraries
• General public
• Industry Training Councils
• National VET Clearinghouses
• Students
• WA Government Departments
• WA TAFE Colleges

Access and Maintenance
The LIS currently uses the Voyager library automated system, which is supplied and maintained by Ex Libris through the company's office in Chicago, USA.
Clients are able to access the library catalogue from their workstations, via the LIS Intranet page on DETweb. http://voyagerroyalst.det.wa.edu.au// and on the LIS Internet page http://voyagerroyalst.det.wa.edu.au/

As new technology emerges it is important that the LIS maintains access to its collections via appropriate and updated hardware and software, whilst keeping the appropriate technology to access those resources which are kept for archival reasons. eg documents kept on microfiche.
The Collection is maintained to a suitable standard as outlined in the Cataloguing, Weeding and Binding policies.

Budget
The LIS has its own budget and sits under the Records and Library Information Services section of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) branch. It will ensure that there is an annual budget that supports the objectives of this Collection Development Policy.

Selection and Review
The Librarian has the overall responsibility for the selection of resources. The selection is based on existing collection requirements and user needs with regard to subjects, formats and level of content. All stakeholders are encouraged to contribute suggestions for selection via the Recommendation for Purchase Form.

The librarian bases selections on user requests and suggestions, information from publishers and suppliers, and information gleaned from journals and newsletters. Knowledge of user information needs, through regular selective dissemination services and online searches, also form part of the selection process.

Selection
The objectives cited in Section 1 provide the framework for selection. Thus the major responsibility and top priority of the library lies with supporting the information needs of Department staff. Selection is carried out on an item-by-item basis.

Specific considerations in choosing individual items include the following:

• Authority of creators
• Value of the content
• Relevance to collection
• Strength of present holdings in same or similar subject areas
• Cost
• Suitability of format

Other guidelines also observed include:

• Duplicates are purchased only under special circumstances
• In instances where the cost of an item is high and anticipated demand is low, the holdings of nearby libraries and those libraries with whom we have special borrowing arrangements, such as government departments or TAFE libraries, will be considered in determining whether or not to purchase the item
• When there is an option of paper or hardcopy, the choice is based on expected use, lasting value of content, cost differential, and quality of paperback binding
• Lost or missing materials will be replaced based on the above criteria
• The majority of selections are current publications
• Electronic versus print, in the case of journal selection - see Online Policy

Donations
Donated or free items are added to the collection only if they meet criteria requiring relevance to education, vocational education and training, employment, management or general reference needs.
Those which fail to meet the collection criteria are offered to staff, via the discard tub, and to TAFE librarians.

Review
The Collection must be evaluated on a regular annual basis to ensure that materials are kept current and relevant to departmental needs.
Handling of Complaints

If clients raise any objections to material that's held in the library, a Collection Materials Complaints Policy is available.

Acquisitions

Items may be acquired through:

• placing local purchase orders
• placing orders for publications available gratis
• NCVER publications received as part of the Aust VET Clearinghouse network
• unsolicited donations

Items should be ordered from the most appropriate supplier. This may vary according to subject and format of item, suppliers' area of expertise, suppliers' track record, and urgency of the request.

Agents

Monographs:
For urgent requests local agents such as Boffins, Rellims, the Uni Co-Op, Curtin Bookshop, and Dymocks are used.
For non-urgent requests James Bennett, DA Information, and Boffins are used.
All offer discounts for government departments.
Occasionally material is ordered from publishers direct.
James Bennett and DA Information both have online databases which can be searched for bibliographic details and prices. Orders can also be sent online to these agents.

Journals
Most serials are purchased through DA Information Services, with some journals purchased direct from the publisher.
The annual journal subscription is assessed yearly, with the view to continuing or cancelling individual subscriptions.
The subscription agent is also assessed as to prices and customer service.

Multi-media
These resources are often purchased from specific agents and distributors, such as Training Development (Boyd Fay & Associates), for Seven Dimensions and Ash Quarry Productions.

Donations
Donated or free items are added to the collection only if they meet the collection development policy of LIS. Those which fail to meet the collection criteria are offered to staff and to TAFE librarians.

Cataloguing

• Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (2nd edition) - Level 2 Minimum requirement
• Dewey Decimal Classification System (latest edition)
• Library of Congress Subject Headings
• APSDEP Thesaurus (Asia Pacific Skill Development Program)
• VOCED Thesaurus - Supplementary descriptors

• Copy cataloguing is done using Libraries Australia
• Original cataloguing is sent out to the Libraries Australia Bureau
• Items not found on Libraries Australia are sent to the Libraries Australia Bureau

Prefixes

Weeding

• Resources showing signs of wear
• Resources with obsolete or outdated facts and values
• Superseded editions of titles
• Duplicate copies - if no longer needed.
• Items that have not been borrowed in the past 5 years

Permanent Collection

All Departmental publications that form part of the deposit collection are not to be discarded.

Weeding Criteria - Special Formats
Reference Materials

• Evaluate each title in the reference collection for weeding each year
• Evaluate the necessity and value of each item on standing order at least once every two years
• Discard older reference books that are updated annually or on a regular basis
• Stagger purchases of new editions of encyclopaedias.
• Retain at least one dictionary of each of the major languages that maybe requested.
• Remove atlases that are out of date.

Serial Collection

• Retention and disposal schedules for serials are decided on a title-by-title basis.

Multi-Media

• Obsolete or outdated information
• Damaged or missing items

Binding

The Library and Information Service binds all journals received.

Binding is generally undertaken to:

• Preserve individual issues
• Improve the maintenance of, and access to the collection, by keeping issues together

All journals will be bound in buckram, sample copies of those already bound will be sent to the binders for continuation of colour and spine label details.

Our preferred Binder is

Fast Finishing Services
96 Belmont Avenue
Rivervale 6103
Phone: 9479 4777
Fax: 9479 4778

Privacy

Deposit Collection

The LIS maintains deposit collections for the Department of Education and Training.

Combined Deposit Collection
With the merging of the Departments of Education and Training in 2003, a new combined Deposit Collection will be maintained. This will consist of the former Dept of Education publications and publications from the former Dept of Training that do not fall into the VET Clearinghouse collection. Department policy requires two copies of each departmental publication to be deposited in the library. One copy is to be placed in the Deposit Collection, and is not available for loan, and the other copy is placed in the general collection and is available for loan.

VET Clearinghouse Collection
This collection consists of the Clearinghouse Archives.
The collection consists of the former Dept of Training's State VET Clearinghouse collection, which the library manages as part of the National Vocational Education and Training Clearinghouse Information Network. Items are listed on the VOCED database and this collection is not available for loan. (A second copy is located in the general collection and is available for loan).
With the merger of the Departments is expected that this collection will grow, with extra publications from Education. Types of resources collected include research reports, policies, conference proceedings, journal articles, and theses, to do with vocational education and training.

VET Clearinghouse

The National Clearinghouse which co-ordinates the network, is based at the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) in South Australia .
The former Department of Training had an agreement with NCVER to provide a State Clearinghouse, which acts not only as a vehicle for obtaining information, but also as a disseminator of local VET research.

Information is forwarded to the National Clearinghouse by the local state clearinghouses, and from a wide range of other sources, and is incorporated into VOCED, the UNESCO/NCVER research database for technical and vocational education and training, an international database of research abstracts.

The aim of the clearinghouse network is to:

• give greater access to national, regional and international vocational education and training research and policy information and material
• encourage new initiatives in this educational sector
• provide avenues and opportunities for promotion, publicity and dissemination of material and information
• prevent the duplication of research and other initiatives, thus reducing wastage of resources
• provide help desk support and training in the use of the VOCED database
• promote the use of the VOCED database as a vehicle for dissemination of information about VET

VOCED Contents and Coverage
The type of material collected includes: research reports, evaluation studies, policy documents, survey results (questionnaires), proceedings (workshops/seminars/conferences), theses, research projects (ongoing/current/planned), and journal articles.
Staff are encouraged to send two copies of their material to the library for cataloguing. The item is abstracted and indexed and the details are sent to the National Clearinghouse to be placed on the VOCED database. One copy of the item is placed in the general collection and is available for interlibrary loan, and the other copy is placed in the Clearinghouse Archives collection. If only one copy is sent, a second copy is photocopied. Also, if copies are only available online, two copies are printed.