From: Rachel Jakimow <RJAKIMOW_at_nla.gov.au>
The National Initiatives and Collaboration (NIAC) Branch of the National
Library of Australia is pleased to announce the release of an ONLINE
GUIDE TO COLLECTION ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION TOOLS.
This guide has been created to assist Australian collection development
librarians in the assessment and evaluation of their collections using
the Conspectus methodology. The online guide provides an up-to-date
listing of core collection benchmarking and assessment tools in a wide
range of subject areas.
In 1992 when the National Library of Australia published the Australian
Conspectus Manual, it included a bibliography which listed a range of
collection assessment tools and more general publications on collection
development. It is in the nature of such bibliographies that they
gradually go out of date and, as a consequence, lose much of their
utility. Throughout 1996 staff of the National Library devoted a
considerable amount of effort towards updating and expanding the 1992
bibliography. The Library is grateful for all the suggestions which
have been provided by Conspectus users during this consultative process.
The result is a completely overhauled guide to tools and sources.
Rather than just issue another static hard-copy bibliography which will
also immediately start to lose its currency, the Library decided to
mount an online version of the listing at URL
http://www.nla.gov.au/dnc/conspect/bibliog.html. In so doing the
Library is providing Conspectus users and others with the opportunity to
have input into the content of the online guide. The lists provided in
the guide are not exhaustive. The Library therefore welcomes
suggestions from those librarians who are actively engaged in collection
assessment work for additions, replacements and updates to the tools
listed in the guide. Please use the self-reporting form which is
included at the website to let us know about particular tools that you
have found useful in collection assessment, evaluation, development and
management. With your assistance and feedback we can regularly update
the content of the listings, thus keeping the guide as useful and
relevant as possible.
A number of new topics have been included in the 'Bibliographies and
indexes used in list checking' section:
* Australian studies
* Aboriginal studies
* Women's studies
* Chinese language materials
Suggestions relating to the content of this guide should be sent to
m.bond_at_nla.gov.au or by mail to:
Maggie Bond
National Initiatives and Collaboration Branch
National Library of Australia
CANBERRA ACT 2600
Ph: 06 262 1522
Fax: 06 257 1703
Print versions of the guide are also available from the above address
Received on Thu Mar 20 1997 - 07:40:33 EST