International Yearbook of Library and Information Management 2000‐2001: Collection Management.

Citation

Parry, F. (2001), "International Yearbook of Library and Information Management 2000‐2001: Collection Management.", Online Information Review, Vol. 25 No. 4, pp. 271-279. https://doi.org/10.1108/oir.2001.25.4.271.1

It is perhaps fitting that the first International Yearbook should be concerned with collection management. After all, what is a library if not a collection of information resources? And how do we manage increasingly diverse information media at the beginning of the twenty‐first century?

This volume is a state‐of‐the‐art appraisal of collection management issues and techniques at the turn of the century. The editorial board – which truly lives up to the “international” of the title – has assembled an impressive array of studies by acknowledged experts in their fields. It starts with several chapters outlining the broader picture, such as Daniel Dorner’s excellent curtain‐raiser on the impact of digital information. It then progresses to specific collection management issues, such as purchasing consortia, weeding, government documents, storage and preservation. Indeed, there isn’t much left in the collection management locker that has not been covered here, brought out, dusted down and given a new spin.

Not surprisingly, there is a common thread running through most of the studies. Digital information and electronic means of purchasing, recording, dissemination and preservation, have radically altered the whole concept of collection management. Susan Higgins focuses on the social impact of IT, the information poor, privacy, cultural pluralism and censorship. John Budd takes us through the complexities of access to journal literature in the electronic age, the changing publishing environment, and questions on pricing and archiving. Liz Chapman, in a chapter on acquisitions, articulates every librarian’s suspicion, that there will be an “invisible college … where library users would not need to come into the library for their information”. The uncertainties of collection management in such an environment are also considered in Dorner’s chapter on the “blurring of the boundaries”. This refers to the “information chain” where the established boundaries between, variously, authors, publishers, distributors, libraries and readers are steadily becoming blurred. But as Stephen Roberts notes, “whether digital or documentary, all collections will continue to require management”.

Two chapters on public policy and economics stand out. Frederick Friend considers collection management policy within the political sphere in which libraries operate. Where information is power, collection managers play an essential part in policy‐making processes. Friend deftly outlines the responsibilities and opportunities that arise for all those involved with management decisions and the nature of the power that they subsequently hold and exercise. Roberts’ analysis of economic and collection management follows. In keeping with most of the other chapters in this volume, much attention is paid to the digital scenario. There is also an interesting perspective on the hot topic of the value of information in the market place.

Elsewhere, case studies such as Alicia Wise’s overview of the DNER in the UK, Jieyin Feng’s description of rare book collections in a Shanghai library and Van Son Vu’s consideration of serials management in Vietnam, show the international scope and breadth of the Yearbook. All the chapters have extensive and up‐to‐date bibliographies. This is an excellent start to a new series.