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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide information on handling gifts-in-kind in Croatian public and academic libraries. It also recommends what should be done to improve practice with gifts for collections. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on the author's research conducted using an anonymous online questionnaire that was sent to Croatian public libraries (n=139) and academic libraries (n=73) in May 2011. After a two-week period, a total of 84 responses was received (40 public libraries and 44 academic libraries). In statistical analysis, some variables are tested by χ2-test to show whether differences between public and academic libraries are statistically significant. Findings – The majority of Croatian libraries do not have gift policy statements. Gifts do have a significant part in collection building, especially in Croatian academic libraries, but are not always handled in the right way (i.e. according to IFLA's guidelines). This paper shows the quantity of gifts in the libraries, librarians' reasons for not accepting some gifts, librarians' methods in dealing with gifts, and their way of communicating with donors or potential donors. Originality/value – This paper gives results of the first complete study of gift policies in Croatian public and academic libraries. In conclusion, a need for a written gift policy in Croatian libraries is emphasized and some recommendations are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper aims to discusses the importance of Native American literature in library collections. Design/methodology/approach - This paper is based on research of recent articles. Findings - The paper identifies many good titles on Native Americans that deserve to be in libraries so that the history and culture of Native Americans will be available to all users. Practical implications - Libraries should identify good quality books on Native Americans and by Native Americans to add to their collections. Many are now available so that it is not difficult to find appropriate ones that reflect contemporary views of Native Americans. Originality/value - This paper pulls together a good deal of recent information on books by and about Native Americans as well as pointing to some excellent collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper seeks to describe the Canadian Library Association's 2007 pre-conference, Collections 2007: Reinvigorating Collection Development and Management. Design/methodology/approach This paper summarizes the various papers, describing actual collections practices in a variety of library and information center settings that made up the CLA Collections pre-conference. Findings - The paper finds that collections development activities in academic, public and special libraries are characterized by a diversity of approaches and methods. Originality/value - This paper provides a brief summary of some of the practical approaches to collections building in a variety of library and information center settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to document and compare the extent of book collections on the topic of the Taliban in selected academic libraries in New York and New Jersey, the New York Public Library and the military academy at West Point. Design/methodology/approach – Books on the Taliban were chosen as an index of the Afghanistan war since the Taliban are its major defining element. WorldCat was searched (www.worldcat.org) using the following criteria: "kw: taliban" > "English" > "Non-Fiction" > "Non-Juvenile". In total 1,668 titles were found. Duplicates were eliminated, as were theses, government publications, ephemera and other items. Closely related titles were amalgamated. Only works that had "Taliban" in the title or subtitle were chosen from the cumulative groups above, resulting in a total of 83 titles. Findings – Only two libraries crossed 50 percent of the "core" collection of 83 titles. A total of 27 percent of the 83 titles (n=22) were not held by any library, and only seven books were in all libraries. New York Public Library topped the modest rankings and scored above the academic libraries and West Point. West Point ranked last by a big margin (29 points). New York Public Library scored better than all the academic libraries with 49 percent of the 83 titles, followed closely by Columbia University with 46 percent. There was an eight-point drop to 38 percent for New York University, which modestly outpointed the 35 percent for Princeton. Research limitations/implications – A possible research limitation is that the degree of library holdings may not reflect the low level of engagement by the public, academia and military in the ongoing wars. Social implications – The research may indicate a low priority by collection development librarians in public libraries and in the libraries of academic and military colleges to develop a comprehensive collection of material on the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. The paper argues that more extensive collections should be built despite the media and the general population's antipathy to the war. A comprehensive collection for students, scholars, the public and the next generation of officers about a contemporary war which has profound financial, political and military sequelae should be a priority for collection-building librarians. Originality/value – The low holdings of books on the Taliban, and hence the war in Afghanistan, in public and academic libraries and the library of West Point may reflect the low level of interest of the US population in the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq (and Libya). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]