The Acquisition of Alternative Materials

Abstract

As is true of so much that we read and hear, neither of these statements is wholly accurate. While the Association of American Publishers may not have a position in favor of increasing conglomeration in the publishing industry, it is most certainly not opposed to it. As others have noted in this handbook, the growing domination of publishing by a small number of large firms is changing the amount and quality of available information in ways not yet fully understood. If libraries are to provide quality service, library workers should bring all their powers of analysis and skepticism to their jobs. They must involve themselves more fully than ever before in all aspects of knowledge and its avenues of dissemination, so that the library might provide as full a range of resources and services as possible for the needs of its clientele. To judge materials without examination, or without careful regard for the source of information, is to abdicate the inherent responsibility of a library service. For in a great many ways, the librarian's selection of materials influences what is published.