Collection development in libraries in general and problems of identification, selection and acquisition of reading materials in special libraries including market analysis, assessing the demand and collection development policies in particular are dealt in greater detail in the book. Apart from outright purchase, vendor controlled order plans, membership purchases and other modes of procurement are discussed. Cooperative collection development, resource-sharing, stock revision, retrospective collection development, etc., are also enumerated in the book. Number of issues and problems on each aspect of collection development are identified and discussed. A special feature of the book is that number of case studies are embedded in the text at appropriate places to highlight the problems and possible solutions. Separate and elaborate treatment is given for microforms collection, technical reports and journals. The book takes a holistic look at collection development in special libraries and at the same time logically shows how collection development is related to collection management and evaluation. The case studies pointout many lacuanae in the systems including libraries, users and suppliers. Some suggestions are also putforth to overcome these lacuanae and resultant problems. The book is intended to serve as a useful handbook for library managers, librarians, booksellers, publishers, students and teachers of library and information science.
