Essential Reference Survey
Posted by: Rebecca Vnuk
Over the past few months we conducted a survey to find out, in this era of shrinking reference collections, what print reference titles libraries would hold on to. This survey grew out of David Tyckson’s presentation at our Twenty-First Reference Collections webinar back in January. After the webinar, someone asked David if there are any print reference titles that are still essential enough to keep out of circulation. He responded that high use, uniqueness, and even librarian comfort are all factors that might help determinine what materials don’t leave the building. David also stressed that every library’s needs will be different, and the survey shows that this is certainly true, since the survey responses seem to be all over the map. I’ll be looking at them to see if I can discern any patterns. I’ll let you know what I find.
