Collection development policies guide the evolution of library collections while considering the needs of the populations served. The existing University of Washington Libraries’ subject policies for astronomy and physics were last updated in 1986 and never ratified. The procedures outlined therein are woefully out of date and, in particular, have nothing to say about electronic resources, which are cornerstones of modern academic work. In order to bring these policies into the 21st Century, our group examined existing collection policies at the University of Washington, interviewed the astronomy and physics collections’ users, and studied astronomy and physics policies from comparable institutions. The resulting documents, including a formal policy statement and a public-facing LibGuide, will direct collection acquisitions, maintenance, and evaluation in these fields for years to come while providing the flexibility to adapt to the fast-paced environment of research science.

The Financial Inclusion Insights (FII) team at the Gates Foundation is responsible for performing data quality checks and analysis on survey data collected from eight countries in Africa and Asia. The survey data is related to usage of mobile money and digital financial services (DFS) in these countries. The current process is manual and tedious and involves multiple people working simultaneously to perform data analysis. Our solution solves this issue by automating the manual process and generates customizable data analysis reports. The result is a robust, modularized and highly customizable framework which will make it easy for FII to explore the “what”, “how” and “why” of demand­ side trends in mobile money and other digital financial services (DFS). This helps FII model, construct, and perform better research to understand the impact of DFS and promotes adoption of these services as they are revised using the research insights.

The Beaverton Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an-all volunteer community ensemble in Beaverton, Oregon. In more than 30 years, the organization has amassed a collection of more than 220 separate works, with dozens of parts for each. The sheet music library lacked any digital cataloging or inventory system, making it difficult for the music director to select works and for the volunteer music librarian to keep track of the collection. I assessed and weeded the collection, researched cataloging systems and recommended a free online option (musiclibrarian.net), established metadata schema, developed unique identifiers for parts and works, and cataloged a sample selection of music. This new system provides better management and access of the collection at no cost to the orchestra, which will assist with future programming, allow easy addition of future works, and support the BSO’s mission of providing quality, affordable classical music and outreach to the community.

Research shows that online mindfulness training is effective in reducing stress and increasing coping mechanisms among university students. beGreatful builds on these findings by providing an online platform with two key components students can use for mindful practices. The first component is an online gratitude journal designed to encourage mindful thinking through the completion of a journal entry. This helps students build the habit of taking time to reflect upon their day and foster a habit of positive thinking which can lead to increased resilience. The second component is an analytical feature designed to help users visualize patterns in their journal entries and be more aware of their thought patterns. This also reinforces the habit of writing journal entries everyday by providing a snapshot of each day and showing improvements overtime. The online platform will serve as a low-cost, accessible tool for college students to maintain a healthy mindset.

95% of all clothing items that are thrown away can be reused or recycled. Specifically, out-of-state college students who want to donate but are unfamiliar with the locations of donation bins end up contributing to this statistic. While there are so many resources to find donation bins, they are all scattered on different organizations’ websites. Searching through all of these resources to find the most convenient donation bin is time consuming and frustrating. The purpose of Binhub is to make it easier for university and college students to find donation bins around them by combining the necessary information into one central application. Users will be able to locate bins that accept different donation types and are owned by different organizations. By presenting this information in a comprehensive and integrated web application, we will help promote the donating of goods to those in need in the greater Seattle area.

A growing number of institutions are creating digital collections of historical costumes, but the same cannot be said for theatrical costumes. This form of non-traditional academic scholarship continues to go unmarked in the world of repositories with the exception of small collections of production stills. While a joint effort, there are separate elements of theatre (scenery, costumes, etc.) that should be documented with context for study and recognition to their corresponding designer(s). Constructed garments themselves are often altered and reused for subsequent performances making these pieces quite ephemeral in nature. This collection marks the beginning of Boise State University’s digitized costume collection that brings recognition not only to the designer, but also to the institution’s contribution to the theatre arts. The repository provides a means of officially publishing these records, which include not only photographs of select finished garments, but also renderings created by the costume designer himself.

The Frank Brockman Memorial Tree Tour takes visitors to explore 66 of the hundreds of tree species on the UW campus. The tour is currently given in the form of an informational black and white booklet, with each tree marked as a number over the campus map. Use of paper maps have switched in favor to real-time mapping and navigational services within mobile phones. Adapting the tree tour from the paper booklet to an Android application makes it easy for visitors to the UW to choose which trees they wish to visit on their tour, and GPS navigation makes tours simple and accessible. Not only does this app bring a new and interactive experience, it will result in an increased appreciation of the unique trees on campus through customized tours, sharing features, and user-to-tree navigation.

Seattle Art Museum’s Dorothy Stimson Bullitt Library has a collection of print annual reports dating from 1932 to the present. To digitize the collection, we scanned each report, assigned metadata, and uploaded the documents to a Shared Shelf webpage. We then built an online exhibit to showcase the collection using the web platform Omeka. Finally, we worked with marketing and communications to promote the new digital collection. By digitizing the entire set of reports, we empower users to access these materials independent of library staff, and we free valuable physical space in the library. This collection is also unique because while other museums nationwide do make some reports available online, their collections only include the prior 10-15 years. We believe through the promotion of these reports and the stories they tell, we share an important part of Seattle history, and help further SAM’s mission to Connect Art to Life.