Collection Development

Running head: REFERENCE COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT

Reference Collection Development Proposal:

American History Reference Sources for a Community College Library

Monique Lloyd

Emporia State University

 Collection Development
2

This reference collection proposal is for a small (approximately 5000 students)

community college. Many of the students are recent high school graduates are from

medium-sized cities and have had some library instruction but a sizeable number are

from small town and rural districts and these students have had little or no library or

reference instruction.

Some are non-traditional older students beginning a new career or completing an

interrupted education and balancing school with work and family responsibilities. .There

are only a few distance learning students, but that number is expected grow as distance

learning opportunities increase. There number of international students is negligible.

The selected subject area for the proposal is American History. The college

offers three classes in American History: Colonial and Revolutionary history, the Civil

War and Reconstruction, and History of the United States in the 20th Century. Other

subject areas in which these reference materials may be used include other social

sciences, specifically Political Science and Sociology.

The community college offers a dual-enrollment program with a local state

university. Students taking American history classes may intend pursuing an

undergraduate degree in history or another social science or are fulfilling elective

requirements.

A useful decision tree to aid in selecting reference sources which includes

determining if the material is reference-formatted, frequently used, authoritative, current,

and unique in coverage and asks additional questions including if the item will duplicate
other sources, is used for quick reference, or if theft or mutilation is a concern is provided
Collection Development 3

by Nolan. (Nolan, 1999). Nolan also gives a comprehensive list of general selection

criteria including scope, comprehensiveness, audience, documentation, design, indexing,

bibliography, illustrations, durability, format, and cost as well as provides selection

criteria specific to reference source types. (Nolan, 1999)

Preliminary information gathering includes examining the institution’s reference

collection policy, although according to at least one study, many librarians seldom or

never consider such a policy (Batt, 1984). The same conclusion was reached in a survey

done a few years later with the additional discovery that many reference collections are

too large to be effectively utilized (Biggs, 1987).

Working with the faculty and keeping a log at the reference desk to keep

track of which questions were answered and which were not by the reference sources

were two suggestions made by Luchsinger (1992) to determine which reference sources

to purchase, but another study found that many reference librarians don’t use any

specific criteria but instead examine the work for problems or special features and

consider what sources their libraries already has and the budget they have available

(Stevens, 1986).

Another technique used to determine which reference resources to purchase are to

examine reviews such as those found in Choice or Library Journal. At least one

researcher questioned the validity and usefulness of this tactic, describing these reviews

as often being too positive and vague (Sweetland, 1987).

One effective tool to determine which reference materials to purchase is to

 Collection Development 4

examine the characteristics of the users, the curriculum being offered at present as well as

what may be offered in the future, and consulting with the faculty. Another is to

determine what resources the institution already has in all media including general

shelving, video and audio media, and e-books as well as material available inside the

institution but outside the library such as a multicultural center. It might also be useful to

determine what other resources students may have locally including public libraries and

other university libraries and the efficiency and cost effectiveness of institution’s inter-

library loan system.

An annotated bibliography of six titles suitable for the American History section

for the above-described community college follows. They include an atlas, a statistical

source, an encyclopedia, a dictionary, a bibliography, and an almanac.

Barnes, Ian (2000). The historical atlas of the American Revolution. New York:

Routledge.

This authoritative and outstanding work covers the entire time period of the American

struggle from colonial domination beginning with the French and Indian War up until

1820. It includes maps dealing with the transatlantic struggle over trade as well as those

detailing military campaigns of the American revolutionary war. The renowned United

States historian Charles Royster, contributed a forword . The many visually pleasing

color portraits, illustrations and plates are large, vivid, and clearly identified. Legends

are easy to read and understand. The material is presented chronologically, each chapter
beginning with a well-written overview, which helps provide a cultural context to the

Collection Development 5

geographical information. The additional of biographical sketches adds depth and makes

it a valuable addition to academic libraries.

Carter, Susan B. et al. (2006). Historical statistics of the United States: earliest times to

the present . Millenial edition. Cambridge University Press.

This reference source is available both as a five volume set and online. Free trails are

available from http://www.cambridge.org/us/americanhistory/hsus/. Over 200 social

scientists contributed to this work which had not been updated since 1975. Chapters are

subdivided within each of the five volumes, with each chapter beginning with

introductory essay describing the subject history. The edition is vastly expanded and

characterized by diversity with the addition of more than a dozen new topics including

poverty, Native Americans, and ethnicity. The electronic version is exceedingly useful

and versatile as it allows users to search through huge amounts of data, graph tables and

download tables to software applications including spreadsheets. This is a welcome

addition to academic libraries serving serious students and scholars.

Faragher, John Mack (Ed) (1998). The American Heritage encyclopedia of American

history. New York: H. Holt

This comprehensive work covers American history from pre-colonial days to 1998 in

more than 3,000 entries. The well-written, factual entries range from concise 50 word

descriptions to 2,000 word essays. Longer entries offer bibliographies. Over 1,000 brief
biographical sketches give added depth. Entries are listed alphabetically and are cross-

Collection Development 6

referenced. The encyclopedia is well-illustrated with maps, photographs, and drawings.

The appendixes include the Declaration of Independence; the Constitution; lists of U.S.

presidents, chief justices, and associate justices of the Supreme Court; and timetables of

American History. An excellent ready reference addition for general readers.

Kutler, Stanley. I. (Ed) (2003). Dictionary of American history. New York: Charles

Scribner’s Sons

Published in 2003, this third edition is filled with facts, events, policies and trends in

American history. While its focus is on political and economic topics, it has expanded,

revised and in some cases, entirely replaced, entries to appeal to diverse ethnic and

socioeconomic interests. It rightly describes itself as “the leading reference work in the

U.S. History for the past 60 years” because of the thorough, consistent and reliable

coverage it provides. Updated bibliographies, the addition of illustrations numbering

over 1,400 and a volume of archival maps along a section of primary source documents

along with a huge index and a “Guide to Research and Learning” designed to allow its

use as a textbook supplement, will help it retain that description. Essential for all

academic libraries.

Lincove, David L. 2000). Reconstruction in the United States: an annotated

bibliography. Cambridge University Press.

Beginning with a chronology of major events in reconstruction, Lincove’s annotated

Collection Development 7

bibliography is both systematic and comprehensive. Including books, essays, journal

articles, and dissertations it provides a diverse focus on life in the South after the

American Civil War. It is particularly useful for scholars seeking historical writings and

published primary sources. The annotations are well-written, scholarly, and balanced.

They are also cross-referenced which makes it an especially valuable resource for

students, researchers, and instructors.

Purvis, Thomas L. (1999). Colonial America to 1763. New York: Facts on File
.
With over 100 maps and tables illustrating the broad scope of information about colonial

America, this 400 page work, one of the series of “Almanacs of American Life”, provides

essays, brief sketches and quantitative information about this time period. It is

well-indexed and data from both scholarly articles and government sources give it

credence. It includes a bibliography and chronology. Choice Reviews selected it as one

of the 2000 Outstanding Academic Titles and Library Journal selected it as a Best

Reference Source in 1999. Highly recommended for academic libraries.

 Collection Reference 8

Bibliography

Batt, F. (1984). The detailed reference collection development policy: is it worth the

effort? Reference Librarian 11, 313-19.

Biggs, M. and Biggs, V. (1987). Reference collection development in academic libraries:

report of a survey. RQ 27, 67-79.

Futus, E. (1981). Issues in collection development: ready reference collections.

Collection Building 3 (3), 46-8.

Hopkins, R. L. (1991). Ranking the reference books: methodologies for identifying

‘key’ reference sources. Reference Librarian, 33, 77-102.

Katz, W.A. (2002). Introduction to Reference Work, V. 1: Basic information services

New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill

Luchsinger, D. (1992). Developing the reference collection. In Community College

Reference Services, ed. By Bill Katc, 106-12. Metuchen, N.J: Scarecrow

Nolan, C.W. (1999). Managing the reference collection. American Library Association,

Chicago, IL

Stevens, N. (1986). Evaluating reference books in theory and practice. Reference

Librarian (15), 9-19)

Sweetland, J.H. Reference book reviewing tools: how well do they do the job? Reference

Librarian (15), 65-74.