Selecting and Evaluating Reference Materials

 Dennis McCormack

Hiremath, U., & Cassell, K. A. (2023). Chapter 19: Selecting and evaluating reference materials. In Reference and information services. (pp. 3-16) American Library Association.

Summary: This textbook covers the history and standards of reference work in libraries. Chapter 19 is specifically about how to draft and follow a collection development policy. The authors argue that the collection development process begins with knowing the user base. A public library must know the demographics they will be serving, while school libraries must know the curriculum that will be covered. After librarians have an idea of who might come through their doors they must then review peer reviewed sources for the best and newest materials. Materials must be judged based on traits like currency, authority, format, & cost. Some materials work better as online resources, such as databases or catalogs. Think anything that would be unrealistic to print or would be unruly to navigate on paper. Weeding the collection is also an important part of collection development, otherwise the shelves would be filled with damaged or out-of-date books. 

Evaluation: The textbook was well written and each of the ideas flowed well into the next. I ended up citing this book in most of the classes I took this semester. I have some of the more helpful chapters downloaded and may come back to it as a resource for further courses. The authors covered a lot of ground without being bogged down by jargon or going too far into the weeds. I recommend this reading as a good jumping off point to further research in building a state of the art collection.