Collection Development Process Research Articles

Drug Information Resources and Issues for Hospital Librarians

ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to offer assistance for medical librarians in small— to medium-sized hospitals toward realistic collection development endeavors regarding drug information (DI) resources. It is not the author's intent in this article to present exhaustive print or electronic resources with respect to the broad subject of drug information, pharmacology and therapeutics, but to present a brief guide to selected resources for hospital librarians; however, there are references made to other extensive lists. The cost of many print DI books is prohibitive. The mission of the hospital library, reflected in the collection development policy, should direct what resources are essential. Moreover, the librarian should have the professional staff involved in the collection development process of the medical library.

Issues in Electronic Journals Selection and Management

Electronic journals (or e-journals) are proliferating and many scholars consider them to be an increasingly important means of communication. Librarians must understand the potential of the new medium and the implications of incorporating it into the traditional library environment. This paper explores some of the collection development and collection management issues that bear on the decision to subscribe to these journals. Identifying appropriate sources of information and review media can aid in the collection development process; however, it is also crucial to evaluate current selection criteria to determine whether they are appropriate for e-journal selection. Integrating e-journals into the library collection raises the issue of providing access for all patrons and introduces cost factors that are in danger of being overlooked; namely, supplying the necessary wiring, hardware and software to facilitate using these journals. The librarian must also decide whether to treat e-journals as it does other journal holdings, providing checkin and full cataloging records, and determine if special procedures and records are needed. The introduction of e-journals into a library's collection also impacts its internal functions in less expected ways: the specter of new copyright considerations may cause the librarian to re-examine the definition of access; the role of the acquisitions librarian may include contract negotiation responsibilities and consideration of leasing access rights rather than paying for full subscriptions; archiving, once a traditional and nearly exclusive library function, may be dispersed among many stakeholders and require greater financial outlay and new levels of expertise.

Distributed Collection Development on the Colorado Statewide Network

This article addresses the evolution of content development on the Access Colorado Library and Information Network (ACLIN). It traces the history of that evolution from ACLIN's initial role as a means of accessing library catalogs, to a grant-funded demonstration using the World Wide Web as a mechanism for publishing information, to the current collection development process that was recently tested through a pilot project. The focus is this latest process and what was learned from the pilot with regard to using a distributed approach to collection development on a statewide network.

Making the Internet a Part of the Library's Collection

ABSTRACT Successfully implementing Internet access for the public's use in a public library requires careful planning and a commitment of both staff and financial resources. It also requires a new look at materials access and selection policies and procedures and the library's collection development process. Public libraries offering Internet access should have an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) and specific procedures for patrons' use of the Internet service. The use of the Internet should be integrated into the library's collection development process and into the library's day-to-day operations.

The indexing and retrieval of digital items

The propOltion of material in library collections that is in the future likely to be held and made available in digital formats is a matter of debate, even controversy. Whatever that proportion may tum out to be, it is beyond question that librarians are already facing the challenges posed by a growing number (in absolute terms) of electronic publications and other document-like digital items that the users of libraries find necessary to their research or other pursuits, and increasingly expect us to take in our stride and to accommodate in our access, collection development, and collection management processes. Many older academics were first introduced to the use of computers by the necessity of learning to use on-line public access catalogues (OPACs) in the 1980s, so we should not be surprised by some academics' high expectations of libraries' ability to wave the magic wand of technology over their research requir.ements in the 1990s. What our users may fail to realise, is that for us the greatest challenges of providing the services they need lie not in the technology, but in the intellectual endeavour required to make the technology useful, in the resource implications of being required to provide new or digitally-enhanced services while continuing to provide traditional services in a time when many libraries face severe budgetary restraints, and in the necessity for international co-operation in defining and agreeing the standards which will ensure the quality of those services. The British Library is actively addressing these challenges through the work of the Electronic Media Group, as well as through the Initiatives for Access programme. Acquisitions Processing and Cataloguing (AP&C) set up the Electronic Media Group and its electronic media cataloguing project in order to develop a centre of expertise within the Library for the cataloguing of electronic publications, the participation in the international development of catalogue-related standards, and the dissemination of knowledge about electronic media within the Library and in the wider library community. Within the Initiatives for Access programme, individual projects have explored indexing and access requirements and methods. In some cases this has involved experimenting with Novel access software and looking into new ways of delivering old catalogues to specialist researchers.

The Potential of Conjoint Analysis for Measuring Value in Collection Development

The potential for using new conjoint analysis software in measuring value in the collection development process is examined. A small pilot study in a federal library is described that tested whether or not a conjoint analysis program could successfully predict what CD-ROM titles would be selected by a group of librarians. Results indicate the program can predict which titles are preferred by a specific group, based on criteria the group considers important for making selections. It is suggested, then, that new conjoint analysis programs may be useful in measuring what library customers value when selecting from among competing titles. Further analysis using customers and a larger, more random sample is recommended.

From budget allocation to collection development: A system for the small college library

Research has shown that faculty involvement in library collection development is directly proportional to the size of the library collection itself; specifically, as library collection size increases, faculty involvement in library collection development decreases. Conversely, the opportunity for faculty involvement in library collection development is enhanced in the small-college setting where collection development is a collaborative effort between the faculty, who serve as the counterparts of subject bibliographers in larger university settings, and librarians, who both oversee the collection development process and serve as bibliographers in general and interdisciplinary subject areas. The case study documents the collection development philosophy, selection and acquisitions policies, and accounting procedures used at the Iris Holt McEwen Library and LaRose Resources Center at Elon College in North Carolina. The interrelatedness of selection, acquisition, and accounting processes as well as the collaboration between librarians and faculty in collection development are emphasized. A time line for the collection development process is included.

Social Science Perspectives on Cooperative Collection Development

The model of "Combined Self-Interest," often invoked in discussions on the need for cooperative collection development consortia, has a number of broad, rather unrealistic assumptions about the way that the collection development process actually works. That model is reassessed from the perspective of certain social science models of a loosely-coupled system, which is characterized by ambiguous goals, problematic preferences, and hazy technology. The analysis provides an overview of the rapid institutionalization of the concept of cooperative collection development in the late 1970s, as well as a discussion of the differential prospects for tightening up cooperative collection consortia with respect to academic versus special libraries, science versus social science literatures, and serial versus book formats.

Automated acquisitions: The future of collection development

Automation of vendor files and integrated library systems are changing (a) the process of collection development, (b) the role of the collection developer, (c) the relationship between libraries and vendors, and even (d) the library's organization. By combining files in the bibliographer's workstation, paraprofessional staff can select the core collection; professionals will focus on expensive or fringe titles. Programmed or mechanical selection can replace staff decisions in acquiring the core titles. Automation may increase successful cooperative collection development and expand the responsibilities of collection developers. Professional roles will change to include more policy, preservation, evaluation, and process assignments. Collection development activities may be decentralized and combined with reference and cataloging subject groups or become part of acquisitions processing teams.

Materials Used in the Research of State History: A Citation Analysis of the 1986 Tennessee Historical Quarterly

Good library service means providing information that will satisfy the needs of patrons. Developing a sound collection of materials is best achieved by assessing user demands. Requests for materials are not always for specific titles, but rather for information related to a certain subject area. This is often the situation for state and local history. When developing a collection in local history, the librarian is faced with deciding what types of materials should be obtained to best satisfy patrons' needs. Examining materials actually used provides a valuable selection tool to aid in the collection development process.

Humanities and Social Sciences Librarians in the Science-Engineering Library

With capable assistance and formal training, the humanities or social sciences librarian can provide effective bibliographic services in a science-engineering library. Essential skills employed in the intellectual process of collection development can be refined and applied. Quality of reference assistance is not necessarily reduced by the absence of academic credentials in the scientific or technical disciplines.

Developing College Business and Economics Collections

In the summer of 1986 an informal survey of 101 libraries of schools accredited by the American Association of Colleges and Schools of Business was undertaken to determine which sources of information are most frequently used for collection development in the areas of business and economics. A heavy reliance on three sources, faculty requests, publishers' advertisements, and Choice was the major finding of the survey. Questions are raised regarding the role of the librarian in the collection development process and the shortage of timely sources of critical review.

Rethinking the acquisitions budget: Anticipating and managing change

This paper reflects the perspective and role of the acquisitions librarian in the planning, expenditure, and fiscal control involved in managing the materials/resources budget. It should not be redundant with information presented from the collection development perspective. However, it will, by necessity, be reiterative of some points because much of what is required in managing an acquisitions budget applies to both acquisitions and collection development functions and processes. The information collected and analyzed by the acquisitions and accounting personnel in the course of a year’s orders to keep expenditures within available funds is the same information needed by whomever in the organization is charged with developing the overall plan for expenditures and implementing the plan so that the library spends all that it has been allotted on the materials it needs. The need for budget management is present in all libraries. The tightness of the control of expenditures is dependent upon institutional resources, size of collection, and library’s mission. This paper’s focus is on anticipating the need for a change in the course of expenditures once a fiscal year has begun; i.e., after a spending plan has been implemented. If changes are anticipated, the management of the change is less difficult and can be related to collection priorities. This need to make significant changes may result from a number of circumstances either internal or external to the library. The institution may suffer financially and cut library funds after the fiscal year begins; a combination of factors in the book trade and the economy (e.g., currency fluctuations, increased production) make the cost of materials purchased greater than anticipated; library administration may find it necessary to divert acquisition funds to other types of expenditures; a costly but “bargain” collection may appear which has the effect of changing the plan to purchase other materials. Any and all of these may occur within a fiscal year. Other types of situations which require rethinking are university budgets unfunded by legislatures late into the fiscal year or uneven and unpredictable funding from year to year or biennium to biennium. The underlying assumption here is that there is no large pool of special funds to be used, at will, to bail out the basic materials budget if it is overencumbered or if funding level drops or changes mid-year.

The Effectiveness of Book Selection Agents in a Small Academic Library

Small academic libraries typically rely more heavily upon classroom faculty as book selectors than do large academic libraries in which librarians and book jobbers are the principals involved. Given the various constraints that small academic libraries face, it is important for them to rationalize the entire collection development process and also to employ the most effective agents as book selectors. This article describes a study of the relative effectiveness of classroom faculty and librarians as book selection agents in a small academic library.

Searching the Scriptures

A citation study in the literature of biblical studies was made at the University of Notre Dame Libraries as part of an ARL pilot project to test the usefulness of the RLG Conspectus in collection rating. The study yielded: 1) a checklist for comparison of library holdings in scripture study; and 2) greater insight into evaluating not only a collection but also the collection development process itself. Though the study was found to be worthwhile, many more such studies must be executed and compared before more precise ideas of the best methodologies, criteria for reliability, and uses with other collection development tools will emerge.

Library/faculty relations in the acquisitions and collection development process

Library/faculty relations in the acquisitions and collection development process

Toward a comprehensive collection development policy for partial U.S. depository libraries

Library literature has long ignored the problem of collection development for U.S. Government Publications. Regional depositories, of course, are not adversely affected by this oversight. However, the partial depository library suffers the consequences. Often in the past, the sole criterion for the building of a partial depository collection has been accretion without regard for other salient factors. At present and in the foreseeable future, fiscal exigency will cause increasing demands to be made on the library's budget and space. These hard facts, juxtaposed with the continuing prolificacy of the U.S. Government Printing Office, mandates the making of difficult decisions by librarians, especially documents librarians. In order to make judicious decisions which will permit the depository collection to grow in a manner responsive to its own needs, as well as to various curricular and community needs, a framework of policy must exist. It is in this context that the following policy statement is presented. Although this policy statement was developed in response to the idiosyncratic needs of one institution's curriculum, general collection, and table of staffing organization (plus the presence of another partial depository library in the same city), the generic concerns addressed ought to be of interest to all documents librarians and to all librarians concerned with collection development. In spite of the local limitations of this policy statement, it may serve as a template for those libraries desiring to integrate U.S. Government Publications into a comprehensive collection policy. The reader will note that the author has relied liberally on the documents, Guidelines for the Depository Library System and Instructions to Depository Librarians. Reliance on these documents is intended to insure responsiveness to the intent of the Depository Act, and to maintain a continuing degree of accountability in decisions relating to the U.S. Government Publications Collection. The acquisition policy of Iowa State University (as published in Library Acquisition Policies and Procedures, ed. Elizabeth Futas, Oryx Press, 1977, pp. 174–197) was also useful in the formulation of the policy statement. The statement of policy has been structured in such a way that it may serve as a modular component of an overall policy statement—not as an acquisition policy, but rather as a guide to the process of collection development.