From: Christy Smirl <christy.smirl_at_gmail.com>
Hello,
Teton County Library (public, on the small side of medium) has
begun a separate biography collection, pulling titles from
nonfiction into a unique section, and we have hit a few sticky
spots as far as parameters go. I'm interested in other public
libraries' collection development policies for biographies. The
information I'm looking for is:
* What are your parameters on titles in this collection?
Are there only biographies/autobiographies and memoirs, or
letters/correspondence/diaries as well? Anything else?
* Do you include titles about multiple subjects (people) or
only one per book? If multiple, is there a limit (for example:
only books on 1-3 people, those on 4 or more subjects stay in
general nonfiction).
* Do you include families (related to the above
question)...and if so, any families or only nuclear families?
(i.e., the Bushes, but not Bush Sr., or perhaps the Kennedys, but
not the Medicis, which span centuries).
* Do you have a Biography section *and* a "Collective
Biography" section with titles like "Renaissance Lives," "Great
African Americans of the 20th Century," etc.
* As a selector for this subject and from a reference
perspective, is there anything you would change about that policy?
I'm using this information to make several policy decisions which
are time sensitive. I would appreciate any input as soon as possible!
Many thanks-
Christy Smirl
Collection Development
Teton County Library
Jackson, WY
Received on Tue Feb 03 2009 - 08:54:42 EST