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1 Collection Development

Collection development is the process of planning and acquiring a balanced collection of

library material of many formats including books, periodicals, online resources and other
media. Library collection includes:
- the creation of policies to guide material selection
- replacement of worn or lost materials
- removal of materials no longer needed in the collection
- planning for new collection or collection areas
- cooperative decision-making with other libraries or within library
P. Olatunji Olaojo describe that collection development is a planned, continuous, and
cost effective acquisition of quality, relevant materials to meet the needs of users and the
objectives of the library. Collection development is not only growth in volumes and titles
but in the quality of acquired materials in enhancing effective information delivery. It is
only from this perspective that the word "development" could be meaningful in relation
to collection development.

According to Eguavon and Ochai, collection development is a planned, systematic development

of a collection based on the objectives of the library. Elaturoti sees collection development as the
process of assessing the strengths and weaknesses in a collection and then creating a plan to
correct the weakness and maintain the strengths.

Selection is the decision-making aspect of collection development. The decision to order means
attempting to build a well-balanced collection covering most subject equally, whereas, during
difficult economic times, it will only be possible to attend to a few users requests.

Acquisition is the implementation of selection decisions: ordering, receipt, and payment. These
must be done according to a procedure that is guided by the collection development policy. To
correctly distinguish ends from means, examine values as well as capabilities, the dimension and
importance of Readers Services must be known. This is only determinable through the use of a
written collection development policy statement or document. According to Buckland's
argument, all library operations that primarily facilitate the exploitation of the collections and
those directly consumed by the end users of the library have their roots in the collection
development policy.

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Collection development includes activities such as assessing user needs, evaluating the present
collection, determining selection policies, coordinating selection, re-evaluating and storing parts
of the collection, and planning for resource sharing. Thus, collection development is not a single
activity but a group of activities. Acquisitions is usually distinguished from collection
development, and refers do the process of verifying, ordering, and making payments for
materials. There has been a general belief that there is a positive correlation between the
collection size and its performance in terms of patron satisfaction. If a library ceased adding fresh
material to its collection, it would soon have a negative effect on the library's services. Collection
development includes everything that goes into acquiring materials, including selection, ordering,
and payment. It is a chain of events that includes planning, administration, and control. Collection
development serves as a foundation upon which other library services are built.
Factors affecting Collection development
Internal factors
1- Parent organization
2- The purpose of the library
3- The Library user
4- The present collection
5- Available resources
External factors
1- Government policies
2- Economic condition and financial support
3- Laws governing copyright
4- Academic environment
5- Publishing
6- Users habits
7- Public attitude

1.2 Collection development Policy

A collection development policy establishes ground rules for planning, budgeting, selecting, and
acquiring library materials. These documents provide a framework for coordinated collection
development programme throughout the university libraries. In addition, these policies help the
library serve the academic community. They assist bibliographers in making not only routine

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selections, but also approval plan profiles and gift acceptance decisions. With common
terminology and collecting standards, bibliographers can work with greater consistency towards
defined goals. The standard processes to be considered include selection, scope of collecting, and
replacement of missing but useful materials and worn-out materials. Collection development
policies also function as a guide to library resources for faculty, other users, and other libraries by
describing the scope and nature of the collection. As an indication of collection strength and
weakness, they can be useful in resource sharing and cooperative acquisitions. A collection
development policy is a written statement of selection principles and criteria, with guidelines on
the depth of subject coverage, and details such as language, geography, and time period.

A collection development policy is essential for a balanced and robust collection. It specifies the
scope of the collection, authority for selection, criteria for allocation of funds and for selection of
various types of materials, priorities in selection, and criteria for weeding. A collection
development policy looks forward. Library administrators must be aware of potential library
users and their various needs are likely to be. Knowledge of the user population also affects
library organizational structure, the need for special reading materials and accommodations for
particular user groups. The acquisitions librarian makes decisions concerning these questions.
Other library staff also participate in the collection development process, since no individual can
cover all current publications. Expert advice is important in making decisions about the
collection.

For a budget to be successful, it must be directive. It must be based on a plan so that there is value
for the money spent. Money available for collection development is always very limited. The
collection development policy considers the focus of the library, the clientele, and the
organization it serves. The reverse is the case where an acquisition is at the mercy of the
institutional director, or the founder, in the case of a private institution. In order for the collection
development librarian to defend expenditures for library materials, there must be a guide to assist
his decision making process. Human and material resources must not be wasted; hence, the
collection development policy also serves as a training manual for new library staff.

Ifidon opines that a focused, positive, and consistent collection development strategy is a
necessity for any meaningful library development. Librarians engaged in selection must answer
the following questions:

 Who are the library's patrons?

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  Is the library to serve only those who actually come to it today or should the librarian
attempt to provide for all those who may come some day?

The librarian must also ensure that no race, nationality, profession, trade, religion, school of
thought, or local customer is overlooked during selection. The collection is built according to the
policy, and patrons demands must also be considered.

Materials should meet high standards of quality in content, expression, and format. On the other
hand, the selector should not hesitate to acquire a mediocre book that will be read in preference to
a superior book that will not be read. The quality of materials must be related to the other two
basic standards of selection, which are purpose and need. The library performs a variety of roles,
which in turn demands a variety of materials.

According to the American Library Association (ALA) standard as discussed by Carter (1974),
three elements are very important in a collection development policy. They are general overview,
which is the introduction and general collection; detailed analysis of subject collections; and a
miscellaneous section. These form the basis of the discussions below.

Element one, the general overview, gives an introduction to the policy and also a description of
the community the library serves. This section introduces the library collection development
efforts and defines and explains the operations covered by the policy. Topics to be covered
include purpose of the policy, its intended audience, a description of the institution and its
clientele, and an overview of how the collection has developed. Also included are details on the
types of program or patron needs are to be met by the collection. Likewise, the general limitations
and priorities of the collection should be included in the policy.

Secondly, a detailed subject analysis of the collection is essential. The types of materials and
classes of users are included. Five levels of collecting are specified: general coverage,
instructional/working collection level, research level, and comprehensive level.

The policy should specify who is responsible for selection. It could be combination of users and
librarians. Methods of selection, treatment of gifts and donations, weeding and collection
assessment are also included.

Ikem (1995) opines that collection development policy is the vehicle through which the
library achieves the goals of its readers' services. Proper budgeting (in line with the

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collection development policy) and its careful operation are vital to the success of library
services activities. It should be used as a planning and monitoring instrument. Just as no
group of activities can succeed without proper planning, so also the activities of meeting
users needs cannot succeed without proper policies and monitoring.

He further states that "for purpose of progress and development, the performance of
library activities should be evaluated over certain periods, strengths, and weaknesses in
services, which can be used as basis for actions and future plans." Power (1943) observes
that, "one of the most meaningful ways to judge the quality and effectiveness of a
library's services is to measure how well it is meeting the needs of the users. If the users
needs are mostly not met, then the library acquisition policy needs to be re-appraised and
modified. The policy must at all time be scientifically managed if the library is to fulfill
its mission." For any collection development policy to be acceptable it must reflect six
basic elements identified by Tamuno (1995) as reported by Ikem (1995). They are
philosophy, needs assessment, goals and objectives, implementation, administrative
control, and evaluation.

Among other things, a policy statement can do the following:

• Help achieve a unified view of what areas of the collection should be developed

• Help develop coordination among individuals responsible for the collection

• Help achieve a consistency in the collection

• Help reduce the number of ad hoc decisions that have to be made regarding the

collection; and

• Help avoid confusion in the minds of selectors and patrons as to what the

collection is and is not.

Publishing Industry

Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information — the

activity of making information available to the general public. In some cases, authors may be their

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own publishers, meaning: originators and developers of content also provide media to deliver and
display the content for the same.

Traditionally, the term refers to the distribution of printed works such as books (the "book trade")
and newspapers. With the advent of digital information systems and the Internet, the scope of
publishing has expanded to include electronic resources, such as the electronic versions of books
and periodicals, as well as micropublishing, websites, blogs, video game publishers and the like.

Publishing includes the stages of the development, acquisition, copyediting, graphic design,
production – printing (and its electronic equivalents), and marketing and distribution of
newspapers, magazines, books, literary works, musical works, software and other works dealing
with information, including the electronic media.

Publishing is made up of many different sectors:

 Books;
 Journals (including electronic journals);
 Newspapers;
 News agencies;
 Magazines and business media;
 Directories and mailing lists;
 Other information services.

Sub-Division of publishing industry

Newspaper publishing
Newspapers are regularly scheduled publications that present recent news, typically on a
type of inexpensive paper called newsprint. Most newspapers are primarily sold
to subscribers, through retail news stands or are distributed as advertising-supported free
newspapers. About one-third of publishers in the United States are newspaper publishers.
Periodical publishing
Nominally, periodical publishing involves publications that appear in a new edition on a
regular schedule. Newspapers and magazines are both periodicals, but within the
industry, the periodical publishing is frequently considered a separate branch that
includes magazines and even academic journals, but not newspapers. About one-third of
publishers in the United States publish periodicals (not including newspapers).
Book publishing
Book publishers represent less than a sixth of the publishers in the United States. Most
books are published by a small number of very large book publishers, but thousands of
smaller book publishers exist. Many small- and medium-sized book publishers specialize

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in a specific area. Additionally, thousands of authors have created their own publishing
companies, and self-published their own works.

Within the book publishing industry, the publisher of record for a book is the entity in
whose name the book's ISBN is registered. The publisher of record may or may not be
the actual publisher.
Directory publishing
Directory publishing is a specialized agency within the publishing industry. These
publishers produce mailing lists, telephone books, and other types of directories. With the
advent of the Internet, many of these directories are now online.
Academic publishing
Academic publishers are typically either book or periodical publishers that have
specialized in academic subjects. Some, like university presses, are owned by scholarly
institutions. Others are commercial businesses that focus on academic subjects.

The development of the printing press represented a revolution for communicating the
latest hypotheses and research results to the academic community and supplemented what
a scholar could do personally. But this improvement in the efficiency of communication
created a challenge for libraries, which have had to accommodate the weight and volume
of literature.

One of the key functions that academic publishers provide is to manage the process
of peer review. Their role is to facilitate the impartial assessment of research and this
vital role is not one that has yet been usurped, even with the advent of social networking
and online document sharing.

Today, publishing academic journals and textbooks is a large part of an international

industry. Critics claim that standardized accounting and profit-oriented policies have
displaced the publishing ideal of providing access to all. In contrast to the commercial
model, there is non-profit publishing, where the publishing organization is either
organized specifically for the purpose of publishing, such as a university press, or is one
of the functions of an organization such as a medical charity, founded to achieve specific
practical goals. An alternative approach to the corporate model is open access, the online
distribution of individual articles and academic journals without charge to readers and
libraries. The pioneers of Open Access journals are BioMed Central and the Public
Library of Science (PLoS). Many commercial publishers are experimenting with hybrid

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models where older articles or government funded articles are made free, and newer
articles are available as part of a subscription or individual article purchase.
Tie-in publishing
Technically, radio, television, cinemas, VCDs and DVDs, music systems, games,
computer hardware and mobile telephony publish information to their audiences. Indeed,
the marketing of a major film often includes a novelization, a graphic novel or comic
version, the soundtrack album, a game, model, toys and endless promotional publications.
Independent publishing alternatives
Writers in a specialized field or with a narrower appeal have found smaller alternatives to
the mass market in the form of small presses and self-publishing. More recently, these
options include print on demand and e-book format. These publishing alternatives
provide an avenue for authors who believe that mainstream publishing will not meet their
needs or who are in a position to make more money from direct sales than they could
from bookstore sales, such as popular speakers who sell books after speeches. Authors
are more readily published by this means due to the much lower costs involved.
Recent developments
The 21st century has brought a number of new technological changes to the publishing
industry. These changes include e-books, print on demand and accessible publishing. E-
books have been quickly growing in availability In major publishing markets such as the
USA and UK since 2005. Google, Amazon.com and Sony have been leaders in working
with publishers and libraries to digitize books. As of early 2011 Amazon's Kindle reading
device is a significant force in the market, along with the Apple iPad and
the Nook from Barnes & Noble.

The ability to quickly and cost effectively Print on Demand has meant that publishers no
longer have to store books at warehouses, if the book is in low or unknown demand. This
is a huge advantage to small publishers who can now operate without large overheads and
large publishers who can now cost effectively sell their blacklisted items.

Accessible publishing uses the digitization of books to mark up books into XML and then
produces multiple formats from this to sell to consumers, often targeting those with
difficulty reading. Formats include a variety larger print sizes, specialized print formats
for dyslexia eye tracking problems and macular degeneration, as well
as Braille, DAISY, Audio-books and e-books.

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Green publishing means adapting the publishing process to minimize environmental
impact. One example of this is the concept of on demand printing, using digital or print-
on-demand technology. This cuts down the need to ship books since they are
manufactured close to the customer on a just-in-time basis.

A further development is the growth of on-line publishing where no physical books are
produced. The e-book is created by the author and uploaded to a website from where it
can be downloaded and read by anyone.