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Try To Be Complete On Something: Tips On Building A Highly Specialized Subject Collection, Tim Bottorff

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Wise and careful selection of materials remains among the most important and enduring duties of the librarian. However, once one moves beyond general principles learned in library school, one quickly learns that real collection development is difficult and time-consuming. This is especially true in a specialized subject library, where traditional collection development methods do not always yield good results. The author discusses experience in developing a specialized collection in hospitality management materials, but the tips in this article will appeal to a wide variety of librarians seeking to build a specialized, subject-specific collection.