"Library collection development is the process of systematically building the collection of a particular library to meet the information needs of the library users..."
Defining collection development in library and museum studies.
Collection Development: This refers to the process of acquiring, maintaining, and evaluating materials in a library/museum's collections. This involves making decisions about what items to purchase, how many, and what formats to choose.
Collection Analysis: This involves evaluating a library/museum's collection to determine its strengths and weaknesses. This can include looking at collection size, age, format, subject areas, and use statistics.
Collection Management Policy: This is a written statement that guides a library/museum's collection development and management practices. It includes information on selection criteria, budget allocation, weeding policies, and more.
Selection Criteria: This refers to the standards or guidelines that a library/museum uses to select new items for its collections. These criteria may vary depending on the institution's mission, audience, and budget.
Budgeting for Collections: This involves setting aside funds to support the acquisition and maintenance of a library/museum's collections. This may include funding for new purchases, preservation, storage, and staffing.
Collection Assessment and Evaluation: This involves examining a library/museum's collection to determine how well it meets the needs of its users. This may include analyzing usage statistics, conducting surveys, and soliciting feedback from patrons.
Collection Maintenance: This involves ensuring that a library/museum's collections are properly cared for and preserved. This can include activities such as shelving, inventory, cleaning, and repairing damaged items.
Collection Weeding: This involves removing outdated, damaged, or redundant materials from a library/museum's collections. This can help free up space, improve the relevance of the collection, and make room for new acquisitions.
Special Collections: These are materials that are rare, valuable, or unique and require special care and management. Examples may include rare books, manuscripts, artwork, and artifacts.
Digital Collections: These are collections of materials that are stored and accessed digitally, such as e-books, online journals, and digital archives. These collections may have unique management and preservation needs.
Donations and Gift Policy: This policy outlines how donations and gifts to a library/museum's collections are accepted and managed. This may include guidelines for selecting and processing donated materials, as well as acknowledging and recognizing donors.
Intellectual Freedom and Collection Development: This refers to the principles that guide a library/museum's collection development practices. This includes the right of patrons to access information without censorship, as well as the ethical considerations involved in selecting and managing collections.
Traditional Collection Development: A process of gathering and selecting materials based on predetermined selection criteria and budget specifications, aiming to create a balanced collection that meets the needs of the library's or museum's users.
Demand-driven Collection Development: An approach in which materials are purchased or acquired based on user requests or suggestions, rather than being pre-selected by librarians or curators.
Collection Management: An ongoing process of maintaining and stewarding a library's or museum's collections, including organizing, preserving, and weeding out outdated, irrelevant, or damaged items.
Subject-specific Collection Development: A strategy that focuses on building collections within certain subject areas, such as art history, sociology, or engineering.
Open Access Collection Development: An approach that prioritizes the availability of free or low-cost materials, including digital resources, online journals, and public domain books.
Collection Development for Special Collections and Archives: A process of acquiring, preserving, and providing access to rare books, manuscripts, artifacts, and other items of historical or cultural significance.
Collection Development for Digital Resources: A strategy that emphasizes the acquisition and management of digital materials, such as e-books, databases, and online journals, in order to meet the changing information needs of library or museum users.
Collection Development for Outreach and Engagement: An approach that emphasizes the acquisition of materials and resources that support community outreach and engagement, such as books for children and families, programs for underrepresented groups, and resources for lifelong learning.
Collection Development for Curriculum Support: A process of acquiring and maintaining materials that support the academic curriculum and learning outcomes of specific educational programs and courses.
Collection Development for Emerging Fields: A strategy that focuses on building collections that support new and emerging fields of study, research, and scholarship, such as artificial intelligence, data science, and sustainability.
"...to meet the information needs of the library users (a service population) in a timely and economical manner..."
"According to the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA)..."
"...methodological and topical themes pertaining to acquisition of print and other analogue library materials..." and "...the licensing and purchase of electronic information resources."
"Collection development involves activities that need a librarian or information professional who is specialized in improving the library's collection."
"The process includes the selection of information materials that respond to the users or patrons need..."
"...as well as de-selection of unwanted information materials, called weeding."
"It also involves the planning strategies for continuing acquisition..."
"...evaluation of new information materials and the existing collection..."
"...in order to determine how well a particular library serves its users."
"...using information resources locally held as well as resources from other organizations."
"...by purchase, exchange, gift, legal deposit..."
"A librarian or information professional who is specialized in improving the library's collection."
"...de-selection of unwanted information materials, called weeding."
"...to meet the information needs of the library users..."
"...the licensing and purchase of electronic information resources."
"...selection of information materials that respond to the users or patrons need..."
"...de-selection of unwanted information materials, called weeding."
"...planning strategies for continuing acquisition..."
"...determine how well a particular library serves its users."