Overview
This comprehensive treatment of essential issues in collection management describes how to plan, build, and manage physical and virtual collections that meet the curriculum needs of students and teachers. Topic Include:
• The information landscape
• Introduction to collection management
• Analyzing the environment
• Policies for collection management
• Selection and acquisition
• Maintaining collection viability A previous edition of this work, Providing More with Less: Collection Management for Australian School Libraries was published by the Center for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University, Australia, in 1998.
Synopsis
This revised edition of Providing More With Less, 2d ed. (2001) includes 13 essays on knowledge management, collection policies, selection and acquisition, technological changes, collection viability, evaluation, funding, and related issues. The book was originally intended for an Australian audience, but it discusses skills and concepts important to all libraries. The contributors teach library science and management. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
School Library Journal
Thirteen chapters range from historical descriptions to depictions of the current library landscape. The human dimension of collection management, policies, selection, acquisition, evaluation, and funding management are also examined. Of high interest is the chapter entitled "Collection Management Dilemmas in the Digital Age." Phyllis Van Orden's words on weeding (in the chapter on maintaining collection viability) will provide comic relief. The text is clear and well organized with excellent use of headings, bullets, and charts. An extensive bibliography, a useful index, and sample policies are included. This book would well serve any school library management course and should be consulted by those of us "in the trenches" who need material to back policy proposals, funding requests, or grant writing. For those who don't need a lot of theory, but prefer a "nuts and bolts" approach, try Karen R. Lowe's Resource Alignment: Providing Curriculum Support in the School Library Media Center (Beacon Consulting, 2001).-Cindy Darling Codell, Clark Middle School, Winchester, KY Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.