Abstract
The paperless society is rapidly approaching, whether we like it or not. We cannot bury our heads in the sand. We may choose to ignore the electronic world, but this will not make it go away… If we do not plan now for the years ahead, we may find that transition to be one of disruption and chaos rather than one of ordered evolutionary progress. (Lancaster, 1978: 166)
Lancaster reminds us that the need for managing change and adaptation to new circumstances is a story that libraries and librarians have relentlessly experienced, especially in recent decades within which we have constantly witnessed the penetration of emerging ICTs into library work. Now, as Lancaster (1999: 50) declares: ‘technology alone will not improve the perceived value of our services to users. We need to reduce our preoccupation with technology and increase our concern for library users as individuals with individual needs’. Library and Information Science (LIS) professionals understand that they are shouldering increasingly heavy responsibilities and thus libraries do try to keep up with the developments and cope with multidimensional conditions to meet different information needs of various users – whether accustomed to print collections or interested in the e-world – via making a balanced or hybrid collection in which co-existence and co-location of print and electronic resources are dominant.
Compiling and publishing the book Fundamentals of Managing Reference Collections as an endeavor focusing on one of the main pillars of library services is a good proof of the above claim. Underscoring that in many ways this is a difficult time to manage a reference collection (p. ix), the aim of this nine-chapter book is to provide those who are responsible for managing (designing, organizing, and maintaining) reference collections dealing with both tangible and virtual sources with the knowledge and tools to perform this job efficiently and effectively.
In Chapter 1, ‘Reference collection fundamentals’, Singer, providing several definitions for a reference collection, concludes that reference materials are now commonly considered to include both paper and electronic resources. Some issues about defining the boundaries of a print reference collection and an online reference collection are also examined. As its name suggests, Chapter 2, ‘Reference collection development policies’, aims to bridge, or to be exact, diminish one of the voids commonly seen in the management of most libraries – the little attention paid to a written reference development policy in theory and practice. In fact, the author provides readers with the nuts and bolts of a successful as well as comprehensive collection development policy with an emphasis on the reference collection. Chapter 3, ‘Staffing models for reference collection management’, briefly discusses centralized and decentralized staffing models and highlights their advantages and disadvantages. Besides recruiting specialized staff and managing their skills and competences, familiarity with staffing models can enhance organizational success in reference collections through the better performance of human resources who may be aware of the opportunities to build capability.
Since selecting the highest-quality appropriate reference materials for a collection is one of the most important functions of managing a reference collection, Chapter 4, ‘Selecting reference materials’, helps responsible librarians select much more desirable online and print resources with an evaluative view. Chapter 5, ‘Acquisitions, budgets, and licenses’, revolves around considerations concerning budgeting, ordering or acquiring selected materials in a manner that a reference collection manager can work effectively within the procedures of the library. Observing and following what has been included in Chapter 6, ‘Collection maintenance’, and Chapter7, ‘Weeding the reference collection’, may guarantee the success and dynamism of any modern reference collection.
In my opinion, through Chapters 2 to 7, Singer, taking a whole-to-part approach, considers the necessary components of building an effective reference collection (policies as guiding resources, human resources, information resources, financial resources, etc.). Yet, since different aspects of LIS, (like information resources and end-users and their expectations) are growing organisms, she places a high importance on the development of the collection gradually built. Accordingly, Chapter 8, ‘Reference collection development and consortia’, tries to respond to such a requirement in an empowering, cost-effective, and synergic way, through membership of library consortia. Because librarians have long struggled to find ways to ensure that the expensive reference resources they acquire can be found and used by their users, Chapter 9 entitled ‘Discovery and access’ shows how print reference resources, electronic reference resources, individual databases, and individual titles within a larger database can be discovered and utilized. The book ends with an all-inclusive Appendix, ‘Reference collection development policy template’, which as a roadmap or even a draft can contribute to realizing better reference collections based on a knowledge-centered holism and futurism.
Regardless of many strong points of the work, I think that it would have benefited from an independent chapter in which some possible notes regarding user education programs as well as information literacy instruction could have been included. Altogether however, such an interesting and easy-to-read book is a step towards the realization of Deming’s (n.d.) motto, i.e. ‘It’s not enough to do your best, you must know how to do your best’ in the context of LIS (libraries, managers, librarians, professors, and students) and particularly reference collections. This logically ordered guide, rooted in the knowledge and experience of Carol A Singer as a reference and instruction librarian at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, is of value for a variety of audiences, including library managers, reference librarians, students, professors, and researchers.