Selecting Materials for Library Collections

Citation

Turner, R. (2005), "Selecting Materials for Library Collections", New Library World, Vol. 106 No. 3/4, pp. 194-196. https://doi.org/10.1108/03074800510587408

This collection of articles, edited by Audrey Fenner, is co‐published simultaneously as The Acquisitions Librarian Nos. 31/32 2004. While having a heavy North American bias, the selection of contributions on various aspects of the process of planning, building, and maintaining a quality collection may be of interest to a wider readership. Audrey Fenner has been a librarian for 20 years and is the Head of the Acquisitions Department at Walter Clinton Jackson Library, University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

The admirable aim of this collection of articles is for librarians who are active in selection work to share their experience with others in the same field, especially for those who are new to these responsibilities.

The volume aims to cover subject areas of interest in both academic and public libraries. Most of the articles tend to focus on selecting materials in a specific subject area, evaluating selection resources of all types.

In the opening article, David Isaacson, of Western Michigan University, looks at the dilemmas in providing a balanced university literature collection. This is a personal exploration of some of the conflicts faced by the author while having book selection responsibility for a university English department. An entertaining essay looks at primary versus secondary works, the need for non‐canonical and ephemeral works, competing demands within a department and issues of censorship.

Stephen Luttmann, Music Librarian at the University of Northern Colorado, emphasises the importance of understanding the needs of users and evaluates tools for selecting music resources. This will obviously be of interest to music librarians, as other subject specific chapters will be of special interest to relevant readers. Elizabeth Lorenzen of Indiana State University takes a similar look at the changes in the world of artist and library acquisitions, and evaluates technological and traditional selection tools.

Rhonda Harris Taylor and Lotsee Patterson use Thomas Mann's Library Research Method in their discussion of collection development issues of Native American resources. The authors argue for a multi‐model approach to effective collection building. They conclude with a suggestion for a national bibliography devoted to the topic of American Indians.

A further interesting essay by Karen Wei, of the University of Illinois, looks at selecting and acquiring library materials for Chinese Studies in academic libraries. It provides a fascinating overview of the history of Chinese book publishing and the current state of the book trade as China is now a member of the World Trade Organization. This article also looks at exporting practices, identifying and evaluating selection resources, and discusses problems commonly faced by academic libraries.

Arthur McClelland proceeds to discuss the acquisition of genealogical and local history materials in a large Canadian public library, in this case the London Public Library, Ontario.

The following four chapters look at medical related library collections. Eva Stowers and Gillian Galbraith discuss building a dental‐sciences collection in an academic library without a medical library. Janet Owens looks at the tools for the selection of library resources for nursing. The increasing availability of information in electronic formats present a new collection development challenge to all librarians and Susan Suess looks at these in the field of academic medical and health sciences libraries. Finally, Lisa C. Wallis of San Francisco State University provides a guide to selection tools for collection development in public health libraries.

Mary Beth Allen, of the University of Illinois, discusses techniques for the selection of library materials in the subjects of exercise, sport and leisure. This article stresses the importance of tapping into the world of professional organisations in addition to the use of more mainstream selection resources.

As a history graduate who specialised in maritime history, Jane Brodsky Fitzpatrick's article on the collection development in a maritime college library was of particular interest to me. Following this, Deborah Lee, of Mississippi State University, provides an introduction to the major information resources in the field of economics and evaluates the major selection tools.

After these subject specialist areas, Susan Herzog, a user education librarian, looks at collection development challenges for the twenty‐first‐century academic librarian. There is a subject focus on psychology, but there are general lessons too. Patricia Pettijohn then looks at selecting resources in an interdisciplinary field, in this case that of mental health.

John and Audrey Fenner analyse the issue of retrospective development of a core collection to support research, using the example of the New Thought religious movement. A sample collection development policy is included and this policy is used as the framework for selection decisions.

The penultimate chapter of this book is an entertaining piece on the use of, and the impact of, new technology on media collection development. The author, Mary S. Laskowski, stresses the use of the most appropriate formats for the user group in question and the need to plan ahead for inevitable changes in formats and playback equipment availability.

Finally, the editor, Audrey Fenner, looks at approval plans as either a selection aid or a selection substitute. Practical concerns in setting up approval plans are also discussed in depth.

Each of the articles in this book is well written by information professionals with wide experience of their subject area. By focusing on specific subject areas to such an extent, the opportunity for specific lessons of resource selection might have been somewhat overlooked. The wide range of subject areas covered, however, does make this an interesting read and there will probably be something of interest to most readers.

The North American nature of all the essays is not a huge problem as some of the lessons are universal, but international case studies would have provided a more interesting selection. In addition, there is a very heavy emphasis on academic libraries despite the declared aim of being relevant for public libraries too.

This book will be of interest to those information professionals involved in the field of selection and collection development. The index is very thorough despite a rather haphazard use of italics. Each chapter is well written by experienced professionals in the field covered and most articles have concise summaries and/or conclusions, with bibliographies. And, while this may not be the most concise or precise manual on collection development, it is an interesting read either as a whole book or by dipping into relevant contributions.