1st Edition

Popular Culture and Acquisitions

By Linda S Katz Copyright 1992

    Here is an accessible book containing strategies to help librarians expand their popular culture collections in an organized manner. Many publications explain why libraries should collect popular culture materials; this one explains how. Packed full of useful information, Popular Culture and Acquisitions provides numerous practical approaches to collecting this ever-expanding, often unwieldy mass of information. It aids both beginning and experienced librarians as they sort through the vast array of materials available to them. Discussions ranging from what to collect and how to collect it to what to do with the material once it’s obtained give librarians solid information on how to establish cohesive popular culture collections.

    Chapters provide first-hand advice on:

    • the importance of collection development policies
    • problems of budgets, storage, and preservation
    • working with donors
    • methods of resource sharing
    • what to collect, for whom, and for what purposes
    • the struggle for legitimacy
    • competition from collectors and fans
    • locating obscure acquisitions or review sources

      Popular Culture and Acquisitions also includes chapters on how to acquire specific types of popular culture materials, such as children’s series books, comic books, mystery and detective fiction, popular recordings, romance novels, and tabloids. Librarians attempting to collect such materials systematically will find this book to be an invaluable guide for their efforts.

    Contents Introduction
    • Going Against the Grain: A Rationale for the Collection of Popular Materials in Academic Libraries
    • Donors and the Acquisition of Popular Culture Materials
    • Collection Division as Acquisition Method: A Case Study
    • The Time Capsule as a Way for the Future to Acquire Popular Culture Items
    • Nancy Drew Here to Stay?: The Challenges to be Found in the Acquisition and Retention of Early Twentieth-Century Children’s Series Books in an Academic Library Setting
    • Developing a “Focused” Comic Book Collection in an Academic Library
    • An Unsuitable Job for a Librarian?: Collection Development of Mystery and Detective Fiction in Academic Libraries
    • Uncovering the Mysteries of Popular Recordings Collection Development
    • Selection Tools for Popular Romances
    • From Supermarket to Library: Tabloids in the Permanent Collection
    • A Resource Guide to Studies in the Theory and Practice of Popular Culture Librarianship
    • Reference Notes Included

    Biography

    Linda S Katz