Leading expert Diane Kovacs selects and annotates core e-resources in 15 major subject areas

New York, NY (August 15, 2009) – Libraries are essential conduits for connecting today’s information-seekers with the electronic and Web-based resources they want and demand. The Kovacs Guide to Electronic Library Collection Development: Essential Core Subject Collections, Selection Criteria, and Guidelines, Second Edition, to be released by Neal-Schuman on September 30, 2009, outlines the best essential strategies, tools, and electronic resources available for building and maintaining robust e-library collections and services.

Award-winning trainer and consultant Diane K. Kovacs offers this one-stop resource for any librarian who wants to develop, expand, or improve an e-library. Following a foreword from Harvard University Research Librarian and renowned Library Journal columnist Cheryl LaGuardia and an introduction from Academic Librarian and Professor Barbara Fister, Kovacs divides the book into two parts, the first of which focuses on general collection planning recommendations and reviews the fundamental principles for creating a usable e-library collection plan. There are specific strategies for collecting, evaluating, and selecting e-resources, as well as concrete advice on critical maintenance, management, licensing, and cataloging issues.

Part II is an unparalleled collection development tool offering selection criteria and core e-resources collections in 15 specific subject areas: ready-reference, government documents, genealogy, jobs and employment, business, legal information, medical information, biological sciences, engineering, chemistry, physics, astronomy, mathematics, earth sciences, social sciences, education, the arts, and the humanities. Each chapter identifies subject-specific selection processes, evaluation, and organization criteria, and includes related real-life e-library success stories. This edition features all-new Web 2.0 related services and government e-documents.

Checklists, forms, tables, and figures provide further reinforcement for practical implementation. The book’s regularly updated, bonus companion Web site features an extensive list of annotated links to all of the sites, e-resources, and core reference e-resources detailed in the book, and can be easily imported into a library Web site or OPAC.

The Kovacs Guide to Electronic Library Collection Development: Essential Core Subject Collections, Selection Criteria, and Guidelines, Second Edition, is an authoritative, start-to-finish primer to help guide librarians through the crucial policies and practices for planning, developing, improving, or maintaining an e-library.

The Kovacs Guide to Electronic Library Collection Development: Essential Core Subject Collections, Selection Criteria, and Guidelines, Second Edition
ISBN: 978-1-5570-664-7.
2009. 8.5×11. 300pp. $150.00.

About the Author
Diane K. Kovacs received an MS in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois and a M. Ed. in Instructional Technology from Kent State University. She is currently President of Kovacs Consulting—Internet & Web Training, and is a recipient of the “Documents to the People” award from the Government Documents Roundtable of the American Library Association. She is a past editor-in-chief of the Directory of Scholarly and Professional Electronic Conferences, and has authored numerous books, including The Virtual Reference Handbook: Interview and Information Delivery Techniques for the Chat and E-Mail Environment and Genealogical Research on the Web.

About Neal-Schuman Publishers
Neal-Schuman Publishers is a leading publisher of professional books for librarians, archivists and knowledge managers. Founded in 1976, Neal-Schuman Publishers is based in New York City, with offices in London, UK.

For More Information and/or Cover Art
Contact Sarah Eisenberg
sarah.eisenberg@neal-schuman.com
100 William Street, Suite 2004
New York, NY 10038
212-925-8650
www.neal-schuman.com