As the authors also point out, business librarianship is challenging. Business libraries serve diverse public, academic, and corporate clientele. A number of specific specialties (real estate, hotel management, insurance, investment advice, sales) can be included as part of the collection. A large number of business books are published annually; the Bowker Annual and Book Trade Almanac estimates 5,598 business books in 2006.1 New librarians will not be able to acquire everything, so they will need to know what publishers, topics, content levels, and formats are needed in a specific collection.

Business library users have many different needs. Some business researchers need trade literature or corporation Web sites, some need academic research, some need data of various kinds, and still others need extensive information about business practices and regulations in specific countries or regions of the world. The Sudden Selector’s Guide to Business Resources successfully provides the general sources that all business librarians (public, corporate, academic) use to guide their selection decisions.

Both authors are academic librarians working in Canada. The book is focused on North American business resources in English, and a strong point of the book is the inclusion of many Canadian resources in addition to important U.S. resources. One of the authors is new to librarianship; the other is an experienced business librarian. This pairing of outlook and experience creates a good mix of sources: up-to-date Web newsletters and blogs along with more standard print and electronic resources. Because of the obvious collaboration between the enthusiastic new librarian and the seasoned professional in evaluating and choosing content, the book has credibility and appeal as a training tool.

It is possible, of course, to debate which resources and information should be included or excluded from this training guide. In general, the authors have focused on significant up-to-date resources and categories of information that most business librarians would agree are appropriate and useful. There are some omissions. For example, information on finding library associations and library association colleagues is included, but information on finding local business associations or business association colleagues is not. Approval plans can really help new collection managers, and their components are mentioned briefly. But information outlining resources that may be available from your approval plan vendor (book reviews, tables of contents, peer-purchases) is missing. In the chapter describing essential business electronic resources, journal literature is well covered, but there is little information on more targeted business sources, such as accounting standards or advertising costs. But, for those librarians who want to branch out beyond the boundaries of the given lists, the heart of the book contains a good bibliography of recent and older standard bibliographies and guides to information sources on business topics that go into much greater detail and will include the print and electronic resources that any new business librarian will need to discover.

Some niceties are sacrificed to brevity. Because most entries in the book are lists of sources with brief or no annotations (for example, a list of print business news titles or a list of Web-based business newsletters), it is often not possible for the reader to determine if the Web sites require subscription fees or registration, to find the bibliographic details for print sources, or to determine which of the listed sources is most highly recommended. Also, the book’s utility would have been enhanced by an index at the end.

The educational preparation of new collection development librarians is an important professional issue. Several American Library Association groups, including the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services Collection Management and Development Section and the Reference and User Services Association Collection Development and Evaluations Section have standing committees investigating core competencies for collection development librarians and the need for both formal education and in-house training. The Special Libraries Association and the Association for Library and Information Science Education also have worked on issues related to collection development competencies. Many new collection development librarians are not prepared to meet fully the collection building challenge in new subject areas. There has always been, and will likely continue to be, a void occurring where formal academic education for librarians leaves off and in-house training or mentoring for new hires begins. It is into this void that the Sudden Selector Series bravely ventures to provide valuable connections, tools, print or electronic resources, advice, and, most of all, encouragement for a librarian about to embark on a new collection building adventure. Recommended for all new business librarians and those interested in business library collection development.