RIGHTSIZING THE ACADEMIC LIBRARY COLLECTION

摘要

If you want a handheld and portable collection development consultant for your library collection, buy this book. Suzanne Ward gives practical and sound advice on how to cope with a growing print collection and an exploding electronic collection. This is the best collection development book I have ever read. There is an introduction, five chapters, references, and a short index. In the Introduction, Ward gives an overview of the state of the art in collection development. Chapter 1, "Background," tells us where academic libraries have been and the kinds of pressures that libraries are under today. The author addresses the challenges and issues in libraries, the digital revolution, the resistance to change in libraries, library stakeholders, library usage studies, and the changing library environment. Each issue or constituency is given fair and equal consideration when it comes to academic libraries. In Chapter 2, "Traditional Deselection Solutions," Ward tackles withdrawals based on newer volumes, low useo use, and electronic access. She further discusses how libraries can use local or remote storage and the steps to go beyond weeding projects and storage ideas. Chapter 3, "Rightsizing Solutions," discusses formulating a withdrawal policy, a plan for deselection which includes print and electronic collections. Ward further treats how to work with a digitization project, collaborative storage projects that involve more than one library, and is usually a group of libraries collectively storing items in a common location for future use, and the costs associated with storage. Chapter 4, "Project Management," is the heart of the book. This chapter outlines the plans needed to devise a strategy to right-size the collection. Included are practical solutions on working with disposing of withdrawn materials, checklists, managing workflows for books, journals, microforms, and other AV materials. Likewise, there are solutions for a rapid response or crisis management for unexpected issues based on deselecting materials, how to conclude a project and hints for future control of all collections. Finally, in Chapter 5, "The Future of Physical Collections in Academic Libraries," helpful advice on local collections, regional collections, future right-sizing projects and conclusions are offered to the reader. This book is highly recommended for all academic libraries, special libraries, medical libraries or any other libraries looking to work with their collections so that they are accessible to users either within or outside of the library.