The Jewish Studies Book Awards: a collection development strategy for non‐sectarian academic libraries

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to provide an alternative method of building quality collections for Jewish Studies collection development professionals in small and medium‐sized academic libraries with highly restricted budgets.

Design/methodology/approach

Sources of Jewish Studies literary awards were identified and a detailed analysis of awarded books' subjects and the publishing sources was conducted.

Findings

The results show that awarded books cover a vast variety of subjects of interest to Jewish Studies collections. Since many of them are also published by academic presses, the use of identified Jewish Studies book award sources should be considered by bibliographers responsible for building Jewish Studies collections in non‐sectarian college libraries with very limited budgetary resources.

Practical implications

The “one stop” access to all award sources and awarded books provides an easy access to otherwise dispersed information.

Originality/value

The comprehensive list of awards, nominated and winning titles, as well as the subject analysis presented herein, is the first of its kind. This can be used by Jewish Studies bibliographers to build and improve their collections and can also serve as a model for building other interdisciplinary subject collections.

Citation

Taler, I. (2011), "The Jewish Studies Book Awards: a collection development strategy for non‐sectarian academic libraries", Collection Building, Vol. 30 No. 1, pp. 11-38. https://doi.org/10.1108/01604951111104998