Thursday, December 20, 2012

Collection Development Survey Results

HEB recently asked its subscribers to take part in a survey designed to assist us in expanding our title list to reflect current interests in scholarship and adding to any underrepresented areas. In response we received feedback from 185 participants at subscribing institutions.

Those areas generating the most interest included several that are already prominently featured or traditionally strong in the HEB collection, such as European History and U.S. History. The top five fields of interest to participating subscribers were Film and Media Studies, American History, Latin American History, Art and Architecture and Literature—though each of the remaining thirty-one options was also selected a number of times. These results seem to indicate that, for one, maintaining the current breadth and diversity of our humanities offerings is essential; and furthermore, that certain core fields have remained popular over the span of HEB’s ten-year existence and our subscribers would like to see these continue to grow.

We had also asked survey participants to suggest new areas to explore and specific titles they would like us to consider adding. These too covered a wide variety of fields, including mythology/esoterica, non-western religion, gender studies, ecology, cultural studies, psychology, and other categories that, while not strictly falling under the mantle of a humanities-oriented initiative, may include some cross-over.

These findings will be used by HEB to continue to develop our collection over the coming years. We thank everyone who took part in the survey.



Wednesday, December 5, 2012

HEB at ALA Midwinter 2013

HEB will once again be attending the American Library Association’s Midwinter Meeting, taking place in Seattle from January 25 to 29.

To set up an appointment, contact us at info@hebook.org. Or simply stop by our booth!

We will be available at Booth 1210 to discuss what’s new at HEB, including plans for expanding our title list, our newly redesigned website to be launched in early 2013, and the latest additions to our growing list of downloadable/handheld books, as well as to answer any questions from current and future subscribers. We look forward to seeing you there!

Please visit the 2013 ALA Midwinter website to register and for further details on attending the meeting.