Beth R. Bernhardt – författare

Plato's Republic was the inspiration for the theme of the 2009 Charleston Conference, Issues in Book and Serial Acquisition—Necessity Is the Mother of Invention. The conference, held November 4–7 in Charleston, South Carolins, included pre conferences, plenary sessions, and concurrent sessions. The theme reflected the changes and innovations that are taking place in libraries, collection development, and acquisitions as we expand our services in the global marketplace amid tough economic times of budget cuts, furloughs, and cancelation of some resources. We are looking for ideas and innovation. The Charleston Conference continues to be a major event for information exchange among librarians, vendors, and publishers. Now in its twenty-ninth year, the conference continues to be one of the most popular conferences in the Southeast. Conference attendees continue to remark on the informative and thought-provoking sessions. The conference provides a collegial atmosphere where librarians, publishers, and vendors talk freely and directly about issues facing their libraries and information providers.

Held November 3-6, 2010, the theme of the 2010 Charleston Conference, the annual event that explores issues in book and serial acquisition, was “Anything Goes.” 2010 marked the thirtieth anniversary of the conference, and the theme revealed a sense of uncertainty about the future of librarianship in a digital environment marked by rapidly changing systems and practices. The conference focused on topics and themes in collection development, journals and serials management, technology and product development, collaboration between and among libraries and their communities, and managing e-book and monograph collections.

The Charleston Conference continues to be a major event for information exchange among librarians, vendors, and publishers. Conference attendees always remark on the informative, thought-provoking sessions and the collegial atmosphere where information professionals can talk directly about issues facing their industry. This volume shares the best of the presentations and panels.