Collection Development and Management for 21st Century Library Collections: An Introduction

by Vicki Lovelady Gregory

Covering virtually every aspect of its subject, Collection Development and Management for 21st Century Library Collections is a soup-to-nuts guide perfect for students and beginning librarians, yet full of sage advice and new ideas for experienced practitioners. This landmark new text was overseen by a stellar editorial advisory Karen Brown (Dominican University), Kay Ann Cassell (Rutgers University), Alma Dawson (Lousiana State University), Ann O Neill (Emporia State University), and Patricia Oyler (Simmons College). Vicki Gregory, Professor at the University of South Florida, takes a process approach to her subject, making the book easy to consult about a specific question or problem. Practical and to the point, here's an authoritative guide to collection development and management that covers the entire Chapter 1: The Impact of New Technologies on Trends in Collection Development and Management; Chapter 2: Needs Assessment in Collection Development; Chapter 3: Collection Development Policies; Chapter 4: Selection Sources and Processes; Chapter 5: Acquisitions; Chapter 6: Budgeting and Fiscal Management; Chapter 7: Assessment and Evaluation of the Collection, including Deselection (Weeding); Chapter 8: Cooperative Collection Development and Resource Sharing; Chapter 9: Marketing the Collection and Outreach to the Community; Chapter 10: Legal Issues in Collection Development; Chapter 11: Diversity and ADA Issues; Chapter 12: Gifts and Exchanges; Chapter 13: Professional Ethics and Intellectual Freedom; Chapter 14: Preservation; Chapter 15: Future of Collection Development and Management. Each chapter includes discussion questions, activities, references, and selected readings. Special features include samples of a needs assessment report, a collection development policy, an approval plan, and an electronic materials license.

Genres: Library Science, Nonfiction, Librarianship, Professional Development, Textbooks, Read For School, School

300 pages, Paperback

First published February 28, 2011

Reviews

[Hannah-Renea Niederberger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this for a class and while interesting and detailed, it left a lot of gaps in what I felt were vital areas. The budgetary and the shelving chapters were especially sparse. The budget one was rough, Gregory mostly provides a bullet list of vocabulary that is supposedly vital to know without actually defining any of it.

It's also wildly out of date on certain things. I had to double check while reading that I hadn't accidentally grabbed the 2011 (1st ed) instead of the 2019 (2nd ed), but no, I was reading from the up-to-date text when it said that Flickr was one of the most important social media sites to pay attention to and made no mention of Twitter or TikTok (I checked, TikTok started in 2016 and was the most downloaded app in the US in October 2018).

There was also some questionable wording regarding multicultural patrons, particularly those who don't speak English. It seemed to imply that they were lazy for not 'prioritizing' assimilation, which is rough. Also, in a subsection titled "Diversity Issues," Gregory stated:

Often when we hear the word diversity we think only of racial diversity, and although this is an important issue, diversity as a concept also encompasses gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, and special needs issues.

I don't know who the "we" in "we think only of racial diversity" is, but I think in 2019 at least, which was two years after #MeToo went viral and four years after same-sex marriage was legalized in the United States, I think most people were aware of diversity outside of racial diversity. I'm glad she pointed out that diversity is a larger umbrella, but that struck me as odd.

This textbook accompanied a class I took on Collection Management, and while the class was truly fantastic, I found this text a bit lacking.

[Joell Smith-Borne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book does not look like it should cost $72. Sux. Hope the book is REALLY GOOD!

ETA: well, it was pretty good. And the class was great. Glad it's over though. Only one more semester, and I'm done!

[AltLovesBooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

The bones of this book are good, but the material dates itself pretty quickly. There's a number of references to websites, plan providers, and other specific resources that either no longer exist or no longer provide the resource indicated.

All that said, the very basics of collection development are discussed here, but I stress the point that every library is different. No book can tell you what your specific population will be interested in, so it's important that you know your own patron base and what's popular with them.

I will say there's plenty of further reading resources provided within this book, though. So, for all that it's kind of flawed as a resource guide, there's tons of cited papers and books that will help fill in the gaps and satisfy additional questions you might have when reading this.

[BiblioBeruthiel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent introduction to Collection Management (with a bit of overview of weeding). Read for a graduate school course.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my opinion, Collection Development at its finest!

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice material for leaning a bit more about one of the aspects of my job.

[Michele Peoples · Rating 4 out of 5]

The textbook is informative and thorough, overall. More time could have been spent on selection sources, including best-seller lists and awards.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the textbook for my Collection Development class. And it is a textbook, complete with discussion questions, vocabulary, and lists for further reading at the end of each chapter. And it did the job: covered all the issues, explained all the concepts, and provided plenty of resources. The prose was exactly what you want in a textbook: plain, direct, and easy to read. It was published in 2011, so it's up to date on most of the concepts and issues surrounding electronic resources.

[Timothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I wouldn't call this an interesting book, it does cover the most salient points of a number of topics relating to collection development. I especially appreciated the long list of review sources and the abundance of citations for further reading.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

My professor decided to begin the course with chapters 4 and 5 of this text before going back to chapters 1-3. Her rationale was that we would need to have some basic knowledge of the Selection (4) and Acquisitions (5)...

Read the full review on my blog: http://jmnz.us/16viQ6W

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this one for work and it was a nice refresher on collection development. I took 5 pages of typed notes, as it is a comprehensive resources. Recommended to library-science folks.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

An essential text for the practice of collection management in academic libraries.

[Kandrea Cheney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the short chapters and it was very informative.