Customer-Based Collection Development: An Overview

This traditional "tod down" approach to collection development definitely has its drawbacks; even after spending a good deal of time, energy, and resources, librarians are sometimes frustrated to find that their library's collection is not being used as they anticipated. Bur there'a another strategy that's gaining momentum. This book gathers together the best practitioners in the emerging field of customer-based=collection developmemt, whose goal is to find out what library users need and want and manage collections accordingly. Speaking from firsthand experience, professionals from a variety of academic and public libraries *Offer strategies for planning and implementing a customer-based collection program *Summarize its potential impact on a library's budget *Discuss cataloging implications, and other day-to-day operational issues *Present guidelines for evaluating and marketing Customer-based collection development is one way for libraries to navigate the rapid changes in what users expect of libraries, and this new anthology is an important guide to this approach.

KARL BRIDGES is Associate Professor of Information and Instruction Services at the Bailey/Howe Library at the University of Vermont.