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Cruising the Library examines the ways in which library classifications have organized sexuality and sexual perversion. The author studies the Library of Congress Subject Headings and Classification, as well as the Library of Congress's Delta Collection, a restricted collection of obscenity until 1964.

This project investigated the potential of generative AI models in aiding health sciences librarians with collection development. Researchers at Chapman University’s Harry and Diane Rinker Health Science campus evaluated four generative AI models—ChatGPT 4.0, Google Gemini, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot—over six months starting in March 2024. Two prompts were used: one to generate recent eBook titles in specific health sciences fields and another to identify subject gaps in the existing collection. The first prompt revealed inconsistencies across models, with Copilot and Perplexity providing sources but also inaccuracies. The second prompt yielded more useful results, with all models offering helpful analysis and accurate Library of Congress call numbers. The findings suggest that Large Language Models (LLMs) are not yet reliable as primary tools for collection development due to inaccuracies and hallucinations. However, they can serve as supplementary tools for analyzing subject coverage and identifying gaps in health sciences collections.

Open Access has evolved into the most complex challenge of the scholarly publishing landscape and something libraries grapple with on a regular basis.But although librarians hold increasingly positive perceptions about OA, including its richness of unique content and immediacy of access, many lack the understanding, training, documentation, and.

The Special Collections Handbook, Third Edition is a comprehensive desk reference providing the essential principles, skills, and knowledge to manage special collections in any setting and covering all aspects of special collections work: preservation; developing collections; understanding objects; emergency planning; security; legal and ethical concerns; cataloguing; digitisation; marketing; outreach; teaching; impact; advocacy; and fundraising. This new edition has been revised and updated to incorporate the many developments in the field, reflecting the growth and dynamism of the sector and the complexity of the environment in which we operate. This will include: enriched and updated guidance on decolonising collections management and all other elements of special collections work working towards zero-carbon buildings, preservation, and other aspects of special collections work lessons/impact of Covid-19: managing remote access by staff and users, emergency planning, health and safety, risk assessments new legislation affecting special collections, notably in the UK the Data Protection Act 2018 new and revised standards, such as the new British Standards relating to collections care, BS EN 16893 and BS 4971, which replace PD5454 new and emerging technologies in collections discovery, digitisation, digital resource and digital libraries, and how to manage them and build capacity. Particular attention will be paid to the implications of the ‘digital shift’ and the place of special collections in online and hybrid learning. Comprehensive and written in a highly accessible manner, The Special Collections Handbook, Third Edition will be an essential resource for staff working with special collections in a wide range of settings, including academia, public libraries, religious organisations, museums, and at scales from solo librarians to ‘nationals’.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to review an existing graphic novel collection in the curriculum materials center of an academic library. The review would result in a clear identity for the collection and guide the creation of revised collection development, management and cataloging processes.Design/methodology/approachThe physical and bibliographic identities of each individual graphic novel were reviewed and compared with collection development tools.FindingsThe review revealed a mismatch between the physical and bibliographic markers applied to some graphic novels and inconsistencies in the assignment of items based on audience and literature type. At the completion of the project, 43% of the graphic novels were reassigned based on audience, literature type or both.Originality/valueThere is limited research about the collection challenges and needs of graphic novels in juvenile and curriculum materials collections within academic libraries. This research details the process used to evaluate the collection and create a physical and bibliographic identity that fits the needs of the library’s users.

Background: After several years of storing a large number of historical medical books that had been weeded from the general collection, the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center developed a set of evaluation criteria to determine whether the material should be kept and included in the library catalog or discarded. The purpose of this article is to share lessons learned in evaluating and processing a historical medical book collection. The authors share how we determined review criteria as well as cataloging and processing procedures.Case Presentation: Best practices for evaluating, cataloging, and processing historical library material were determined through a literature search and then reviewed and adapted for application to this project. Eight hundred sixty-two titles were selected to add to the catalog and were added to a shelving location in our offsite storage facility.Conclusions: These materials are now discoverable in the library’s catalog for library users who are interested in historical research, and the materials have been processed for easy retrieval as well as preservation purposes.

Objective: Medical care for cancer is increasingly directed by genomic laboratory testing for alterations in the tumor genome that are significant for diagnosis, prognosis and therapy. Uniquely in medicine, providers must search the biomedical literature for each patient to determine the clinical significance of these alterations. Access to published scientific literature is frequently subject to high fees, with access limited to institutional subscriptions. We sought to investigate the degree to which the scientific literature is accessible to clinical cancer genomics providers, and the potential role of university and hospital system libraries in information access for cancer care. Methods: We identified 265 journals that were accessed during the interpretation and reporting of clinical test results from 1,842 cancer patients at the University Health Network (Toronto, Canada). We determined the degree of open access for this set of clinically important literature, and for any journals not available through open access we surveyed subscription access at seven academic hospital systems and at their affiliated universities. Results: This study found that nearly half (116/265) of journals have open access mandates that make articles freely available within one year of release. For the remaining subscription access journals, universities provided a uniformly high level of access, but access available through hospital system collections varied widely. Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of different modes of access to the use of the scientific literature in clinical practice and points to challenges that must be overcome as genomic medicine grows in scale and complexity.

Objective: This study assessed the print collection of an Asian academic medical library using list-checking. The library’s book collection was matched to Doody’s Core Titles (DCT) subspecialties to identify strong and weak subject areas and understand temporal trends from 2014 to 2020. Method: List checking was employed as the method of research. Results: Basic sciences and nursing were the strongest subspecialties from 2018 to 2020, with many subjects having 100% matches, likely because most academic programs share the same basic sciences foundation subjects and nursing collections had been developed for many years as a long-standing program of the institution. Associated health-related disciplines was the weakest subspecialty. Conclusion: These subjects need to be prioritized in collection development. All subspecialties exhibited an increasing trend of matching between 2014 and 2020. Electronic books were included in the matching to DCT 2020; however, the match was low compared to print only or both print and electronic titles. DCT title matching can not only identify gaps in library collections that need to be filled but also point toward opportunities to develop strong and varied collections in medicine and allied health.