Public Library Collection Development in the Information Age.Edited by Annabel K. Stephens.New York: Haworth Press, 1998. 211 pp. $54.95 hardcover. ISBN 078900528X (also published asThe Acquisitions Librarian, no. 20)

These 16 essays fill a gap in the professional literature. Most of the literature on collectiondevelopment and management in the last 20 years has focused on academic and research libraries.Few edited collections addressing aspects of collection development and management in publiclibraries have been published.Collection Management in Public Libraries: Proceedings of aPre-conference to the 1984 ALA Annual Conference,edited by Judith Serebrick, was published bythe American Library Association in 1986. Since then, scattered (and rare) individual articles haveappeared, but nothing that draws together the thinking of scholars and practitioners.

Three contributors (Jeanne Thorsen, Annabel Stephens, and Betty Waznis) to this volumeexamine public library planning and budgeting. Thorsen looks at assessing the library’s commu-nity. Stephens looks at the impact on 255 libraries of the planning process introduced by the PublicLibrary Association in 1980. Waznis describes materials budget allocation methods at the SanDiego County Library. Catherine Gibson and Lauren Lee consider centralized selection andvendor-assisted selection, respectively. Burns Davis’ essay explores application of the WLNConspectus in small public libraries. Joy Greiner, Patricia Guarnino, Nancy Milnor, S. K. Hastings,and Ellen Poisson look at collection management and development aspects of new technologies andelectronic information resources.

Three authors examine developing collections for diverse, and often under-served, populations.John Christenson offers a resource list for rural and small town libraries. Cal Gough and EllenGreenblatt have written another important contribution to their work on selecting and providingservices for gay and lesbian patrons. Dana Watson reviews traditional strategies for locating andevaluating multi-cultural children’s literature. The final two papers, by Vicki Gregory and VictoriaElliott, analyze education and post-degree training for collection development in an increasinglydigital age.

Several of these papers report on experiences in specific public libraries, including a look atthree libraries in Britain. Stephens reports on a research study. Although sometimes interesting,practitioners seldom find these types of articles directly applicable. The most valuable piecesprovide information that can improve day-to-day collection development and management. Thiscollection does contain immediately useful resources—the papers by Hastings, Christenson, Goughand Greenblatt, and Watson, which provide a rationale and then suggest tools for broadening andenriching collections in various ways. This volume is strongly recommended as a practical tool forpublic librarians and also is of value to library and information science students. Its price ($54.95)may, however, mitigate against individual purchase.

PII: S1464-9055(99)00076-7 Peggy JohnsonAssistant University Librarian

University of Minnesota LibrariesMinneapolis MN 55455

E-mail: m-john@tc.umn.edu

506 The Review Section