The materials-centered approach to public library collection development: A defense

Kelly, Matthew

Kelly M 2015 Materials.pdf (218.1Kb)

Access Status

Open access

Authors

Kelly, Matthew

Date

2015

Type

Journal Article

Metadata

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Citation

Kelly, M. 2015. The materials-centered approach to public library collection development: A defense. Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal). Paper 1232.

Source Title

Library Philosophy and Practice

Additional URLs

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/1232/

Faculty

Humanities

School

Department of Information Studies

Remarks

This is the author-created manuscript of an article published in Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal), available at http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/1232

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/48922

Collection

Curtin Research Publications

Abstract

How selection of materials, understood as subject knowledge, should occur for non-fiction collections in public libraries has been polarized along an axis of user demand and intellectual rigor for many decades. Attempts to synthesize these various approaches have, largely, failed to do justice to either tendency. This paper is formulated as an encomium to the materials-centered approach and looks to uncover what is lost when librarians choose to focus in extremis, on the role of the user in the building of subject knowledge for a comprehensive civil society-oriented collection.