Collection Development: : Access in the Virtual Library

Citation

Morgan, S. (1999), "Collection Development: : Access in the Virtual Library", Library Review, Vol. 48 No. 4, pp. 335-337. https://doi.org/10.1108/lr.1999.48.4.335.6

Too often nowadays the virtual library is discussed in unrealistic, abstract and, even, superficial terms. Debate soon turns to issues such as the death of the book, large‐scale digitisation, replacement of the library by the Internet and other such paradigm shifts. These discussions may well be interesting in themselves but will they help to move us forward practically? It might be beneficial as a profession to concentrate less on the visionary and more on the transitional. One of the strengths of this monograph ‐‐ simultaneously published as Collection Management, Vol. 22 Nos 1/2 ‐‐ is that it provides the practitioner with an overview of the concepts, pitfalls, joys and headaches of this transitional stage of development towards the virtual library. Its approach is always realistic and down‐to‐earth without detracting from its overall futuristic perspective.

Although the collection consists of eight chapters, the final two are essentially selective bibliographies, more of which later. Following the short introduction, Goding′s chapter marshalls a raft of cogent arguments as to why the Web ‐‐ or the World Wide Wait, as he calls it ‐‐ will not replace the library. It is a balanced picture thankfully devoid of the usual hype associated with the issue. He emphasises the importance of consistency and reliability of information given the frailties of the information delivery system. That the Web is spontaneous, uncontrolled and unorganised is both its charm and its curse depending on whether you are a casual user or a researcher. In his view it is underfunding, not technology, that is in danger of killing off the library. Access and ownership in public services are the issues addressed by Kemp in the next chapter. You will notice that I deliberately omitted the word “versus”, which often separates the two notions and implies mutual exclusivity. The services referred to here are collection development, interlibrary lending, circulation and user education. On the latter subject her point about computers discouraging many users from employing critical thinking in the research process is well made. OhioLINK is an example of a collaborative project used by Kohl to illustrate the possibilities and challenges of consortial arrangements. There is discussion about the increasingly inappropriate model current in most higher education libraries of subscribing to huge numbers of journals, only a small fraction of which are read. Given escalating inflation, reduced budgets, proliferation of databases and the new technologies, this is a hugely important issue. The author explores in some detail the ideas of “unbundling” the journals and purchasing only the needed articles when they are needed. Also explored is the idea of enriching or enhancing the traditional bibliographic record with table of content and indexing information as well as links to book reviews. This would go some way to satisfying the needs of browsing in the virtual library. How each of these is to happen on a large scale, is the question posed. Holleman discusses the subject strengths of major library collections and the overlaps in subject coverage between some of them. He cites various studies in the USA relating to organised national collection development. Distributed education is a new phrase to me. It encompasses distance learning but also includes on‐campus teaching/learning. Skinner explores the ways that libraries can take advantage of electronic conferencing, particularly as regards collections and collections‐based services. It involves electronic mail, mailing lists, the Web, chatlines and a host of other communication variations. Continually highlighted is the notion of convenience to participants rather than traditional course timetabling. In the final chapter before the bibliographies Kopp considers politics and the virtual library ‐‐ or, specifically, the politics of technology and cooperative collection development. For example, who has ownership and control of the library computer systems? The institution, the computer centre, the library, a systems section within a department? The same could apply to the World Wide Web in a particular institution. Wherever you find boundaries, walls and territories, you find politics. Have you ever tried weeding a large multidisciplinary collection of books without getting involved politically? Chapters 7 (Vickery) and 8 (Pastine) contain 75 (893 references!) and 28 pages respectively of bibliographical sources relating to library acquisitions, collections and the book trade covering 1986‐95 (Vickery) and ownership or access to electronic information (Pastine). These provide excellent coverage of the issues raised in the preceding half a dozen chapters.

This is an impressive collection of clearly written and insightful papers on the virtual library environment with its expectations and complexities. They offer sophisticated analyses, a wealth of experience and solid advice about the transitional stage in which we currently find ourselves.