ABSTRACT
When the third edition of Books for College Libraries (BCL3) was released in 1988, it was available for the first time in a machine-readable format. At Midwest Library Service, the decision was made to obtain the tapes of BCL3 and investigate their possible application as a collection development tool which could be used to compare a library’s holdings as reflected in their OCLC records to the idealized collection as reflected in BCL3. The hope was that this service would result in an increase of book orders for Midwest through both routine library expenditures as well as potential grants which this sort of project might engender. Several problems, some expected, some unexpected arose as this new service went into testing, but the early results suggest the viability of the project if potential clients are strictly qualified.
