Describes the collection assessment methodology presented in the Research Libraries Group's "Conspectus," and assesses the usefulness of this instrument both in general, and as applied to an attempt to coordinate collection development at the consortium level. (eight references) (CLB)

Approval plans challenge library boundaries, require consensus on collection development priorities, cooperation among library departments, and a close partnership with the vendor. Few concrete performance standards exist, and effectiveness is difficult to measure. Vendors will play an active role in the evolution of approval plans, though…

Describes the method used by Firelands College (Ohio) to evaluate its book, periodical, and government document collections. The study investigated whether 30 percent of the references cited in students' texts could be found in the campus library and whether 70 percent could be found there or in the main campus library. (DMM)

This document reports on an assessment of the Jacksonville State University's Houston Cole Library collection that employed a variety of methodologies and tools, including list-checking, direct collection examination, shelflist measurement and analysis, WLN (Washington Library Network) conspectus sheets, analysis of OCLC/AMIGOS Collection Analysis…

Nine Canadian health libraries participated in a pilot test of the Benchmarking Tool Kit between January and April, 1998. Although the Tool Kit was designed specifically for health libraries, the content and approach are useful to other types of libraries as well. Used to its full potential, benchmarking can provide a common measuring stick to…

This study was conducted to field-test collection mapping as an evaluation technique, to determine collection standards against which individual schools could compare themselves, and to compare the collections in schools to nationally-recommended lists published by Brodart and Wilson. Questionnaires were sent to 120 library media specialists in…

Discusses trends in the future of higher education and considers the possible resulting challenges for libraries, particularly the development of special collections. Topics discussed include management, developing cost-benefit measures, considering possible new users, inter-library cooperation, developing quality by communicating standards and…