Madame Audrey's Guide to Mostly Cheap But Good Reference Books for Small and Rural Libraries

by American Library Association

Almost 70 percent of all public libraries in the United States are classified as small and rural. How can a smaller library provide the same high quality and quantity of information as its larger counterparts? Madame Audrey has the answer! In Madame Audrey's Guide to Mostly Cheap but Good Reference Books for Small and Rural Libraries , author Audrey Lewis provides a comprehensive and cost-conscious resource for locating fundamental reference sources to use in developing and maintaining a small―but strong―reference collection. This fun-to-use guide provides complete annotations for the reference sources small libraries should offer in a solid reference collection. Madame Audrey gets right down to the basics by clearly describing the resources every small library should have by category. The author also identifies titles that can be added (when the budget allows) to enhance and update the reference collection. Organized according to Dewey categories, topics include a complete spectrum of titles in categories such as health care, history, sports, and many more. Whether you are developing a reference section from scratch, or updating and expanding an existing collection, Madame Audrey will provide insight―with a touch of humor―into how to make the best selections.

206 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1998