Collection Development in the Digital Age sets out to describe from a UK perspective the profound changes in the practice and theory of collection development as digital has progressively replaced print. This review will give my comments as a US collection development professor and selector. The two editors, Maggie Fieldhouse and Audrey Marshall, obviously planned the volume and assigned the topics of the fifteen chapters to form a coherent whole. The contributions are grouped into four parts: “The Concept and Practice of Collection Development,” “Trends in the Developments of E-Resources,” “Trends in Library Supply,” and “Making and Keeping Your Collection Effective.” To quote the editors, “The book consists of a mix of chapters and case studies” (xvi). Chapters, which “examine the issues in general and discursive ways” (xvi), predominate with only three case studies included. As in the United States, the digital revolution appears to have affected academic libraries more than public libraries because ten chapters focus on this library type. Only two chapters recount changes in public libraries, with the remaining three chapters focusing on general topics of interest to both library types. The contributors are “a mix of academics, practitioners, and ‘insider’ experts” (xvi).

The content is mostly what could be expected. The opening chapter, “The Concept of Collection Development in the Digital World” by Sheila Corrall, with its somewhat theoretical treatment, was my favorite for its analysis of the larger issues. “Stewardship and Curation in a Digital World” by Bradley Daigle, one of three US contributors to the book, took second place for presenting a fresh perspective on the longevity of digital resources. Other chapters deal with e-resources in general, online journals, e-books, open access, and institutional repositories. Three chapters treat traditional topics from the print era: managing suppliers, outsourcing collection development, and collection development policies. The one surprise was seeing information literacy and user outreach as collection development topics because “however comprehensive a library collection is, unless it works for your users it is an increasingly unaffordable luxury” (xix). As in all edited works, some chapters are better than others, but the general quality is high.

American librarians will not have much, if any, difficulty in profiting from this book. British library terms are at times slightly different from American, but easily translate. Two library-related factors in the United Kingdom, however, have led to major differences compared with US collection development practices. First, a more centralized government has encouraged broader initiatives and more cooperation in dealing with changes brought about by the increasing importance of digital resources. For example, “the UK is fortunate in having [a] co-ordinated project for the withdrawal of print journals” (62). Second, fixed prices for library materials were enforced until the UK’s Net Book Agreement was declared illegal in 1997. At the start of the digital age, British librarians were much less practiced in negotiating lower prices than their US counterparts.

Two cultural differences are also worth noting. The minor one is that this book made much greater use of US sources than would a similar US publication regarding UK sources. Much more important, to my mind, is the more realistic appraisal of the profound changes that digital publications might make to the current publication system. For instance, the journal might disappear as a container because users now focus on the individual article, or faculty and students might threaten the existence of the library as they come to rely on digital resources from sources other than the academic library. While pessimistic themes sometimes appear in US library discussions, they tend to come from nonlibrary groups or from librarians whose goal is to shock. In the mainstream US literature, the underlying assumption is somehow libraries will survive. Several contributors to this book consider an apocalyptic future for libraries, accepting that the future may not be under their control as users decide that nonlibrary digital resources are good enough to meet their needs.

The book is ambiguous about its intended audience. As a professor who teaches collection development, I am familiar with the US publications that give a comprehensive overview for the collection development novice. In the editors’ introduction, they state that “the book is aimed at library and information science students and new practitioners, but it is also relevant for those practitioners who have been around the block a few times” (xx). I believe that most chapters in the volume are not for the beginner and certainly not for the student with little familiarity with library practice. If the goal of the editors and publisher is to have this volume used as a textbook, it may be suitable for UK students, but I would be hesitant about adopting it for my classes for reasons that have nothing to do with its UK slant. First, I have already indicated the higher-level content that makes this text an excellent resource for US collection development experts, but perhaps unsuitable for beginners. Second, the choice to publish chapters from diverse authors leads to a lack of comprehensive treatment of collection development that students need. I believe, for example, that intellectual freedom and challenges deserve more than one paragraph. The two chapters on public libraries miss important aspects, such as the need to reach out to all members of the user community, since public libraries, unlike academic libraries, do not have a defined clientele.

I am pleased to have had the opportunity to review Collection Development in the Digital Age. I did not find the transition to digital in the United Kingdom to be very different from what is happening in the United States; similar challenges have led to similar solutions, albeit with a few differences as noted above. US readers might especially profit from the volume’s recognition that the digital revolution has not yet run its course and may yet create additional casualties.