Collection development and acquisitions in a changing university environment

Fondren Library at Rice University has reorganized and combined the library public services staff with the public services staff of the computer center. This reorganization was the result of several challenges at the university: the increasing use of computing in instruction, the rise in support questions for delivering information to the desktop, and the inability to add staff lines. These changes have affected the ways in which collection development is done, expanding the roles of selectors and cutting into their time. The line between public service and collection development has blurred. Some of the time constraints have affected procedures used in acquisitions.     

Impact of organizational structure on acquisitions and collection development

The library’s organizational structure is examined within a framework of acquisitions and collection development. A review of the literature and analysis of data obtained in a survey reveal no clear pattern of an optimal organizational structure to enhance acquisitions and collection development activities.     

Collection development and acquisitions for service to off-campus students

The factors that contribute to effective collection development and acquisitions for library service to off-campus students are discussed. These factors are staffing, adequate funds to purchase materials, good communications among library staff and between the library and the faculty and students who use it, and the need to modify traditional academic library collection development and acquisition policies and procedures. In the course of the discussion the Correspondence/Off-Campus Library Service provided by the University of Manitoba Libraries in support of the university's distance education program is described.     

Automated acquisitions: The future of collection development

Automation of vendor files and integrated library systems are changing (a) the process of collection development, (b) the role of the collection developer, (c) the relationship between libraries and vendors, and even (d) the library's organization. By combining files in the bibliographer's workstation, paraprofessional staff can select the core collection; professionals will focus on expensive or fringe titles. Programmed or mechanical selection can replace staff decisions in acquiring the core titles. Automation may increase successful cooperative collection development and expand the responsibilities of collection developers. Professional roles will change to include more policy, preservation, evaluation, and process assignments. Collection development activities may be decentralized and combined with reference and cataloging subject groups or become part of acquisitions processing teams.     

Reorganizing collection development and acquisitions in a medium-sized academic library

The University of Dayton Roesch Library reorganized the collection development and acquisitions departments during 1995 and 1996 in order to improve the collection and make the process of acquiring materials more responsive to the needs of students and faculty. The old organization was department-based, with teaching faculty controlling most of the materials budget. The Associate Director for Technical Services coordinated the funds and supervised acquisitions staff. Perceived imbalances in the collection, student and faculty dissatisfaction with the process, and the desire for public services librarians to have greater influence in collection decisions led to a major reorganization. The new model distributes budget authority among all librarians based on subjects rather than academic departments. It empowers librarians to make purchasing and weeding decisions within their subject areas. Book and periodical acquisitions are combined into a single support unit that reports to the Coordinator and Head of Collection Management. The new organization has streamlined acquisitions processes to make ordering simpler, and the time between ordering and receipt has been shortened. The new model shifts the emphasis from process to service.     

A dual approach to assessing collection development and acquisitions for academic libraries

With a growing interest in evaluating the effectiveness of libraries, it is increasingly important that libraries find efficient ways to evaluate the collection development and acquisitions process. This requires a dual approach to explore both what was collected and actually used and also what was not collected which should have been. This study presents a way that both of these areas can be studied for smaller academic libraries and suggests ways these results can be interpreted and used to reallocate scarce budgetary resources or provide evidence for more funds for further developing the collection.     

Collection development based on patron requests: collaboration between interlibrary loan and acquisitions

Libraries are exploring new models of collaboration between interlibrary loan, collection development, and acquisitions. This paper presents two models in which libraries set aside acquisitions or other funds to purchase books requested by patrons through ILL processes. Workflows, scope criteria, and departmental relationships are described. The article reports on several aspects of the effectiveness of these models, such as turnaround time (comparable to traditional ILL loans), average cost per book ($37.00), and patron satisfaction (very high). The authors also address the subsequent circulation of titles and report on the bibliographers’ analysis of the relevance of the titles to the collection of one of the libraries.     

Collection development and acquisitions for library services to students of Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University

This paper provides background information on Thailand's Thammathirat Open University (STOU) and summarizes the main services provided to STOU students. It then examines library and educational media services and gives special attention to acquisitions policies and procedures as well as to budgeting. Finally, particular problems and possible solutions are considered.     

Sleeping with the enemy: The love/hate relationship between acquisitions and collection development

Acquisitions and collection development represent a continuum in the process of purchasing materials for libraries. However, often there is a lack of understanding of the goals of each group as they work to build collections in libraries. This paper examines the interaction between the acquisitions and collection development functions in libraries by describing a series of common problem areas. Possible strategies for working together will be examined including priority setting, boundary definition, roles, mutual expectations and respect.     

Acquiring acquisitions librarians

Reopened, extended and second searches for professional acquisitions positions in academic libraries are studied in order to identify characteristics of the initial search and the need for and methods followed in the second search.