Library‐Publishing Connection: Too Many Books? Publishers' Problems and Collection Building

Abstract

Given the astonishing number of new book titles and new editions of older books published each year in the United States, one could assume that collection building (and maintenance) would be a virtual snap, made difficult only by the problem of what to finally choose for purchase from such an embarrassment of riches. According to Publishers Weekly in its “Statistical Report on Domestic Title Output” (October 1, 1982) a total of “at least 48,793 book titles were published in the U.S. in 1981”—41,434 brand‐new titles and 7,359 new editions, a staggering total on the face of it. (The words “at least” are used because many published books are not counted in the PW totals: government publications, many professional law book publications, subscription reference sets, book club editions, irregular serials and annuals, books sold only to schools, books of fewer than 49 pages, etc.) And if further proof is needed that an awful lot of books are available for librarians to purchase for library collections, Bowker's advertisement for the new edition of Books in Print notes that the 1982–83 edition has increased to six volumes, from two in the 1960s and four in the 1970s. The ad further states that the newest edition lists more than 600,000 titles in print and includes more than 80,000 new titles and editions than did last year's.

Citation

Eaglen, A. (1983), "Library‐Publishing Connection: Too Many Books? Publishers' Problems and Collection Building", Collection Building, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 40-42. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb023104