The Development and Testing of an Instrument to Measure Attitudes Toward the Quality vs. Demand Debate in Collection Management

This is a report of a pilot study to test the feasibility of measuring the attitudes of public librarians regarding two contrasting collection development philosophies: "quality-driven" vs. "demand-driven" collection development. Study results suggest that such a measurement is feasible. Of the 78 libraries responding to the questionnaire, the majority agreed with statements favoring demand-driven collection development. Quality-driven collection development was not entirely rejected. Over 75% of the respondents agreed with a statement that libraries should concentrate on providing books of high quality and enduring value. The conclusion is made that while a demand-driven philosophy is favored by most of the respondents, over three-fourths were in agreement with at least some aspects of the quality-driven philosophy.