A Critique on Standards for Evaluating Library Collections; Supplement I to Final Report: A Study of Resources and Major Subject Holdings Available in U.S. Federal Libraries Maintaining Extensive or Unique Collections of Research Materials.

An effort to determine the feasibility of formulating a series of criteria for assessing research collections in Federal libraries is delineated in this report. The direction of the investigation was based on a four-stage approach: (1) review the literature for relevant information; (2) enumerate and describe available guides and criteria, and evaluate their possible usefulness as components of, or contributions to standards for measurement; (3) formulate test standards; and (4) test their application in a selected number of libraries. Part I of the report is devoted to a discussion of the topics mentioned above. Part II is a bibliography including references selected from the hundreds reviewed as being most applicable and pertinent to evaluating library collections. (This report is a supplement to LI 002 141.) (Author)