Collection Development
I had a patron come by today and suggest that Woodward purchase Primary Care: Balancing Health Needs, Services, and Technology by Barbara Starfield. The patron said she is a heavily published author and seemed disappointed that we had only two copies of her book.
I was tempted to quiz her and find out what her academic background was and why she was recommending it, but as I don’t have any say in the purchasing decision it seemed rather presumptuous. I did pass on the information to the librarian who is responsible for primary care. I looked up Starfield’s books we do have and one was published by Oxford University Press, the other by Johns Hopkins, so she would appear to be a reliable author.
This raised the question of how much the health science librarians rely on suggestions from patrons for collection development. Dean and Greg, how many books would you say you purchase a year based on patron recommendation?
I was tempted to quiz her and find out what her academic background was and why she was recommending it, but as I don’t have any say in the purchasing decision it seemed rather presumptuous. I did pass on the information to the librarian who is responsible for primary care. I looked up Starfield’s books we do have and one was published by Oxford University Press, the other by Johns Hopkins, so she would appear to be a reliable author.
This raised the question of how much the health science librarians rely on suggestions from patrons for collection development. Dean and Greg, how many books would you say you purchase a year based on patron recommendation?
posted by InfoLit Librarian at 2:53 p.m.
1 Comments:
D,
I welcome and encourage patrons to suggest titles, be they books, journals or e-resources. Generally, I use the opportunity to find out about the patron, their research and what they do at the hospital.
If it's a patient or consumer, I explain my collection parameters and usually tell them immediately if a) I can afford the title and b) if it fits into the collection parameters.
I wish more recommendations would come my way, frankly
Dean
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