Kalan,
A. P. (May 20, 2014). The practical librarian's guide to collection
development: Weeding and acquisition made easier. American Libraries, 45(5), 42-44. Retrieved from http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2014/05/20/the-practical-librarians-guide-to-collection-development/
Summary
This article provides a
quick summary of "shortcuts" for collection development in public
libraries. Her shortcuts include having a weeding plan, determining priorities
in the collection (as per a needs assessment), and making sure information is
current or of historical value. Acquisition priorities, particularly for
fiction, should lean towards bestsellers and bestselling authors that community
members will have heard of from newspaper, television, and radio reviews. When
part of a consortium (as my library is), collaborate with librarians at other
libraries to see what is already available and what different titles are needed
for different service areas. Due to the briefness of this article, using online
acquisition and review resources and directing users to current digital
information in lieu of purchases are touched on, but not expanded. They stand
out for having made it in to the list of shortcuts, however. What is unstated
but quickly understood is that weeding and acquisitions form a circular process
for collection development.
Evaluation
I found this particularly poignant as the author spent years "practicing
adult collection development skills in a medium-sized suburban public
library," which is exactly the
career I am aiming for. These tips are helpful, and strike me as common sense solutions.
They emphasize priorities I've seen in the library I work at and are an
excellent summarization of advice from many articles and books about current
collection development habits, which makes this very useful for such a
condensed read.
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