Presents recommendations for developing sound baby collections that include selecting books that: have designs infants are attracted to, provide tactile experiences, incorporate rhymes, have rounded edges (board books), and can be cleaned (cloth books). Includes an alphabetical list of good books for babies, as well as books on planning a lapsit…

Focuses on evaluating the school library media collection. Discusses how to figure the age of the collection; comparing the collection to a professional selection source; and how to estimate the cost of upgrading the collection. Includes a sample letter to principal and supporting fact sheet. (AEF)

This book focuses on the selection of books in an elementary school and on the resources designed to help in that process. Resources that support other aspects of collection development are identified, along with a number of established surveys of children's literature that discuss specific titles. The following chapters are included: (1)…

This resource guide focuses on handling library materials that are too deteriorated to benefit from other preservation treatments. Hopeless case items, that would require an unreasonable amount of conservation work to fix, can be resolved through a process of reselecting items by replacing them or reformatting them. The reselection integrates…

Reviews previously proposed schemes of classical rationality in book selection, describes new approaches to rational choice behavior, and presents a model of book selection based on bounded rationality in a garbage can decision process. The role of tacit knowledge and symbolic content in the selection process are also discussed. (102 references)…

A school librarian and book reviewer argues that buyers, reviewers, editors, and publishers need to look more carefully at series books. Discusses series and reviewing tools and ways reviewers can help colleagues make the best choices for students. Recommends two social studies series, and suggests questions to ask when buying series books. (PEN)

Discusses the need for the preservation of both print and non-print library materials. Issues raised include problems of photocopying; deciding what to discard and weed out of collections; special considerations for children's books; jobs for preservation librarians; and the need for good judgment in making preservation decisions. (LRW)

This collection development aid lists more than 10,000 titles of children's materials available in a variety of formats (in addition to print materials, the guide also includes sound recordings, video cassettes, microcomputer software programs, CD-ROM products, and videodiscs). This 20th anniversary edition contains several special features,…

The materials listed in this reference circular are recommended to libraries and organizations as basic resources for providing a current information service on visual impairments and physical disabilities. The selections, which are based on the holdings of the Reference Section of the National Library Service (NLS) for the Blind and Physically…

Describes a study that investigated the abuse of library materials through theft, mutilation, unauthorized borrowing, and vandalism at the University of Port Harcourt (Nigeria) and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (Saudi Arabia). Motivations for abuse are discussed, and recommendations for improved collection protection are…

Defines book display as an adult service as choosing and positioning adult books from the library collection to increase their circulation. The author contrasts bookstore arrangement for sales versus library arrangement for access, including contrasting missions, genre grouping, weeding, problems, and dimensions. (Author/LRW)

A selection of academic libraries was studied to examine ownership of best-sellers from 1940 to 1990. The trend is to keep a higher percentage of older best-sellers in fiction than newer ones. Nonfiction appears to be more sporadic but still follows this trend. Findings indicate new collection development policies may be needed to protect…

Describes the development of Books for Africa, an organization that solicits donations of books in the United States and sends them to Africa, largely to school libraries, to improve literacy rates, increase library holdings, and build library shelves. Other organizations that donate books are also listed. (LRW)

Describes a study that compared the performance of two general approval plan vendors with that of two science and technology (sci/tech) specialty vendors in identifying sci/tech titles that matched a library profile. The areas discussed include overall coverage by vendors, representation of non-trade publishers, and difficulties in using approval…

Examines the problem of aging of books in university libraries and presents a mathematical model of the aging process. Indexes for the aging time limit, over-age book rate, and aging rate are suggested; use of the mean unit price is considered; and countermeasures for control of the aging process are proposed. (four references) (MES)