3. Stock Selection

The materials (books, records, information materials) we have in our libraries and lend are the basis of our services; they are our response to the needs of our users and communities and, by stocking them, a library service implicitly validates or condones their content or message. Yet far too little attention is paid to the principles and skills of stock selection. It is rarely taught in depth in library school courses; few library authorities have agreed principles or criteria for selection; nor are new librarians taught how to select materials on any agreed basis. It has always been a mystery to me why this should be so, and I now believe that it is a refusal by many librarians to recognise that it is valid to look at the content of books and other materials and to consider their message and what the author (I use the word in its broadest sense) is trying to convey. For of course books and other media do have a message: by the very process of choosing information, expounding views, arranging information in a certain way and so on the author is hoping to convey something to the reader. And it is up to us, as intermediaries in that process, to look at the content of books and other materials as part of our stock selection. In this article I want to look at stock selection as it relates to women. What are materials saying about women, and what are we offering our users? I'll begin by looking at how books are published and how libraries acquire them, and some problems and issues inherent in that process.