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This article considers the distinct challenges that works of art pose for those managing non-art specialist research libraries across the United Kingdom. Using analysis of survey and case-study interview data, the article demonstrates that current approaches to the management of art in non-art specialist research libraries are uneven in such key areas as collection management; cataloguing; storage and access; and librarianship and training. This article seeks to build consensus on best practices with respect to the management of art in libraries and proposes practical recommendations for libraries seeking to improve the care and use of the art in their collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finding an appropriate temporary storage location for books and providing access to them is a significant challenge for libraries undergoing renovations. The current article describes the use of a document management company by an academic library to store 430,000 books for 8 months and provide a retrieval-on-demand service. Aspects covered include the selection of a commercial storage provider with its own retrieval service; details of the move to and from offsite storage; the integration of the service with library processes; communications and user feedback; book usage during the storage period; overall costs; and lessons learned from the experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patrons and scholars are increasingly likely to first encounter a collection in a digital space rather than a physical one. This article considers how to utilize data visualization in an academic library to promote a unique collection to remote visitors. In order to create awareness of the Valente Italian Library at Seton Hall University, one of the largest Italian collections in the United States, subject librarians considered ways to convey and describe the collection beyond the search box or the discovery filters of the catalog. After considering meaningful data points available in the records data, the authors harvested, cleaned, and mined the data for interesting collection facets. Visualizations were created from the data and the authors explore whether they offer a greater understanding of the collection and aid in telling its story, as well as recreate a sense of browsing for the online visitor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One pressing issue in libraries today is the censorship of information. This theoretical essay uses Kurt Lewin's gatekeeping theory to examine the decision-makers as well as the different pressures and constraints that are at issue in decisions regarding challenges and censorship attempts that occur in regards to library collections. Knowing who the decision-makers, or gatekeepers, are in the decision-making process, whether it is library boards, library directors, or public officials, is crucial to the understanding of censorship in public libraries. Without a clear understanding of the function of gates and gatekeepers in the decision-making process, libraries may allow unintended censorship of ideas and information to persist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the sustainability challenges faced by several librarians in terms of collection management and offering better services to students and the public. It mentions that there has been a call for many academic libraries to focus on creating more responsible operational models in terms of environmental impact if they are to keep information open and free to all. It relates how libraries have been managing their collections, are acquiring books and are making improvements on how they handle their materials.

The collection development role of the academic librarian in the research university library is increasingly subject to significant change as opportunities to build new types of library collections proliferate, particularly with respect to research data. A Purdue Libraries task force was charged with building faculty-produced collections for a data repository prototype. One purpose of the project was to inventory and characterize the resources and skills required of the libraries and its data-collecting librarians. This paper examines the librarian roles and activities that were identified during the project and suggests ways the experience of the task force can inform the roles and activities of librarians who are similarly charged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to describe an assessment project of the monograph collection at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Lied Library. The circulation statistics and in-house use of all monographs for the nine colleges at UNLV were assessed analyzing the last five years of data. The analysis included an assessment of the circulation statistics and in-house use of books purchased on an approval plan compared with books purchased by individual liaison librarians. The findings illustrated the fact that overall use of the monograph collection has declined over the past five years. The findings also showed that books purchased on an approval plan had slightly higher use than the books purchased by individual liaisons. The study shows that academic libraries need to monitor usage of the monograph collection to be certain that money is spent in the most efficient manner and that usage data can be helpful if there is a need to reduce budget allocations for monographs or if a reallocation of funds for monographs is necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the future of library collection management and managers. The article suggests that funding will continue to govern the amount or availability of library materials and periodicals. Also discussed are technological innovations changing the industry, which includes the influence of Web 2.0 technology. Such technology and future business models have been discussed at conferences in previous years including the Persistence of Memory Conference, the Sun Microsystems Preservation and Archiving Special Interest Group Meeting, and the Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics in the United States.

This article presents an introduction to this issue of the journal "Collection Management." The article explains that the manuscripts in this issue focus on collection development and collection management librarians. Articles discussed include "From Clutter to Cash: Online Book Sales at the University of Maryland's Engineering and Physical Sciences Library," by Bob Kackley, and "Stacking Up: A How-To Guide to Condition Surveys," by Tori R. Gregory, and "Changing the Access from Subscription to Article in the Academic Library: Using Infotrieve As One of the Solutions to the Journal Problem," by Jennifer Carroll and Judith Brink.