Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Fall 2001

Abstract

Georgia State University is a culturally diverse urban institution in downtown Atlanta, with a full-time equivalent enrollment of approximately 15,000. At the heart of this urban and culturally diverse institution is the GSU Pullen Library. The library established a separate collection development department, with several subject bibliographers in the 1970s. When a new university librarian began work in October 1997, each of the five bibliographers dealt with broad subject areas, such as business and science/health science. The bibliographers worked with departmental faculty representatives, also called book chairs, to determine what was needed in the library. Another group of ten librarians worked as reference librarians and, for the most part, had little contact with the teaching faculty. Faculty requesting books contacted one of the bibliographers instead of a reference librarian. The reference librarians’ main duties included working at the reference desk and performing bibliographic instruction when requested; however, relatively few faculty requested instruction classes. The reference and collection development departments operated independently of each other.

Comments

Published in Urban Library Journal, vol. 11 no. 1 (2001), pp. 28-56.

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