Background Essay on Collection Development, Evaluation, and Management for Public Libraries.

The article focuses on the development of American libraries and its effect on librarianship over the past one hundred years in the U.S. It discusses seven major monographs and supplementary readings about book selection and collection management, highlighting on public libraries with a catalog from the American Library Association (ALA). It noted that it was in 1900s that the first comprehensive works on book selection were introduced, including information on community assessment, selection policy development and various details of selection process. Moreover, technological advancement of information was claimed as an important factor which greatly affects collection management.