Collection development: in response to issues raised at the Janus Conference, Cornell, October 2005

I left the library the other evening to dig my car out of the snow and join the line headed into the mist. It's the darkest time of the year. Do they know where they're going? Do I want to go there too? A first real snow is a wonderful sort of thing. It is cold and I don't like cold. But it is also exciting and extremely beautiful. Landmarks are obscured--there's a basic plan--you can tell that. Roads head off in a direction you think you'll probably be happy with. But it's difficult to see where you're going and you can't see any street signs. That is how I've felt about Collection Development lately. Is the basic plan still there? I think we don't know. And we should just admit we don't know.We're moving along, sticking largely to the rules we're familiar with--and trying to guess what we will find under all that snow once it melts.