1. Recent writers on Conspectus include Sridhar, M. S. (1997). Role of conspectus in collection management, and resource sharing.Library Science with a Slant to Documentation and Information Studies, 34(2), 91–99; Biblarz, D. The role of collection development in a teaching library,European Research Libraries Cooperation, 7(2), 397–422; Davis, B. (1998). How the WLN conspectus works for small libraries.Acquisitions Librarian, 20,53–72; and Russell, J. (1999). Collection profiling,SCONUL Newsletter, 16,26–30. A recent bibliography is provided by Miller in ‘The Recent Literature’, the last chapter of Gorman, G. E. & Miller, R. H. (eds.),Collection management for the 21stcentury: A handbook for librariansWestport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997.
2. Searching both titles and abstracts on the LISA database in June 2002, there were 78 items listed for the years 1991–1995; 19 for 1996–2000; and only a handful for 2001.
3. The statement in the Dearing Committee report,Higher Education in the Learning Society(London: HMSO), that undergraduates are heavily dependent on access to printed textbooks is, of course, normative. Research in several countries has found only limited or no correlation between library use and academic success. See, for example, J. Wells. (June 1995). The influence of library usage on undergraduate academic success.Australian Academic & Research Libraries 26(2), 121–128. That report also cites several earlier studies in the area.