Collection Development

Evaluation and Acquisition

Habib.ur.Rehman
Chief Librarian
University of Peshawar
0333-9193295
habib.uop@gmail.com
 Selection Process
The Selection Process is a four-step process:
1. Identification of the relevant
2. Evaluation (is the item worthy of selection?)
3. Decision to Purchase
4. Order preparation
 Identifying the relevant:
Selection Tools and Resources
•Bibliographies and lists
•Reviews
•Publisher announcements
•Review or approval copies at librarians conferences
•Book fairs and bookstores
•Web-based tools
•In-house information (ILL Requests)
 Evaluation and Assessment
Evaluation and assessment assist the collections
librarian in deciding if the title should be added.
In practice, evaluation and assessment generally
occur simultaneously.
Evaluation:
Evaluation criteria vary from item to item and
between categories of materials,
but generally they include several of the
following considerations:
 Evaluation …
• content or subject
• language
• currency
• veracity
• writing style (e.g., well written, easy to read, aesthetic aspects)
• completeness and scope of treatment
• reputation, credentials, or authoritativeness of author, publisher, editor,
reviewers
• geographic coverage
• quality of scholarship
• frequency the title is referenced in bibliographies or citations
• reader or user level to which content is directed
 Evaluation …
• comprehensiveness and breadth
• frequency of updates or revisions
• access points (e.g., indexes, level of detail in the table of contents)
• ease of use
• external resources that index the publication
• physical quality (e.g., illustrations, paper and binding, format,
typography,
durability, visual and audio characteristics)
• uniqueness of content, capabilities, or features
• availability of equipment required for hearing or viewing audiovisual
material
• cost in relation to quality of the item
 Evaluation …e-resources
The nature of e-resources suggests additional criteria for consideration.
These include:
• Licensing and contractual terms, limitations, and obligations
• Special pricing considerations, including discounts for retaining or
canceling paper subscriptions, restrictions on cancellations, and discounts
for consortial purchase
• Completeness (if the e-version of a print resource, is the same content
provided?)
• Currency (the speed with which e-content is added or updated)
• Ability to select and deselect individual titles or other content subsets, if
offering is a package deal offered by an aggregator or publisher.
 Evaluation …e-resources
• local service implications
• compatibility with link resolvers, bibliographic and citation
management software, and course management software
• quality of end-user interface
• support for information transfer (output options)
• availability of data to measure use and effectiveness.
• response time
• vendor support and responsiveness
• availability of back files for genres such as e-journals
• publisher preservation arrangements
• permission to access purchased content if a subscription is canceled