Quick Summary
The MELSA World Language interest group brings staff from MELSA library systems together to better inform and support the work that they do related to collecting World Language materials.
The MELSA World Language interest group brings staff from MELSA library systems together to better inform and support the work that they do related to collecting World Language materials. When the group started meeting two years ago, they also identified sharing that work with the larger community as one of their goals. To that end, team members Chelsea Couillard-Smith, Marcus Lowry and Jessica Zillhart presented their tips and best practices for starting a World Language Collection in your library at the 2018 Minnesota Library Association Conference. Some of their top tips are:
- Show cultural humility
- Start small, but do start
- There aren’t points for originality - it’s ok to just go ahead and add whatever another library system bought
- BUT building a World Language Collection also requires a willingness to get creative when it comes to vendors.
They also shared a list of vendors they have had success working with, which is available (to be shared widely).
