Overview
Since publication of the previous (forth) edition of this handbook in 1978 by UNESCO, there have been drastic technological progress and very important changes in the political-economic area with great impact on library work. International exchange of publications continues to be an important mode of collection building and its practices by almost all major libraries. The 5th edition of the Handbook offers all changes in three parts: Practices (Sources of documents, Organization and methods), History and examples of our days (e.g. International book exchange: has it any future in the electronic age?) and Directory (List of exchange centres, Selected bibliography).
