This article takes a broad view of the evolution of collecting behaviors in a network environment and suggests some future directions based on various simple models. The authors look at the changing dynamics of print collections, at the greater engagement with research and learning behaviors, and at trends in scholarly communication. The goal is to provide context within which libraries can discuss changing patterns of investment across collection categories. The authors argue that the network is reconfiguring not only individual academic libraries but also the whole library system, as reduced transaction costs facilitate the unbundling of functions and their consolidation in network platforms and with other external service providers.
Universities (and Libraries) in transition Following World War II, the higher education sector grew rapidly. The increases in college attendance were dramatic. For example, in 1949, 2.4 million students attended US colleges and universities; by 1969, total enrollment had grown to 8 million students; and by 1994, enrollment had risen to 14.3 million students. And this growth continues. Between 2004 and 2014, enrollment increased 17%, from 17.3 million to 20.2 million. 1 As the higher education sector has grown, the number of US academic libraries has increased as well, growing by 6% from 2002 to 2012, and totaling more than 4000 in 2015. 2
Research analyses of the HathiTrust Digital Library collection indicate that about 1.15 million of the more than 5.16 million unique titles in the digitized collection-or about 22 percent-are in the public domain. These estimates exclude the large number of publications that might be classed as "orphan works," for which some copyright exceptions can be exercised. By some accounts, orphan works may account for as much as 50 percent of the digitized volumes in the HathiTrust collection (Wilkin 2011).
Collective collections are multiple local collections described and/or managed as a single collection. Constructing, understanding, and operationalizing collective collections is an increasingly important aspect of collection management for many libraries. This article presents some general insights about collective collections, drawn from a series of studies conducted by OCLC. These insights identify salient characteristics of many collective collections and serve as a starting point for developing collective collection-based strategies for such library priorities as shared print, digitization, and group-scale discovery and fulfillment.
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