Times have changed and library institutions struggle to maintain relevancy in the Information Age. With the inescapable presence of harnessing technologies for information management and access, the role of the library has increased in importance within academic institutions and public communities. Information Technology and Collection Management for Library User Environments brings into focus the new responsibility libraries have in meeting patron needs, specifically with the use of emerging technologies. Highlighting the concepts of collection management, library space planning, and information technologies; this book is a critical guide for library professionals, para-professionals, as well as researchers who wish to meet the diverse needs of patrons in ever-changing societies.

This book, first published in 1992, equips library managers in all types of libraries to make the administrative changes necessary to deal with new information technologies. Despite financial difficulties due to inflation and declining budgets, electronic/optical information formats and the hardware and software to support them are a reality for many libraries. Libraries are designing and implementing prototypes of the ‘electronic library’ and are introducing new technologies as a growing adjunct to traditional text formats and services. It analyses administrative adjustments to the new technological information culture. Chapters in this resource that deal with issues not easily grasped by non-computing specialists are distilled to basic components, making them easy for busy managers to comprehend and immediately useful to library administrators.

Librarians and other library professionals will find this informative book chock full of thought-provoking papers that will help you find new solutions to the collection development problems your library may experience while facing this new digital age. Collection Development in a Digital Environment is a result of papers presented at the 1998 University of Oklahoma Libraries Conference. You will discover ways to help your library take the lead in advancing the academic agenda through technology while at the same time leaning how technology requires change in the way libraries themselves operate. Collection Development in a Digital Environment explores ethical and technological dilemmas of collection development and gives several suggestions on how your library can successfully deal with these challenges and provide patrons with the information they need.This guide covers many valuable ways that your library can be better prepared for developing a “user friendly” collection of materials in this new digital age. You will discover how methods to shift your library from buying materials for collections for faculty or students that may need them sporadically to a system of responsiveness and customization where “just in time” and “just for you” are the standards of information access, making you and your library both time-effective and cost-effective. Collection Development in a Digital Environment brings to light many ways in which libraries can improve collection development methods, such as: using the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) initiatives to improve global access to information, such as the Global Resources Program, which features a seamless web of interconnected, coordinated, and interdependent research collections that are electronically accessible to users examining discussions on scenario-driven planning and the benefits of having your patrons let you know what they are interested in instead of guessing what materials they may be interested in analyzing the influence of the World Wide Web on the role of libraries to discover how you can use these ideas to expand the collection of materials in your library gaining insight into how the concept of disintermediation in the publishing process will help libraries use the electronic environment to eliminate intermediate sources and collect materials directly from the publisher, thus saving time and moneyFrom the insightful chapters in Collection Development in a Digital Environment, you will find new and successful ways to use the new digital environment to enhance collection development in your library. This unique book will help your library be more digitally accessible while still being user-friendly to your clientele.

In this sweeping revision of a text that has become an authoritative standard, expert instructor and librarian Peggy Johnson addresses the art of controlling and updating library collections, whether located locally or accessed remotely.

Learn to allocate scarce library resources to meet learning, research, and service goals! How can you buy more books and journals with less money, while also installing the latest software and hardware, paying staff to train faculty and students in its use, offering the new round-the-clock information services users demand, and redefining the traditional collection-centered model of the library? It sounds impossible, but these are the conflicting imperatives every collections librarian faces at the dawn of the twenty-first century. Collection Development in the Electronic Environment offers solid, practical advice from the experience of other librarians who have met the same challenges, as well as useful information from vendors. Based on the conference Collection Development in the Electronic Environment: Shifting Priorities, this informative book suggests proven, effective strategies to deal with a librarian's most pressing problems. One case study shows how Iowa State University turned a cutback in journals into a new vision of what the library should be, involving a broad-based committee in the project. Other chapters discuss the specifics of budgeting for the unpredictable pricing of electronic materials, the increased demands on library staff, and the challenges of maintaining dual libraries--the electronic and the paper-based--both facing expensive issues of preservation. Collection Development in the Electronic Environment offers help and advice on the most complex and difficult issues librarians confront: planning changes in library structure, function, and activities building new models for collection development identifying and fulfilling the needs of scholars in various disciplines redefining staff roles and responsibilities setting priorities in journal purchases using electronic innovations to enhance collection development dealing with copyright, fair use, and intellectual property in electronic formats Through case studies and firsthand experiences, Collection Development in the Electronic Environment provides you with the fresh ideas and proven strategies you need to guide your library into the electronic era.

Co-published with Charles Sturt University Centre for Information Studies

The quality of library collections depends heavily on the initial assessment requirements. An accurate assessment assists with meeting the goals and missions of the library, but the introduction of digital media and resources is accompanied with new challenges in measuring the effective use of the library’s collection. The Handbook of Research on Inventive Digital Tools for Collection Management and Development in Modern Libraries details how libraries strive to bridge traditional collections with their new digital counterparts. Providing real-world examples and analysis of the modern library, this publication is a timely reference source for professionals and researchers in the fields of library and information science, as well as executives interested in information and organizational development.

Intended both as a text for a graduate level course in library and information science and for managers of library and related information services, this volume is divided into the following sections: the effects of technology on the institution and its management; the effects of technology on services and users; and special issues in the management of technology. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Intended as a guide to collection management for those librarians responsible for collections, this book offers information on collection development, the implementation of storage and communication technologies, serials, information policy, management and budgetary considerations.