Guides To Library Collection Development

Skillfully acquisitions and collection development plays a key role in creating exceptional libraries. These authoritative resources provide the guidance you need to build and maintain the comprehensive, high-quality collection your customers demand. Get expert advice on: a- selecting material from serial to CD-ROMs; b- participating effectively in the budget process; and c- evaluating your existing collections and vendors. Developed by ALA's Association for Library Collections & Technical Services, this blueprint for a collection-development training program can be easily adapted to meet the collection management goals and organizational structures found in libraries of all types and sizes. Outlines for training are given in these areas, among many others: collection and development policies; selection and review processes; weeding and deselection; and navigating electronic networks. The guide divides training into three skill levels, supplies a curriculum framework matched to collection duties, and identifies competencies achievable after training.

In this sweeping revision of a text that has become an authoritative standard, expert instructor and librarian Peggy Johnson addresses the art of controlling and updating library collections, whether located locally or accessed remotely.

This book represents an ongoing effort to fill the void in the library literature relating to collection development policies. The authors, whose experience each spans four decades as library educators and practitioners, created the book--as well as a forthcoming companion volume devoted to school libraries--to assist both library school students and professionals in the field in the compilation, revision, and implementation of collection development policies. Cutting edge trends such as digital document delivery and library cooperation are also covered. Furthermore, given the premise that a well-rounded policy reflects all activities concerning the collection management process--including the evaluation, selection, acquisition, and weeding of information resources--it is hoped that this work will also prove useful to non-librarians possessing some kind of stake in high quality library holdings, such as library board members, politicians, and administrators directly responsible for library operations, and institutional patrons.

Carol Alabaster focuses on developing a collection with high-quality materials while saving time and money.

To a new collection development librarian just learning the field or to an experienced practitioner attempting to reorganize a program, the options can be confusing and contradictory. Guide to Collection Development and Management Administration, Organization, and Staffing provides an overview of the organizational alternatives available to libraries by addressing activities and explaining the models used in public, academic, and school libraries. It provides an overview of possible structures and indicates some of the advantages and disadvantages of each.

This text provides principles and methods for determining if a library collection is fulfilling the stated mission of the library. It is a clear introduction to collection evaluation for the novice collection manager, and it is also useful as a review and reference for the experienced librarian.

Intended to enhance collection development in school, public, and college libraries, this volume lists and annotates approximately 1,500 significant bibliographies published from 1985 through 1993, with some earlier but still useful publications. Annotations indicate scope of the work, size (often the number of entries), kinds of material included, purpose, arrangement, nature of entries, indexes, special features, and a recommendation. Author, title, and subject indexes provide easy access to the entries. With its deep and comprehensive coverage, this work will help not only in the process of selecting and acquiring materials for the library but also in the process of identification of items for reference, readers' advisory, interlibrary loan, and collection evaluation.

Calculations and formulas are presented to help librarians gather statistics for analysis and management of the collection. Using measures of timeliness, relevancy, use percentages, user profiles, and comparisons, librarians can determine in quantitative ways the quality of a library's collection. Step-by-step directions show how to analyze data produced by automated systems, conduct random sampling, evaluate all types of information formats, and estimate the cost of updating the collection. Doll teaches in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Wayne University. Barron teaches in the Department of Library and Information Studies at the University of North Carolina. There is no subject index. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR