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Changing patron demands, coupled with significant repurposing of library space, led the library to experience a marked decline in the usage of the print reference collection. Such a significant decrease challenged librarians to find new methods for promoting this still viable collection. It was decided to integrate the print reference books into the general library collection. After a year, circulation data demonstrated that by integrating collections, reference titles were now used more frequently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study defined core and essential lists of recent, English-language veterinary medicine books using a data-driven methodology for potential use by a broad audience, including libraries that are building collections supporting veterinary sciences and One Health initiatives. Methods: Book titles were collected from monograph citation databases, veterinary examination reading lists, veterinary college textbook and library reserve lists, and published bibliographies. These lists were combined into a single list with titles ranked by the number of occurrences. Results: The methodology produced a core list of 122 monographs and an essential list of 33 titles. All titles are recent, edition neutral, English language monographs. One title is out of print. Conclusions: The methodology captured qualitative and quantitative input from four distinct populations who use veterinary monographs: veterinary practitioners, educators, researchers, and librarians. Data were collected and compiled to determine core and essential lists that represented all groups. Unfortunately, data are not available for all subareas of veterinary medicine, resulting in uneven subject coverage. This methodology can be replicated and adapted for other subject areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the process designed to systematically weed two community college library reference collections in preparation for potential funding of a learning commons space. The author explains the methodology used to help facilitate the reassessment of nearly 10,000 reference titles by librarian liaisons. The goal of the project was to consistently capture each title’s weeding status designation along with required bibliographic data while stopping short of executing the weeding itself. Details about the process and consequences of the resulting category breakdowns are described in detail. The article lists key success factors such as working with teams from different departments to help manage the day-to-day procedures. Practical suggestions are offered about the use of collaborative tools, about methods for transmitting support data to liaison librarians to enable quick decisions, about goal setting, and about establishing consistent means of data collection. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The most famous role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons, recently celebrated the fortieth anniversary of its release. The books that define the games in the role-playing genre function like sports rulebooks, contain entries like encyclopedias, or are based on collections of maps similar to those in atlases. In the library context, this places the books that define role-playing games in the domain of reference books. While currently divisions of the American Library Association encourage librarians to consider using the game in community-building and youth services, there was a time period where organized groups actively tried to discourage librarians from collecting materials associated with the genre. This study is an assessment of library holdings of role-playing game materials worldwide, detailing collection and cataloging issues associated with the genre. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]