Fiction Acquisition/Fiction Management contains a mix of interesting and informative articles that the title of the book misrepresents. The seven articles are: ‘‘Fiction acquisition/fiction management: education and training′′, ‘‘Providing the fiction your patrons want: managing fiction in medium‐sized public library′′, ‘‘Using local marketing characteristics to customize the conspectus for fiction assessment′′, ‘‘Options for fiction provision in academic libraries: book lease plans′′, ‘‘Humanities collection libraries talk about their work′′, ‘‘Censored, forbidden, and underground Czech novelists: a selective review′′ and ‘‘De(construction) of literary theory: the rise of anti‐theory fiction′′. The lack of an introduction to this book makes readers feel lost in understanding the reasons why these articles are selected.
The first article describes the current situation in libraries regarding fiction acquisition and management or lack of these, particularly in small and medium‐sized public libraries. In public libraries librarians serve as readers′ advisers; however, they receive no training and have no background to fulfil this responsibility effectively. The writer (also editor of the book) advocates some means to provide for this kind of training and professional continuing education. If this first article serves as an introduction, it falls short of introducing the readers to what to expect in the following articles and the reasons behind their selection. As a result, one feels confused and does not see a connection between the last three articles and the general topic of the book.
Twentieth‐century Czech writers have produced an impressive quantity of avant‐garde work, especially in light of repression by successive Communist regimes. The article introduces the cultural background, accompanied by reviews of major Czech novelists and their works. While this article is helpful for collection development librarians, one must question why Czech literature is singled out, while Latin American literature, or literature from other countries such as China, which have achieved similar recognition and popularity, is ignored. The last article is particularly interesting. It focuses on the rise of a new genre and includes annotated reviews of some titles representing the genre. Other articles are more directly related to fiction acquisition and collection management, covering both academic and public libraries′ experiences, techniques and methodologies. A number of realistic questions and issues, such as budget, selection techniques, space and organisation, are discussed. However, one is lost once again in reading about humanities librarians′ daily routine and work responsibilities, which says little about the topic of the volume.
I would like to see more bibliographic essays on subjects related to fiction and a better introduction to tie the articles together. The mixture of these articles, however, produces an interesting book. Libraries concerned with developing quality popular fiction and literature collections will find it helpful. The articles in this collection are all well‐written, and many are useful for collection development and management.
