| The decision-making process used by selectors in four medical school libraries was examined during a twelve to thirteen week period from March through May 1982. The four medical school libraries were located in the same geographic area; one served a small private medical school, one was part of a state university system, and two were serving branches of private university systems. An exploratory case study incorporated several data collection techniques: structured interviews, unstructured interviews and observations, and document analysis.; The influence of a number of factors were examined, including: the history, organization, and budgetary structures of the institutions and the libraries; priority of needs; resource-sharing and interlibrary cooperation; and the effect of twelve areas of concern to health science libraries. Levels of discretion of the selectors and the dynamic factors of interruptions and timing problems were examined also.; Seven routines in decision-making, identified in the literature of organizational diagnosis and business administration, were applied to the decision-making process of the selectors.; The application of the decision-making process as described in the business literature can be applied to the process used by selectors for collection development in medical school libraries, providing a structure for the examination of selection decisions. Selectors were found to be unaware of their thought processes during the selection of materials. The existence of a collection development policy does not appear to influence the process of decision-making. Interruptive factors, such as the telephone, and job-related duties other than selection were identified by the selectors as interfering with their concentration while making selection decisions. Since all the selectors were concerned with current, accurate, and timely information for health professionals, they felt more confident in their selection decisions once they were aware of their thought processes during the decision-making process. |
