Challenges and Possibilities for Collection Management in a Digital Age

Abstract

This paper considers some of the major issues concerning collection management in academic libraries in a rapidly changing environment. Specifically, this paper reflects on core values, scholarly communication issues, acquisition activities, access and delivery issues, and innovation. The paper concludes with ideas for incorporating shifts in these areas into a sustainable, forward-looking approach to collection management.W hat is collection management in the digital age? Our environment is fast-paced, driven by rapid changes in information technology, emerging areas of interdisciplinary research, a profusion of new digital resources, budget constraints, changes in teaching practices and learner expectations, and shifting institutional policies and priorities. What happens to collection management in this sea of information resources and formats, access methods, and budgetary choices? This paper seeks to answer this question by exploring collection management in terms of core values, scholarly communication issues, acquisitions activities, access and delivery issues, and innovation. It concludes with reflections for charting the future of collection management.We can begin by asking what can be a valid and tenable concept of collection management. The problem is far more complicated than it was in the predigital age. Collection size and scope, as determined by holdings counts, particular strengths, and unique materials, were formerly understood in relation to institutional mission and programs. The "tonnage" model of collection building traditionally has been focused on breadth and scope of owned resources, although this is starting to change as the importance of access to leased resources is recognized. Mapping resources to an institution's collective needs was challenging but not impossible. The universe of available publications and formats was finite; with professional experience, one could connect the dots to recognize its size and scale in relation to a specific collection's desired parameters. Johnson notes that collection management was proposed as a concept in the 1980s: "It includes collection development and an expanded suite of decisions about weeding, cancelling serials, storage, and preservation." 1 While these core activities remain integral to our work, their scope has altered significantly. Selection of new material, weeding of less important items, storage off-site, and preservation in various formats are best understood in the

Disruption and Disintermediation

“…Horova observed, "The collection is everywhere and nowhere-it is a cloud of distributed resources in a variety of places around the globe that are made centrally available via the library." 14 This statement gets at the crux of matter: libraries can no longer corral and control the knowledge universe in containers and collections. The challenge is for libraries to reimagine their roles in the face of rapid change.…”

Turning a Crisis Into an Opportunity: DDA and PDA at UTA Libraries

“…It propels us to reexamine our overall collection development paradigm through the lens of "what a collection does rather than what a collection is," (Horava, 2010) and to seek opportunities to reprogram our monograph acquisition to meet our users' needs. As a result, our service orientation has shifted from collection-centric to engagement-centric, and from librarian-predicting to patron driven.…”

Literature of Acquisitions in Review, 2010–11

“…Horava noted that the growth in spending on electronic resources has had a major impact on workflows that had been geared toward acquisition of print materials. 8 Print materials, while still important to some fields, now compete with electronic materials that have been incorporated into new workflows. Libraries must negotiate multiple pricing considerations for digital materials.…”

“…Horava noted that Big Deals offer substantial benefits, but they do so at the cost of diminished control over content and pricing. 60 More flexibility in content inclusion and removal, title replacement, cancellation rights, and continuing access to subscribed materials on nonrenewal of the deal is needed. While the Big Deal approach has supporters, it has been the center of tension as libraries have had to cancel titles during economic downturns.…”