Re: Selection of journals (was Re: free magazines) (2 messages) Birdie MacLennan 07 Jan 2000 20:55 UTC
2 messages, 65 lines: (1)--------------------------- Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2000 13:18:25 -0600 From: "Buddy Pennington" <buddy.pennington@ROCKHURST.EDU> Subject: Re: Selection of journals (was Re: free magazines) When I implied that we should focus our collection development efforts on user needs, I did not mean to imply that librarians were idiots. I also took a 3-hour graduate level course on collection development (I believe we all have to to get the degree). That said, we rely heavily on our academic faculty for selection because they know their research and education needs better than we do (and they probably know the needs of their students better than we do as well). The original comment was from a public library librarian. My comments were based more in that context. Though, I do personally feel that academic libraries do need to involve their users in the selection process more and to build collections based on use, not simply size. And of course, there is a large number of factors that play into serial selection. The importance of user needs as a factor of that decision making process is, of course, up to the individual library. I would hope it is consistent with their mission. Buddy Pennington Acquisitions/Serials Librarian Rockhurst University Greenlease Library buddy.pennington@rockhurst.edu #816-501-4143 <buddy.pennington@ROCKHURST.EDU> (2)---------------------------- Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2000 12:55:21 -0600 From: Peter Picerno <ppicerno@CHOCTAW.ASTATE.EDU> Subject: Re: Selection of journals (was Re: free magazines) Hear, Hear!! P Picerno Sara Tusa wrote: > I was just about glad that this discussion was winding down until I saw > two librarians comment that they did not presume to know better than their > patrons/users about what to select for the library. Dang, I wasted a > whole 3-hour credit (graduate-level) on a Collection Development course if > I don't have some kind of concept, and a more informed perspective than > our students, when it comes to journal selection. If you have plenty of > shelving space and a large enough serials budget to support the ongoing > subscription of popular magazines, then by all means, keep the freebies > and pick up the tab for next year. Some of us have to be more selective. > I can't see going with popular demand when we are having to cancel > academic/research journals in order to be able to keep buying at least a > nominal number of monographs, but if others have the budget for it, and > someone isn't having to use Interlibrary Loan for his term paper while > another student is enjoying the current issue of YM, then someone needs to > scrutinize his/her priorities in serials collection development. This > argument does not apply so much to public libraries, of course. I don't > presume to tell a public library how to select their material. > > Just my two-cents worth. > Sarah Tusa, Serials Acquisitions Librarian > Lamar University > Beaumont, TX > <TUSA@ALMARK.LAMAR.EDU>