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College and Research Libraries
May 2005, Vol. 66, No. 3
Book Review
Lee, Stuart D., and Frances Boyle. Building an Electronic Resource Collection: A Practical Guide, 2nd ed. London: Facet, 2004. 174p. $75 (ISBN 1856045315).
This brief, but expensive, book is a welcome expansion of the relatively few pages devoted to electronic resources in more comprehensive reference or acquisitions texts, such as Richard E. Bopp and Linda Smith’s Reference and Information Services (Libraries Unlimited, 2001) and G. Edward Evans, Sheila S. Intner, and Jean Weihs’ Introduction to Technical Services (Libraries Unlimited, 2002). It should not be regarded, however, as the definitive treatise (even for the moment) on creating and managing a collection of electronic resources. Intended for librarians, especially those in collection development and acquisitions, students, and publishers interested in electronic resources, the book outlines and provides advice about the myriad decisions that must occur in connection with acquiring or providing access to electronic resources.
In the first section (chapters 1–3), the authors offer a broad-based approach to electronic resources designed to provide perspective on the issues involved with their acquisition and access. Indeed, chapter 1, "Preliminary Issues," discusses the reasons for buying an electronic resource and the task of integrating electronic resource and traditional collection development. Chapter 2 characterizes the "electronic resources landscape," describing materials currently available electronically and discussing factors that "differentiate them from print publications," such as authentication and user interface. The book emphasizes commercially available electronic products covering all forms of data (e.g., text, numbers, images), but not free, Web-based resources. For the latter, the reader should look at other sources such as Chris Sherman and Gary Price’s The Invisible Web: Uncovering Information Sources Search Engines Can’t See (Information Today, 2001). Chapter 3 describes the differences and similarities between e-books and e-journals in more detail. The second section (chapters 4–5) focuses more specifically on decisions. In chapter 4, the authors develop a process model for decision making related to electronic resources acquisitions, moving methodically through the process to offer a brief exposition of the major steps. Chapter 5 is a discussion of the activities surrounding the provision of access to the resources when the decision has been made to make them available and expands the model in chapter 4 to cover the cataloging and delivery of the resources. Complementing these brief chapters are a select glossary and a two-part bibliography that covers, first, journals, electronic lists, and bulletin boards, and, second, articles, associations, monographs, and reports.
Only three years have elapsed since the book’s first edition (2001), but the range and methods of providing electronic resources are rapidly changing. In the second edition, the authors have added new sections on virtual learning environments/learning management systems (very brief) and reading, and resource list software, as well as updating information and correcting previous errors. Any book that mentions specifics concerning electronic resources risks having outdated information because electronic resources themselves frequently change. This book should not be read for current information about resources but, rather, for the principles, guidelines, and the procedures it presents.
Written by British authors, the book is also relevant for decision making by American librarians. The authors are experienced with electronic resources: Stuart D. Lee is author of Digital Imaging: A Practical Handbook (Neal-Schuman, 2001) and is head of Learning Technologies Group at Oxford University Computing Services; Frances Boyle is electronic resources manager for Oxford University Library Services.
The book should be faulted for its brevity; many of the topics it covers cry out for more explanation and examples and must be supplemented through either the Web or more specialized books. For instance, it includes no sample collection policy, although it sends the reader to several examples. Other books address some specialized issues in greater and necessary detail, such as two of the books in Neal-Schuman’s How-to-do-it Manual series: Rick Anderson’s Buying and Contracting for Resources and Services (2004), and Donnelyn Curtis, Virginia M. Scheschy, and Adolfo R. Tarango’s Developing and Managing Electronic Journal Collections (2000).—Marilyn Domas White, University of Maryland.
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