This article focuses on criteria for identifying and selecting rare books, including date and age, book condition, provenance, aesthetic value, market value, availability, format, cultural value, historical value, and market demands. (Author/LRW)

Discussion of topics relating to microform sets of primary material covers value, users, the lack of reviews, difficulty of examination, institutional focus, and selection. Selection factors suggested include: content; reason for the set; sponsoring institution; past use of the collection; publishers' reputation; guides; editors; advertisements;…

Discusses the impact of electronic resources on collection development; selection of CD-ROMs, (platform, speed, video and sound, networking capability, installation and maintenance); selection of laser disks; and Internet evaluation (accuracy of content, authority, objectivity, currency, technical characteristics). Lists Web sites for evaluating…

Discusses the theoretical value of national bibliographies as a library material selection tool and evaluates African national bibliographies using four criteria--comprehensiveness, thorough and reliable bibliographic data, currency, and directory of publishers. It is concluded that there is a significant gap between the theoretical and actual…

Discusses the importance of microform reviews as a tool for library collection development and offers advice to microform reviewers. A formula for microform evaluation is presented which covers intellectual content, institutional need, price, bibliographic control, and technical quality and format. (five references) (CLB)

Discusses the selection and evaluation of children's multicultural literature and gives examples of three types of books: (1) inclusive books that show racial and cultural diversity; (2) multicultural content books that are not written by authors from the racial/ethnic group featured; and (3) multicultural content books by authors who are from the…

Discusses libraries and issues relating to censorship, social protest, and First Amendment rights. Topics addressed include materials selection based on objective criteria; removing inappropriate material; intellectual freedom; limited versus absolute censorship; and possible errors in selection decisions. (LRW)

Examines commercial electronic document delivery services that are available to academic libraries. Highlights include collection development issues; criteria for selection and evaluation; remote access systems, including CARL UnCover 2, Faxon Finder and Faxon Xpress, ContentsFirst and ArticleFirst, and CitaDel; and on-site access systems,…

This discussion focuses on the problems involved in the interpretation and verification of the data gathered and presented by the North American Collections Inventory Project. It suggests that the National Shelflist Count is a better resource for collection management and shared library resources decisions. (CLB)

Examines changes in emphasis on collection development and conservation in both library and archival materials in recent years, and outlines evaluative criteria and priorities to be used in formulating collection management policy. (CLB)

Describes the use of the "Science Citation Index" in deciding whether to keep older basic science books that have failed to meet other criteria for collection retention. It is concluded that manual searching of the indexes proved feasible and reliable, while the lack of book titles on the online version reduced reliability of weeding…

Discusses specific selection criteria used in making collection development decisions and presents both a model for arriving at a selection decision, and a mechanism for assigning a priority to each selection. (CLB)

Reprint of a 1964 article by David Kaser which presented mathematical formulas for estimating the collection sizes (in volumes) required to ensure minimum adequacy of academic library collections at institutions with widely different characteristics. Current article presents new formulas and illustrates their application at specific institutions.…

Discusses issues that libraries face when selecting electronic publications and describes the development and creation of a genre statement, a new form of collection policy for digital publishing, at the University of Maryland that includes content, pricing, use and functionality, archiving, access, duplication, licensing terms, and an evaluation…

Explains a collection analysis process that was developed for the Taipei American School secondary school library. Evaluation criteria included the quality of records in the catalog database; age of the collection; number of titles per pupil; and how well the collection supports the curriculum. (LRW)