Collection Management: A Concise Introduction

Citation

Kennedy, J. (2004), "Collection Management: A Concise Introduction", Library Review, Vol. 53 No. 2, pp. 119-120. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530410522695

Ask anyone to define what a library is and they are liable to say “a collection of books” or a “building with books in it”. If pushed they might well add to that newspapers, journals, CDs, videos, theses, maps, reports and perhaps online services. The services associated with making these things available to people are also an essential part of what a library is. This is particularly true at a time when many traditional print resources are being replaced by electronic versions, and the role of the library is to facilitate access to these, rather than to provide them as tangible items. The increasing dominance of electronic resources challenges traditional notions of what a library is and stretches the concept of what a library collection is.

Whether you define it as a collection of physical items or services, the idea of the library as a collection still holds. “Collection management” by extension must therefore be an integral part of librarianship. This is essentially Kennedy's position. His basic premise is that collection management is a dynamic and vital part of a library service, specifically so within the context of the increasing dominance of electronic collections. Although electronic resources are intangible, in the sense that you cannot touch them or borrow them, a library's electronic services are as much a collection as shelves of books or journals are, and require just as much, or more, management.

Collection management: A Concise Introduction aims to offer a detailed introduction to collection management – what it was, what it is and what it could become. As Kennedy states, there is no shortage of texts on collection management, but the demands created by electronic resource management provide renewed vigour to an already established library role. The book's intended primary readership is anyone who has little or no experience of collection management, but who has an interest in this area of work. It will inevitably appeal to students of librarianship and information science.

Nestled between the opening and closing chapters of the text, which look at the concept of collection management, are very practical chapters covering the main activities of the collection manager. In these chapters, which follow a logical pattern from collection development policies through selection, acquisition evaluation, preservation, deselection and cooperative collection building, Kennedy uses practical examples from specialist and public libraries in Australia. Although the book is not intended to be a how‐to manual, there a level of significant detail and practical example, to make this extremely useful for any newly qualified professional.

Although electronic resources seem to be accelerating at a revolutionary rather than evolutionary pace, there is little doubt that paper‐based, traditional library resources will endure for some time. Kennedy's text succeeds in illuminating the very practical traditional activities of the collection manager whilst providing useful information on the associated skills required for electronic resource management. In chapter 3 for example – Selection – Kennedy provides very useful lists of selection criteria for print‐based resources and for electronic resources. In chapter 4 – Acquisition – as well as the expected information on book suppliers, placing orders, bibliographic searching and outsourcing, Kennedy looks at licence negotiation for electronic databases and journal collections.

On the whole the text is weighted more towards the activities and skills traditionally associated with collection management than specifically with electronic resource management. Perhaps this should be of no surprise? After all, although electronic resources provide challenges and require additional skills of the collection manager, the traditional skills associated with selection, acquisition and evaluation are still necessary and appropriate. As an academic librarian with experience of collection management, I found the opening and closing chapters on the concept of collection management of most interest. I would have liked to read more about evaluation and preservation issues in relation to electronic resources, but these are still developing areas and this is not the main focus of the text. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a well researched, detailed introduction to the tasks of the collection manager within the context of an evolving library service.