With the publication of this title Facet Publishing, formerly Library Association Publishing, has a solid set of titles that address the issues of creating library collections for end users (Spiller’s Providing Materials for Library Users, 2000, Chapman’s Acquisitions in Library and Information Services, 2001). Clayton and Gorman are eminently qualified to produce an excellent book on the subject of collection management based on their experience and research activities. They have indeed achieved such a work. There is a three‐fold intended audience for this book:
- 1.
(1) For those who need exposure to a basic component of information service (lack of teaching of collection management, or at least not a required element in a degree programme).
- 2.
(2) For those whose background may have become somewhat dated.
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(3) For those who know they need more knowledge about the digital side of collection management.
In ten chapters they cover all of the key areas of collection management. They begin with a discussion of the environment and set the pattern for the remaining chapters. That pattern is a discussion of issues related to the chapter’s topic with the inclusion of at least one case study followed by a summary section and some questions for the reader to consider. Each chapter also has a short section of suggested further readings. (Note: Adela Clayton prepared a 48‐page annotated bibliography of collection management literature organised around the book’s chapters thus greatly expanding the reader’s opportunity to explore a topic in greater depth.) Chapter topics are policies, conspectus, resource sharing/co‐operative collection development, selection policies and procedures, selection resources, acquisition processes and procedures, budget management, collection evaluation and preservation and weeding.
As would be expected there is an emphasis on UK, Australian, New Zealand practices and issues; however, there is a substantial amount of material that is US based. Thus it can be useful in educational settings around the English speaking world. From a US point‐of‐view there is probably too little coverage of legal issues such as censorship and copyright. There is a strong emphasis on digital issues which are becoming ever more dominant in collection management activities. With any book of this length a reviewer can find something to question or suggest more details that could have been provided and this book is no exception. Perhaps the most surprising missing piece is a discussion of the challenge of “embargoed” journals in digital databases. (More and more publishers of journals are requiring a time delay between print publication and when it will be available in a digital full‐text format. The typical delay is between three and six months. Perhaps this is only a growing problem in US full‐text databases but if not it is a topic that was a growing concern by 2001.) However, nit‐picking tends to be just that and in this case such activity can/could not detract from the fact this is a well conceived and executed book that should and hopefully will be widely read and used.
