Faculty input in book selection: a comparison of alternative methods

In an era of tight funding, academic medical center libraries need to determine their users' needs in order to provide cost-effective resource collections. Although faculty input is valuable, it is impractical to impose such ongoing responsibility on faculty members. This study tested an alternative method by comparing faculty preferences in discipline-specific subjects with faculty choices on corresponding discipline-specific, new-book approval slips from a vendor. Collection development librarian selections, based on formal selection criteria, were evaluated against both measures of faculty preferences. It was found that faculty members' subject ratings did not accurately predict their book choices. Implications of this and the other findings are discussed.