Page 147 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

Criteria derived from context
We have already mentioned considerations re- lated to the target audience of the selection, its makeup and its values; it is important for readers to view it as a reflection of their own essence and concerns and it is therefore recommended that reading materials relating to the culture
of the local community be included, along with others related to the global community.
These considerations form a set of criteria and variables that influence the decision to choose reading material in some way or another; they point to added aspects for judging the work based on its interest or appropriateness in relation to variables pertaining to the external context.
Additional considerations may sometimes stem from the internal context: that is, they are related to characteristics or demands of the reading project or service itself. In this case, depending on the aim pursued or the reason
for beginning a particular assessment process, certain variables will be taken into account and the strictness with which the established criteria are applied may vary as a result.
It is possible to add further considerations to
the general selection criteria and procedure established, depending on whether the purpose of the assessment is to ascertain the value of a particular collection, to improve and update it, to acquire certain works or to highlight a group of them in a bibliographical selection, exhibition or activity. Therefore, depending on each of these aims, the criteria employed to value the books can vary in importance.
Let us examine two cases to illustrate these different approaches:
• In one the idea is to select fiction works to incorporate them into the collection loaned by a library or its general holdings.
• In other the idea is to select works of fiction to incorporate them into a reading guide or bibliographical section that is being com- piled at a particular time.
In the first case, the selection will include certain reading materials which, despite not meeting established literary standards or being aesthet- ically remarkable, are believed to be useful for re- inforcing the practice of reading, raising readers’ self-esteem, and serving as a link for proposing higher-quality reading, etc. In this case they are part of a varied group of reading materials with different degrees of quality.
In the second case, we are drawing attention
to a smaller group of works, highlighting their quality compared to the rest; by making this dis- tinction, we are according the chosen materials a certain degree of excellence by considering them to stand out among others in relation to subject, age or other works published in the same period. In this case the selection will be more restricted, as it is driven by the intention to recommend, which entails greater commitment to the reader and therefore requires the assessment criteria to be applied more strictly and thoroughly.
Both cases show that it is possible to combine
a systematic, non-arbitrary method with a certain amount of flexibility in applying criteria and procedures in accordance with the aims, target audiences and other variables that require certain additional considerations.
It would be just as wrong to attempt to put together a collection based solely on the excel- lence we award to the reading guide as it would to apply quality criteria more laxly and include in a bibliographical selection texts which, although not out of place in the overall holdings, are not sufficiently good to justify their being expressly recommended.
AC/E DIGITAL CULTURE ANNUAL REPORT 2018
147
Readers in the digital age