Wasted Words?: Current Trends in Collection Development Policies

Abstract

The transition to electronic resources and the changing role of the collection development librarian are having a tremendous impact on the manner by which libraries select and acquire new materials. The goal of this research project was to further elucidate the current trends of collection development policies in members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) as well as gauge current use and future efficacy. The survey was designed and sent to librarians responsible for collection development at university-affiliated ARL libraries in order to obtain a current picture of academic collection development policies, and how they are changing due to the abundance of electronic resources and new methods of data-driven acquisitions. The goals of the survey are to • Measure the continued use of CD policies as major collection-building tools; • Assess the frequency of updates to collection development policies; • Determine the availability of collection development policies; • Measure and compare the amount of time available to librarians to review and select new materials; • Determine if print materials are being reviewed in new and innovative ways or if they receive the same assessment as electronically formatted materials; • Measure the employment of data or patron-driven acquisition methods. The findings will require additional assessment, but the data does seem to indicate a time of change in the way academic libraries complete and assess their primary collection development activities. This survey was created, at least in part, with the hope of setting a starting point for continued evaluation and longitudinal measurement. If our survey participants are as actively helpful in future years, these dreams of cyclical assessment may well come to fruition. Survey Planning and Dissemination The major goals and elements of this survey, as well as the resulting data, stem from previous research by this group of authors. The initial work was presented at the 2011 Charleston Conference and appears in the proceedings as “Something's Gotta Give: Is There a Future for the Collection Development Policy?” With this effort, the focus was the examination of the environment and landscape of collection development/ management, with special attention to the primary questions mentioned in the abstract. Following a thorough review of the literature and various best practices, the time arrived to collect original data on these topics. Following the presentation in November of 2011, the researchers set forth to expand the project. The Association of Research Libraries appeared the logical place to set the bar, and their collection of 125 research libraries proved an attractive target. The authors decided, however, that the focus of this initial survey would be only those libraries associated with the 112 public and private colleges and universities, excluding other library-type members (Smithsonian Institution Libraries, New York Public Library, National Library