The authors recount experiences of the variety of problems and issues involved in providing access to electronic journals in a large academic library. The paper excludes concerns emanating from decisions to subscribe to aggregations such as those produced by vendors like EBSCO, but concentrates on scholarly journals ordered individually, or as…

The purpose of traditional copyright law was to encourage the creation of works based on and to ensure reasonable access to original thought. Despite this harmonious intent, an intrinsic tension exists between libraries and copyright holders, as the former promotes "free" access to information that ultimately reduces the income of the…

Personal Digital Assistant serials are not just a subset of electronic serials from an acquisitions/collection development point of view because of their total dependence on patron-owned technology. Even if viewed as a "free" resource there are issues of expense and effort involved in gathering, classifying, and providing access and awareness of…

Provides a case study of the acquisitions processes that were necessary when Cardiff University's School of Engineering made a decision to subscribe to electronic-only versions of journals where such subscriptions were less expensive than the print equivalent. In doing so, addresses issues of electronic subscriptions management in UK academic…

Libraries and catalogers face choices in the treatment of the growing collections of electronic journals. Policies issued by CONSER and the Library of Congress allow libraries to edit existing print records to accommodate information pertaining to the electronic versions (single record option) or to create new records for them. The discussion…

Developing a library collection is one of the most important pursuits in medical librarianship. A library's collection is its foundation, and the collection is the central information resource upon which most library activities rely. Today's vision of the medical or health sciences collection must incorporate a broader range of materials,…

Public health librarians face many challenges in collection development because the field is multidisciplinary, the collection's users have varied needs, and many of the essential resources are grey literature materials. Further, little has been published about public health selection tools. However, librarians responsible for these areas have a…

The development of the Internet and the online collections accessed by it has created major adjustments in all library functions, including collection management and budgeting. The authors share how two public libraries have come full circle in electronic collection management, beginning with early selection, followed by current weeding programs…

The review and negotiation of license agreements has become a time-consuming but necessary part of the job of providing access to the electronic information resources required by libraries' patrons. The nature of these agreements may pose a number of barriers to the development of fully integrated collections. This article presents a fictitious…

Collection development in the highly specialized area of the United States merchant marine, which includes navigation, marine engineering, shipping, naval architecture and shipbuilding, and seamanship, requires familiarity with the national and international organizations, governmental and other, which regulate and oversee the marine industry.…

This paper discusses techniques for selection of library materials in the subjects of exercise, sport and leisure. Details are shared about utilizing standard review sources, locating subject-specific publishers, searching indexes and abstracts as sources of reviews, and tapping into the work of professional organizations.

This article provides an introduction to the major information resources in the field of economics. The essay evaluates the major selection tools in the area of business and economics, as well as selected core reference titles. The article also includes suggestions for developing and evaluating economics collections, as well as a listing of online…

This construct for collection development as it relates to Native American resources utilizes Thomas Mann's "Library Research Methods" (1993) concepts of the Traditional Model, the Actual-Practice Model, and the Principle of Least Effort to organize recommendations for both strategies and resources. The three-pronged hierarchical approach to…

The conscientious selection of music materials requires an understanding of the needs of the public being served at least as much as it requires subject competence on the part of the selector. Online and print resources are available to aid in the selection of music materials in all formats, the most important of which are books, scores, audio and…

Focusing on academic libraries in North America, this article describes the selection and acquisition of library materials for Chinese Studies from the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. It provides an historical overview of the Chinese book publishing and exporting practice, identifies and evaluates current online and printed…