Books in Print: indispensable or unnecessary for academic library collection development?

Abstract

Purpose – ‐‐ This article aims to determine if, given the current economic climate in higher education, academic libraries are still using the database Books in Print (BIP) as a collection development tool.Design/methodology/approach ‐‐ The article discusses a survey distributed to the Learning Times Library Online Community; Marylib, the list‐serv for the Maryland Library Association; ili‐l, the American Library Association's Information Literacy Instruction Discussion List; and Libref‐l, sponsored by Kent State for Reference Librarians. Participants responded to a series of questions about whether they use BIP as a collection development tool; whether they use other resources and, if so, what they are; and if the BIP database was dropped, why this decision was made.Findings ‐‐ Many academic libraries have dropped BIP and are using a variety of resources to find book reviews, pricing, and availability information. Only a slightly lower percentage of academic libraries have kept the database and use it as an important collection development tool.Research limitations/implications ‐‐ The sample size was relatively small.Originality/value ‐‐ This survey and subsequent article fill a gap in the literature – no other survey results could be found that addressed changes in academic libraries' perception of BIP as the “go to” source for collection development.