Fundamentals of collection development and management

Samnath, Kayla

Johnson, P. (2014). Fundamentals of collection development and management. London: Facet.

Summary:

Johnson’s text focuses on the evolution of collection development. This is the third edition, in which Johnson discusses how much of an impact technology has had on collection development since her first drafting of this text in 2003. Johnson covers organization models, planning, budget, and policy strategies, developing and managing collections, as well as collection analysis.

In the first section of this text Johnson explores the concept of collection development versus collection management. Johnson argues that collection development and management should be treated as separate terms, rather than being lumped together which typically seems to be the case. She defines collection development as “covers several activities related to the development of library collections, including selection, the determination and coordination of selection policy, assessment of the needs of users and potential users, budget management, identification of collection needs, community and user outreach and liaison…” (2014, p. 02). On the other hand, collection management “covers decisions about weeding, serials cancellation, storage, and the activities that inform these decisions as use studies and cost/benefit assessment” (2014, p. 02).

Johnson explores several key collection development and management responsibilities. Some of those include selection, budgeting, planning and organizing, communicating and reporting. These skills are required in order to maintain and build collections. Johnson explores how public, special, and academic libraries can utilize these methods and better their collection, which enhances the information services offered by the institution.

Evaluation:

This textbook was extremely useful for this course. I used it to pair up with our current textbook. It really helped me understand how to approach presentation three and four. There is a lot of rich content which focuses on how to budget, and how to assess both the community and the collection. Using this information, I was able to have a clearer picture of how to handle Dr. L’s presentations. I would recommend this text to any student who is new, or interested in collection development. The text begins with a list of defined terms in which really helped me get focused on the idea of collection development at the beginning of this course.

This text really is straightforward and easy to understand. It is a great way to introduce students into this topic. Not only is it easy to read, but it is also not overwhelming to new students, rather it builds confidence as well as knowledge upon how to both manage, and develop library collections. What made this text even more useful is in each chapter, Johnson applies her discussions with public, academic, and school libraries.