For over a decade, some academic libraries have been purchasing, rather than borrowing, recently published books requested by their patrons through interlibrary loan. These books had one circulation guaranteed and so appealed to librarians who were concerned about the large percentage of books selected and purchased by librarians but never checked out by their patrons. Early assessments of the projects indicated that patrons selected quality books that in many cases were cross disciplinary and covered emerging areas of scholarly interest. However, now we have a significant database of the ILL purchase records to compare these titles with books selected through normal methods. The projects described in this book present a powerful argument for involving patrons in the book selection process. This book looks at patron-driven acquisitions for printed books at Purdue University, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Illinois, as well as exploring new programs that allow patrons to select e-books or participate in other innovative ways in building the library collections. This book was published as a special issue of Collection Management.

From Pierre de Fermat to Samuel Taylor Coleridge to Graham Greene, readers have related to books through the notes they write in the margins. In this pioneering book--the first to examine the phenomenon of marginalia--H.J. Jackson surveys an extraordinary range of annotated books to explore the history of marginalia, the forms they take, the psychology that underlies them, and the reactions they provoke. Based on a study of thousands of books annotated by readers both famous and obscure over the last three centuries, this book reveals the intensity of emotion that characterizes the process of reading. For hundreds of years, readers have talked to other people in the margins of their books--not only to authors, but also to friends, lovers, and future generations. With an infectious enthusiasm for her subject, Jackson reflects on the cultural and historical value of writing in the margins, examines works that have invited passionate annotation, and presents examples of some of the most provocative marginalia. Imaginative, amusing, and poignant, this book will be treasured by--and maybe even annotated by--anyone who cares about reading.

While a reconstruction of the whole of William James’s personal library isn’t feasible, there are significant portions of it that reside within the Harvard University Library system and this book is a partial reconstruction of their story. Reconstructing the Personal Library of William James offers a new, comprehensive account of the James collection at Harvard University, bringing together all known Harvard-owned entries into one comprehensive volume. The annotated bibliography contains data on 2,554 entries (2,862 volumes) from James’s personal library, including both the 1923 “Philosophical Library” and all known additional donations by James and his family. . Each entry, when applicable, contains the following data points: Harvard Library location and call number, provenance, bookplate, accession record, autographs, inscriptions, ownership marks, indexical annotations, markings, and marginalia. To orient the reader, Ermine L. Algaier IV supplements the bibliography with essays that examine the history of the James’s library at Harvard, assess the size of the collection and how it came to reside at Harvard, and showcase patterns that emerge from looking at the collection as a whole. Additional essays are devoted to explaining the source lists and archival resources used in reconstructing James’s personal library, as well as outlining steps for continued research on the collection.

How can you, as an acquisition librarians, keep current on the output of hundreds of publishers? The answer, of course, is that you cannot. For over 30 years, approval plans have been used by librarians to acquire current titles, save staff time, and build core collections. Even today, these reasons seem appropriate, as libraries try to maintain up-to-date collections and control personnel and operating budgets. However, as shown in Approval Plans: Issues and Innovations, the use of approval plans is not so simple and straightforward; their use is subject to complex procedures and policies--and even politics. This book presents research by librarians from academic libraries and professionals from approval vendors to give you necessary insight on the major approval plan issues and to show you some of the innovative approaches to solving the problems associated with approval plans. Unfortunately, approval plans are not as simple as creating a “needs” profile and receiving the books that match that profile from an approval vendor. Problems and questions invariably arise. If you are in acquisitions and collection development or administration, it is particularly important that you explore the following questions posed in Approval Plans: What mechanisms can reduce receipt of duplicate titles? Do vendors see small college libraries as a viable market? What role does technology play in improving approval plans? What level of returns is acceptable? Do the hidden operational costs of approval plans offset their benefits? Approval Plans is full of useful information that will show you how to save time and money, improve collections, and utilize new technology. The book discusses such key issues as: the benefits of approval plans to public service vs. the costs to technical service; the call for refined profiles to help keep return rates low; proper management in key areas such as profile development, quality control, and plan maintenance; approval plan overlap; and vendor responsibilities. Innovations covered include: the call for introduction of approval plans to small college libraries; the possibility of “outsourcing” technical service functions with vendor-supplied cataloging and end-processing; the use of online services, World Wide Web, and the Internet to improve communication between vendors, publishers, and libraries; and a list of criteria to be considered when selecting an automated acquisitions system. Approval Plans is especially useful and timely as libraries are considering the best ways for acquiring books during an era of declining materials budgets. This collection also has special importance, in a broader sense, to the many changes that are occurring in academic libraries today.

DNA sequencing has become increasingly efficient over the years, resulting in an enormous increase in the amount of data gener ated. In recent years, the focus of sequencing has shifted, from being the endpoint of a project, to being a starting point. This is especially true for such major initiatives as the human genome project, where vast tracts of DNA of unknown function are sequenced. This sheer volume of available data makes advanced computer methods essen tial to analysis, and a familiarity with computers and sequence analy sis software a vital requirement for the researcher involved with DNA sequencing. Even for nonsequencers, a familiarity with sequence analysis software can be important. For instance, gene sequences already present in the databases can be extremely useful in the design of cloning and genetic manipulation experiments. This two-part work on Computer Analysis of Sequence Data is designed to be a practical aid to the researcher who uses computers for the acquisition, storage, or analysis of nucleic acid (and/or pro tein) sequences. Each chapter is written such that a competent scien tist with basic computer literacy can carry out the procedure successfully at the first attempt by simply following the detailed prac tical instructions that have been described by the author. A Notes section, which is included at the end of each chapter, provides advice on overcoming the common problems and pitfalls sometimes encoun tered by users of the sequence analysis software.