Short description:

Public Library Collection Development in the Information Age discusses the increasing amounts of information that are used in collection development. Case studies, interviews, and research offer suggestions to improve your collection methods without straining your library's budget.
Public Library Collection Development in the Information Age will help you acquire the most useful materials while sharing information with collaborating libraries to offer patrons the latest and largest variety of resources.

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Long description:

Public Library Collection Development in the Information Age discusses the increasing amounts of information that are used in collection development. Case studies, interviews, and research are the basis for this book's suggestions to improve your collection methods without straining your library's budget. It will help you acquire the most useful materials while sharing information with collaborating libraries to offer patrons the latest and largest variety of resources.

Discussing a topic that is scarcely addressed in collection literature, this book explores ways in which one informational medium&&&0151;the Internet&&&0151;impacts materials budgets, selection tools, and alternative sources of information during the selection process.

Offering methods that apply to libraries of different sizes and financial capability, Public Library Collection Development in the Information Age provides you with ideas and suggestions for the improvement of collection development methods, including:

• examining how libraries use information to plan and budget for collection development
• developing a budget method that takes several factors into consideration, such as population impact, property tax revenues, circulation, reference needs, and client needs
• centralizing selections in order to allocate additional staff time and to choose resources patrons want without sacrificing the utility of local collections
• building public library collections with the assistance of vendors and the five levels of vendor participation
• using the conspectus method to assess and organize the collections of small libraries for easier access
• researching three public libraries in the United Kingdom to determine how varying levels of automation affect patron resources and services

To help you integrate the appropriate electronic resources into collection development policies and procedures, Public Library Collection Development in the Information Age discusses which formats, access methods, pricing schemes, and differences in scope will best meet your selection needs. Containing proven strategies that will target your collection priorities and criteria to evaluate the use and effectiveness of electronic resources, this book will help revise your collection development methods to satisfy the informational needs of patrons.

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Table of Contents:

Contents Introduction, Community Studies: Raising the Roof and Other Recommendations, The Public Library Planning Process: Its Impact on Collection Development Policies and Practices, Materials Budget Allocation Methods at San Diego County Library, &&&8220;But We've Always Done It This Way!&&&8221;: Centralized Selection Five Years Later, Five Levels of Vendor-Assisted Collection Development, How the WLN Conspectus Works for Small Libraries, Collection Development in the Information Age: Great Britain's Public Libraries, Making the Internet a Part of the Library's Collection, Cyberselection: The Impact of the Internet on Collection Development in Public Libraries, Selection and Evaluation of Networked Information Resources, Collection Development of Electronic Resources at the Science, Industry, and Business Library (SIBL), A Catalogue of Catalogs: A Resource for a Small Library So It Can Be the Place to Go for Those Who Need to Know, Gay and Lesbian Library Materials: A Book Selector's Toolkit, Multicultural Children's Literature Selection and Evaluation: Incorporating the World Wide Web, Education for Collection Development in the Electronic Age: With an Emphasis on Public Libraries, Staff Development for Improved Collection Management in a Rapidly Changing and Enhanced Technological Environment: Nashville Public Library's Experience, Index ,

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