Collection development: is the isolated university library a special case?

John Kennedy - Lecturer in Information Studies, Charles Sturt University

Abstract
The particular collection development challenges faced by the geographically isolated university library are examined, partly on the basis of information collected during visits to James Cook University, Central Queensland University, Northern Territory University, and the University of the South Pacific. Isolated universities do face special difficulties (and have some special opportunities) but their distinctive collection development circumstances may owe as much to corollaries of isolation, such as relative newness, small size, and comparatively limited funding, as they do to the fact of geographical isolation per se.