With a very specific approach to the learner‐centered library in a school setting, this work bases its analytical approach to collection development on SWOT analysis, analysis charts that are filled out as examples for each stage in the process of analyzing collection problems and blank forms for the use of its readers. The whole of the text is organized around a set of national guidelines entitled Information Power: Building Partnerships of Learning (American Association of School Librarians and Association for Educational Communications and Technology, 1998). While this document might seem a little dated, it is still in use. The guide is heavily oriented towards practice in the field of collection development, and cognizant of the kinds of budget constraints which are all too common in many kinds of libraries across the nation. It is intended to help librarians target their spending to the kinds of learners who make up their specific constituencies.
Organized in three parts, the core of the work (72 pages) is Part 2, Strategies for Learner‐Centered Collection Management, a set of six targeted chapters where the 11 analytical tools which make up Part 3 (Tools for Learner‐Centered Collection Management) are demonstrated in the context of problem‐examples. Part 1 provides a simple articulation of the theoretical basis for this approach to collection development, with a short bibliography for further reading. SWOT analysis is very popular in library circles currently, but is not immediately transparent, so the provision of tools designed around common collection development problems in schools is very timely. The work thus teaches its methodology by example and anecdote. It is also clear that this work has a very well‐defined audience with little application outside the school media center in a K‐12 setting, and the price seems a bit high for the content.
