Evaluating an HIV/AIDS Book Collection Using a Timeline Approach

Abstract

Establishing a process for the systematic evaluation of a library's collection on acquired human immunodeficiency virus is complicated by the rapid changes in AIDS-related science, law, social policy, and education. However, organizing these changes into a timeline of HIV/AIDS events provides collection managers with baseline data, which can be used to measure the validity of HIV/AIDS materials. This paper presents an HIV/AIDS chronology, outlines an approach for using the timeline as a collection development tool, and includes Internet resources that may serve as supplements to a print HIV/AIDS collection.