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selection for public libraries discussion group, January 20, 1986
Library&@&ions: fiacrire and 7?zeory,Vol.
IO, pp. 159-160,1986
Printed in the USA. All rights reserved.
0364-6408/86 $3.00 + .oO Copyright
0
1986 Pcrgamon Journals Ltd
ALA MID WINTER MEEZTNG. JANUARY 1986
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE RTSD/RS COLLECTION MANAGEMENT/-SELECTION FOR PUBLIC LIBRARIES DISCUSSION GROUP, JANUARY 20,1986 JUDI FOUTS Selection Services Librarian Dallas Public Library 1515 Young St. Dallax.
TX 75201
Romaine Ahlstrom, Collection Development Manager at Los Angeles Public Library, began the discussion session by calling on the group for suggested topics of interest for the meeting at the ALA Annual Conference in New York City. Possible items include usefulness, reliability ahd coverage of book review tools. Joanne Anderson, San Diego Public Library, proposed discussion on the role of what serials should be held in a public library in relation to retrospective coverage done by neighboring university libraries, This led into the,broader topic of cooperative collection development. Ahlstrom explained how the Los Angeles Public Library has begun an informal network of information sharing with the performing arts organizations in the area, and now this is growing into a more structured form of cooperative collection development. Barbara J. Tolliver, Director of Continuing Education, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Washington, brought information on a new, multi-faceted project called LIRN (Library and Information Resources for the Northwest). This program, sponsored by the Fred Meyer Charitable Trust, is currently involving 350 librarians in the five-state area of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington to do collection analysis. The 232 participating institutions (75 are public libraries) agree to do the analysis in live subject areas and then report this data to be entered into a regional database. There is a Dewey conspectus to correspond to that of the RLG. LIRN is using the Alaska Collection Intensity Indicators as guidelines. Tolliver reports that the project, which just began in the fall of 1985, is scheduled to be completed by March 1987. The overall purpose of LIRN is to provide a basis for future cooperative collection development. This will give improved access to information with an impact on educational and economic developments. The group had so many questions for Tolliver that she agreed to present more information and give a progress report at the next discussion meeting. 159
160
JUDI FOUTS
Public librarians are urged to provide input to the revision of “Guidelines for the Review of Library Collections” as found in ALA publication Guidelines for Collection Development. Lenore Clark, University of Oklahoma Libraries, outlined the process that her subcommittee (part of the Collection Management and Development Committee of RTSD Resources Section) will follow. Clark stated that the committee will start work at Annual Conference in New York; the focus will be on preservation. Suggestions for bibliography items are welcome. The work of this committee parallels that in progress by several of the other RTSD RS Collection Management and Development subcommittees to bring about a complete revision of the Guidelines. There is the possibility that a suit may be brought against the Library of Congress, the American Library Association, and the National Bureau of Standards (although why this agency was included was not known) by a man upset because libraries do not have materials on men’s rights to match the wealth of information published recently on women’s rights. Judith Serebnick, School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University, asked how libraries measure what they have on diverse views. How do librarians know if they have a “balanced” collection on controversial topics? Anderson pointed out that libraries can only purchase what is published, in other words, is this the responsibility of the publishing industry? Serebnick pointed out that even if a given checklist or bibliography is used, no list is exhaustive. This brought us back to more discussion about book review sources. One participant asked for a comment from each of us as to how many books are bought from information in publishers’ catalogs versus those materials bought from reviews. After most had responded indicating that the majority of titles were bought after reading reviews, we asked the participant why he had asked the question. His answer indicated that many worthwhile books are never reviewed in the popular review sources, and so, could be missed in the selection process. For a number of reasons, it is hard to put credibility in some book review sources even though surveys show that they are relied on by most selectors. Reasons cited include lack of timeliness, coverage (or lack thereof) by review sources of particular categories and publishers, and difficulty in finding the “meat” of the review. Serebnick summarized some surveys she has published in this area. This discussion never really finished, and it seems a likely candidate to come up again in the next meeting. Recently in some 9 or 10 major cities in the United States, ordinances have been passed that have a possible impact on collection development. In general, these ordinances require that businesses with city contracts must themselves do a certain percentage of business with minorityowned firms and those owned by females. The extension to book wholesalers would be that they must then buy a certain percentage of publications from these groups. Then libraries might be required to purchase these materials. We were urged to be aware of what is happening in our own communities in this regard. Ahlstrom closed the discussion by announcing the meeting time for the New York session. We will meet on Monday, June 30, from 200 to 400 p.m.
IO, pp. 159-160,1986
Printed in the USA. All rights reserved.
0364-6408/86 $3.00 + .oO Copyright
0
1986 Pcrgamon Journals Ltd
ALA MID WINTER MEEZTNG. JANUARY 1986
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE RTSD/RS COLLECTION MANAGEMENT/-SELECTION FOR PUBLIC LIBRARIES DISCUSSION GROUP, JANUARY 20,1986 JUDI FOUTS Selection Services Librarian Dallas Public Library 1515 Young St. Dallax.
TX 75201
Romaine Ahlstrom, Collection Development Manager at Los Angeles Public Library, began the discussion session by calling on the group for suggested topics of interest for the meeting at the ALA Annual Conference in New York City. Possible items include usefulness, reliability ahd coverage of book review tools. Joanne Anderson, San Diego Public Library, proposed discussion on the role of what serials should be held in a public library in relation to retrospective coverage done by neighboring university libraries, This led into the,broader topic of cooperative collection development. Ahlstrom explained how the Los Angeles Public Library has begun an informal network of information sharing with the performing arts organizations in the area, and now this is growing into a more structured form of cooperative collection development. Barbara J. Tolliver, Director of Continuing Education, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Washington, brought information on a new, multi-faceted project called LIRN (Library and Information Resources for the Northwest). This program, sponsored by the Fred Meyer Charitable Trust, is currently involving 350 librarians in the five-state area of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington to do collection analysis. The 232 participating institutions (75 are public libraries) agree to do the analysis in live subject areas and then report this data to be entered into a regional database. There is a Dewey conspectus to correspond to that of the RLG. LIRN is using the Alaska Collection Intensity Indicators as guidelines. Tolliver reports that the project, which just began in the fall of 1985, is scheduled to be completed by March 1987. The overall purpose of LIRN is to provide a basis for future cooperative collection development. This will give improved access to information with an impact on educational and economic developments. The group had so many questions for Tolliver that she agreed to present more information and give a progress report at the next discussion meeting. 159
160
JUDI FOUTS
Public librarians are urged to provide input to the revision of “Guidelines for the Review of Library Collections” as found in ALA publication Guidelines for Collection Development. Lenore Clark, University of Oklahoma Libraries, outlined the process that her subcommittee (part of the Collection Management and Development Committee of RTSD Resources Section) will follow. Clark stated that the committee will start work at Annual Conference in New York; the focus will be on preservation. Suggestions for bibliography items are welcome. The work of this committee parallels that in progress by several of the other RTSD RS Collection Management and Development subcommittees to bring about a complete revision of the Guidelines. There is the possibility that a suit may be brought against the Library of Congress, the American Library Association, and the National Bureau of Standards (although why this agency was included was not known) by a man upset because libraries do not have materials on men’s rights to match the wealth of information published recently on women’s rights. Judith Serebnick, School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University, asked how libraries measure what they have on diverse views. How do librarians know if they have a “balanced” collection on controversial topics? Anderson pointed out that libraries can only purchase what is published, in other words, is this the responsibility of the publishing industry? Serebnick pointed out that even if a given checklist or bibliography is used, no list is exhaustive. This brought us back to more discussion about book review sources. One participant asked for a comment from each of us as to how many books are bought from information in publishers’ catalogs versus those materials bought from reviews. After most had responded indicating that the majority of titles were bought after reading reviews, we asked the participant why he had asked the question. His answer indicated that many worthwhile books are never reviewed in the popular review sources, and so, could be missed in the selection process. For a number of reasons, it is hard to put credibility in some book review sources even though surveys show that they are relied on by most selectors. Reasons cited include lack of timeliness, coverage (or lack thereof) by review sources of particular categories and publishers, and difficulty in finding the “meat” of the review. Serebnick summarized some surveys she has published in this area. This discussion never really finished, and it seems a likely candidate to come up again in the next meeting. Recently in some 9 or 10 major cities in the United States, ordinances have been passed that have a possible impact on collection development. In general, these ordinances require that businesses with city contracts must themselves do a certain percentage of business with minorityowned firms and those owned by females. The extension to book wholesalers would be that they must then buy a certain percentage of publications from these groups. Then libraries might be required to purchase these materials. We were urged to be aware of what is happening in our own communities in this regard. Ahlstrom closed the discussion by announcing the meeting time for the New York session. We will meet on Monday, June 30, from 200 to 400 p.m.