LIBR 520 Collection Management

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LIBR 520Collection Management

Selection Module
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The Selection Process

• Material selection has been called the most
  fascinating, most important, most interesting,
  but the most difficult of the professional
  librarians responsibilities. It is an area
  where only general guidelines can be given, where
  you have to rely on reviews of uneven quality,
  and where you must trust intuition when you
  decide whether or not to select a book, a video,
  or a database.

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History of Selection

• Excellent background material -
  http//lib.lmu.edu/dlc4
• Key Writers/Theorists Decade of Influence
• Lionel McColvin 1920s
• Arthur Bostwick 1920s
• Frances Drury 1930s
• Helen Haines 1950s 60s
• (text - Living With Books)
• S.R. Ranganathan 1950s -
• William Katz 1980s

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History of Selection continued

• Key Writers/Theorists Decade of Influence
• William Katz 1980s
• Robert Broadus 1980s
• Richard Garden 1980s
• David Spiller 1980s 90s
• Charles Robinson 1980s
• (Baltimore County Library)
• William Wortman 1990s

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Selection Aids

• 1. In-print/online lists (BIP)
• 2. Catalogues, flyers
• 3. Current reviews
• 4. National bibliographies
• 5. Cooperative catalogues (OCLC)
• 6. Recommended lists (Wilson Series)
• 7. Subject bibliographies

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ReviewsWhat will you find in a good review?

• 1. Description of contents - what is it about.
• 2. Indication of quality.
• 3. Comparison with other works on same topic.
• 4. Tag line at the end indicating overall
  judgement and who should purchase the material.

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ReviewsWhat will you find in a bad review?

• 1. Information has been taken from the book
  jacket, CD-ROM package, or publishers publicity.
• 2. Review just recounts the plot- often happens
  with fiction, biography and travel sources.
• 3. Information is off-topic - reviewer uses the
  item as a platform for his own accomplishments.

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Beware of Reviews Why?

• 1. Often composed quickly, sometimes from galley
  proofs.
• 2. Only a small number of items published get a
  review anywhere.
• 3. Some subjects are more likely than others to
  be reviewed
• History, biography, travel - lots of reviews,
• Religious, how-to-do-it, fringe-politics - few
  reviews

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Beware of Reviews Why?

• 4. New authors find it difficult to get published
  and even more difficult to get reviewed.
• 5. Small community of reviewing experts within
  one subject.

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Interpreting the Language of Reviews

• At one extreme, when the
• publicist thinks the scholar
  says...
• boring serious
• dull in-depth
• pedantic accurate
• high-brow and safe intellectually sound
• of interest only to a minority examines a
  specialist issue
• flatters an individual recognizes a key
  contribution
• excessive attention to detail new
  perspectives
• old fashioned cultural
• constrained selective
• precious artistic
• hardly noticed well-reviewed

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Interpreting the Language of Reviews

• But, when the publicist says the scholar
  thinks
• easy to understand superficial
• entertaining trite
• stimulating undignified
• topical fashionable
• profitable commercial
• broad-brush crude
• interpretative spoon-feeding
• well-presented glossy
• supported by sponsorship adulterated by
  advertising
• well-advertised driven by media hype
• well-designed unnecessarily expensive

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Selection Questions

• 1. Should the reputation of the author and/or
  publisher matter?
• 2. Should you order only materials which are
  accurate or best representation of particular
  points of view or particular beliefs?
• 3. Should you strive to select materials which
  are impartial or unbiased?

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Selection Questions

• 4. Should you purchase materials which you
  believe are at risk for theft?
• 5. Should you buy just one expensive high-quality
  item or two less expensive medium-quality items?
• 6. Should your purchasing be influenced most by
  customers demand?
• 7. Should you consider outsourcing your selection
  process?

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The Quality vs. Demand Continuum

• Selection should be governed by the quality
• of the material. Libraries are not in the mass
• market game.
• Vs.
• Selection should be governed by demand -
• we should buy the material that will circulate
• the most, giving people what they want.

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Review Sources

• GUIDES
• 1. Digests - Book Review Digests (Wilson, 1905)
• 2. Indices - Book Review Index
• - Technical Book Review Index

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Review Sources

• Journals
• 1. General - Time, Macleans
• 2. Subject Specialist - Journal of
  Geology, Computers Society
• 2. Library Journals -Official Library
  Association Record, Feliciter Commercial
  Library Journal, Libri
• 4. Specialist Selection Journals -Choice,
  Database Magazine of Electronic Database Reviews
• 5. Newspapers - Globe Mail