Judith--
I'd ask my attorneys if they'd prefer Black's or Ballentine's, and go with the majority opinion. Assuage any hard feelings by promising the other when funding permits.
As for medical dictionaries, go to a bookstore and browse through the different ones. Try to determine for what your readers will be searching. Several years ago, we bought medical dictionaries for each of our Hearings Officers. We asked which dicionary each wanted. Some preferred more illustrations than others.
For the Spanish, if you can find a bi-lingual library user, I'd ask him/her to recommend the one that best suits their needs.
Twenty-two [gulp!] years ago when I started, I made acquisition decisions without asking for reader input. The result: my readers didn't use the materials I so carefully selected.
-Kay Collins, Head Librarian, US Railroad Retirement Board, Chicago
-----Original Message-----
From: Judith Cole [mailto:ColeJ@hillsboroughcounty.org]
Posted At: Wednesday, January 08, 2003 10:06 AM
Posted To: Library Group Mailbox
Conversation: Collection Development question-dictionaries
Subject: Collection Development question-dictionaries
I am the first official (MLS) law librarian in my office. Can anyone recommend the best law dictionary, medical dictionary, and Spanish dictionary for a law library, assuming we can acquire only one of each at this time. Thanks!
Please feel free to suggest any other "must haves" in case I have overlooked something essential!
Judy Cole, Law Librarian
Hillsborough County Attorney's Office
601 E. Kennedy Blvd., 27th Fl.
Tampa, FL 33602
813-272-5673, Ext. 126
colej@hillsboroughcounty.org
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