3. Stock Selection
| Pages | 17-22 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb054870 |
| Published date | 01 April 1984 |
| Date | 01 April 1984 |
| Author | Jane Little |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
3. Stock Selection
by Jane Little
The materials (books, records, information materials) we have in our libraries and
lend are the basis of our services; they are our response to the needs of our users
and communities and, by stocking them, a library service implicitly validates or
con-
dones their content or message. Yet far too little attention is paid to the principles
and skills of stock selection. It is rarely taught in depth in library school courses;
few library authorities have agreed principles or criteria for selection; nor are new
librarians taught how to select materials on any agreed basis. It has always been
a mystery to me why this should be so, and I now believe that it is a refusal by many
librarians to recognise that it is valid to look at the content of books and other materials
and to consider their message and what the author (I use the word in its broadest
sense) is trying to convey. For of course books and other media do have a message:
by the very process of choosing information, expounding views, arranging informa-
tion in a certain way and so on the author is hoping to convey something to the
reader. And it is up to us, as intermediaries in that process, to look at the content
of books and other materials as part of our stock selection. In this article I want to
look at stock selection as it relates to women. What are materials saying about women,
and what are we offering our users? I'll begin by looking at how books are published
and how libraries acquire them, and some problems and issues inherent in that
process.
Publishing
When we look at publishing we see a strange dichotomy. There is no doubt that
feminist and women's publishing has grown enormously over the last ten years, yet
so has the publishing of books with negative images of women. Publishers have been
saying for some time that feminist books (together with books on computers!) are
the only real growth area in what is generally a time of recession. The feminist presses
are undoubtedly now well established, but what is also interesting to note is the
number of other publishers who have begun feminist lists, or who have started to
publish books aimed at this section of the market. However, while the power in these
firms is
still,
largely, in the hands of (white, middle-class) men, women's titles have
to be
"sold"
to a board which mostly consists of men, and may become sanitised
or altered in the course of that process. This aspect of publishing is still a mystery
to many librarians. The fact is that many books are commissioned or at least sought
out, and that they are then edited, shaped, illustrated, packaged and promoted before
they even reach the printers. Any part of that process can change the author's original
ideas and, in a publishing world where men still have much of the control, can have
a great influence on the books we see. Also, as already
said,
the recession has led
many publishers to increase the negative portrayals of images of women: violence-
against-women thrillers; "glamour" photography books; "sexy" book jackets and so
on are all part of this trend.
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