Abstract
ABSTRACT Academic librarians have traditionally built undergraduate core collections based on the suggestions of college faculty and on selection tools such as Books for College Libraries and Choice. The assumption that these materials meet the course related reading needs of undergraduates is founded on the premise that the teaching faculty will provide guidance to their students, either directly or through reading lists, in selecting appropriate books. This study, undertaken in the Purdue University General Library, shows that undergraduates do not depend on teaching faculty as a primary resource to aid in the selection of reading materials from the library nor do they make extensive use of titles selected on the basis of critical merit as identified in either Choice or Books for College Libraries.
Keywords
Libraries, Undergraduate Libraries, Core Collections, Quality, Circulation
Published in:
Collection Management 4(Winter 1982):9-23.
Date of this Version
January 1982
Comments
The reference in footnote 8 to an unpublished study, was later published as "Assessment of Choice as a Tool for Selection," College and Research Libraries 44(Sept 1983):375-80.