The four basic criteria for the selection of library materials--quality, library relevancy, aesthetic and technical aspects, and cost--remain the same in the electronic era of information. What they mean and how they are used has changed. But even quality and cost, the two most controversial criteria, carry great importance for the responsible…

Library literature from the late 19th century to the present offers numerous guides to materials selection. Yet, collection development policies and lists of selection criteria are inadequate for humanities electronic texts. Libraries, humanities disciplines, and electronic texts are too complex for any rigid approach to acquisition. To meet goals…

Collecting full-text CD-ROMs for a humanities library requires an examination of literary research and the way literature is taught. It is within this context that selectors must establish selection criteria and develop plans for promoting use of these new resources. Includes a checklist of literary and technical criteria for selection. (Contains…

Availability in electronic format of scholarly and scientific literatures and other forms of information has altered challenges faced by library collection managers. Drawing on ideas of the multi-library consortia, which have grown up partly in response to the advent of electronic resources, librarians have devised new criteria and means of…

Three attempts at consensus lists of evaluation criteria for the Web are compared with reviews in "Choice" magazine. There is little agreement on the most important/appropriate criteria for a Web site's value, and few of the criteria appear in the sample reviews, suggesting a continued lack of consensus. The extreme rapidity of change in the Web…

Over the past 20 years, academic collection development specialists have dealt with changes, brought about by decreasing purchasing power and the growing importance of electronic resources. Throughout, collection managers have rethought their efforts and revised criteria for selection of materials in new formats while maintaining traditional…

Selection of electronic resources--CD-ROMs, dial access databases, electronic journals, and World Wide Web products--requires a more extensive set of criteria than do print resources. Discusses two factors influencing collection development of electronic products: technology options and licensing issues, and outlines how traditional selection…

Discusses library resource sharing. Highlights include access to information, document delivery, interlibrary loan, and the social, economic, and technological complexities of new mechanisms; and traditional roles of libraries that provide both opportunities for cooperation and paradoxes for the continuation of selection, archiving, and…

Focuses on the selection and decision-making aspects of the Edelmen model of collection development. Reviews challenges facing library/information studies education and the place of collection development within that context. Considers implications for the library/information center of the rise of a new class of resources. Suggests that a more…