ALA Midwinter 2011: ALCTS Panel Considers the Impact of Patron-Driven Acquisition on Selection and Collections
It's already a given that the research university has been altered by patron-driven acquisitions (PDA)—but some are questioning the effect it will have on collections. By Josh Hadro Jan 13, 2011The question of dead or not seemed almost beside the point at the ALCTS Collection Management and Development Section Forum, "Is Selection Dead? The Rise of Collection Management and the Twilight of Selection." As far as the panelists were concerned, it's a given that the research university has been radically altered by patron-driven acquisitions (PDA) and large-scale digital collection. The lively Q&A session, however, pushed the conversation into a more fundamental debate about the nature of collections and how they ought to be built. The session took place Sunday evening, January 9, at the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting in San Diego, CA.
Briefly, each panelist gave their interpretation of the session title, and sketched their views on the way forward for collections:
- Rick Anderson, Associate Director for Scholarly Resources and Collections at the University of Utah Marriott Library, set out a vision similar to what he described during his Charleston Conference keynote, and highlighted the shift from discrete collections based on in-house materials to a more modern conception of a collection that extends from core holdings to include a much broader and more accessible universe of content. A key part of that access is making large swaths of material—lightly curated, or "pre-selected"—discoverable by researchers but only acquiring it upon their go-ahead. It also entails a preference for electronic versions across the board (though faculty can opt for print), as well as per-article purchasing as opposed to "Big Deal" journal subscriptions.
- Stephen Bosch, Budget and Licensing Librarian at the University of Arizona, Tucson, likewise phrased this shift in terms of long-term economic limitations and a move away from reliance on local collections, adding that researchers are living and working in an age of abundance. Likewise, Bosch pointed out that 30 years ago the largest aggregation of data users had access to was the local library. In the end, Bosch cited a distinct shift from selection and collection development toward resource management, which "will require different skills and knowledge," he said.
- Approaching the same shift a different way, Duke University's Nancy Gibbs, Department Head of Acquisitions, suggested that she might have phrased the session title differently, appending "as we have traditionally known it." But she also emphasized certain print-centric topics like area studies and local university interests that will be slow to move away from traditional models of materials selection. She described the new role selectors might take on, freed from normal tasks of rote selection, including: working more closely with technical services, writing grants, finding elusive materials, pushing library expertise out to the scholarly community, and selecting materials for the local repository (or "lots of bespoke and liaison work," as Roger Schonfeld, research manager for Ithaka S+R, tweeted from the audience).
- Finally, Reeta Sinha, Senior Collection Development Manager at YBP Library Services, was seemingly the most hopeful about the continued role of the selector. Rather than describe any particular demise or transition, she reflected instead on what she considered to be a dramatic reaction to the current economic climate in higher ed. "Whenever we're faced with a threat, we seem to want to start chopping off our limbs," she said. Demand-driven acquisition is a powerful tool that good directors will take into consideration, but she also noted that collection development and management have adapted to every challenge libraries have faced, and that twilight for selection has not yet arrived: "selectors, I'm happy to report, are very much still alive."
The notion of collections
The lengthy and spirited Q&A session, by contrast, delved into broader notions of the role served by collections. Throughout the session and discussion, Anderson returned more than once to what might be called a core tenet—that the purpose of the collection is not to be a collection, but to meet the information needs of his users. This served as a jumping-off for a number of other comments.
For example, as access and ownership are increasingly disentangled, Bosch pointed out that "there is significant tension between patron-driven plans, and the role of libraries as the place of the scholarly record." He later told LJAN: "For libraries that believe they have a role in preserving the scholarly record, there is a gap between that activity and content acquired through PDA efforts. That gap will need to be filled by some mechanism. That could be achieved through cooperative approaches with consortia (the group collective buys X copies of most academic titles published, etc.)"
Anderson likewise told LJAN that while the needs of his patrons consistently guide his views on collection building, he sees a narrower scope for collections also doubling as long-term just-in-case repositories. "My view is that it does make sense for there to be a limited number of such collections, for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a robust and comprehensive scholarly archive. However, in my view such collections will be very much the exception to the rule—I'm not sure we need more than eight or ten such collections in the U.S. Most academic libraries are neither funded nor charged to be that kind of resource and need to focus much more narrowly on local needs."
Many in the audience, however, were less sanguine about the extensive implications of user-initiated selection processes. If we turn further and further toward "American Idol-style collection," asked David Magier, AUL for collection development at Princeton, what will be available to go into the large-scale repositories and the access clearinghouses like the HathiTrust? "What makes those great resources is that they're based on hundred of years of hand-picked collections," he said, a line that actually received applause from the audience. "If we'd been doing PDA all along, those wouldn't be such robust collections," he added.
Magier told LJAN that he doesn't oppose PDA itself, but rather worries about the larger implications of establishing it as the exclusive tool for collection building. "It forces you to spend resources responding to the ups and downs of the moment, and not thinking about the long term, and what it takes to support research," he said.
Check back for updates to Midwinter coverage this week.
