Library Collection Development Policies

...examines the typical elements in collection policies (such as evaluative criteria, resource sharing statements, and acquisition methods) and offers many examples of each from academic and special libraries. A section on virtual collections (electronic resources and resource sharing) discusses the issues involved with nontraditional acquisitions. * Zentralblatt fuer Geologie und Palaeontologie *
The book is well organized and easy to use....an excellent resource for both beginners and experienced collection management professionals....This volume would be a valuable addition to the professional collections of academic, public, and special libraries and is highly recommended. * Reference and User Services Quarterly, Vol. 45, No. 3, Spring 2006 *
Hoffmann (library science, Sam Houston State University) and Wood (director of libraries, U. of South Alabama, Mobile) compile a guide for students and librarians on collection practices, incorporating issues and methods spawned by the internet and electronic publishing. The focus is on university, public, and special libraries; a similar book on school libraries is forthcoming, and both are scions of the 1996 Library Collection Development Policies: A Reference and Writer's Handbook. The first part focuses on creating a "blueprint" for a library's holdings. The second part (which includes a chapter by Jane Pearlmutter on resource sharing) looks at developments in electronic collections. The volume incorporates samples, contact information for libraries whose policies were quoted in the book, and intellectual freedom statements and forms. * Reference and Research Book News *