The introduction of 22 new degree programs and the establishment of the College of Medicine at the University of Houston (UH) prompted a comprehensive assessment of the Libraries' electronic journal collections to align with evolving academic needs. This study adopts a data-driven, evidence-based approach to analyze collection strengths and coverage gaps, utilizing tools such as Scopus, Web of Science, and Alma. Findings reveal significant journal coverage for most programs, while also identifying specific areas requiring enhancement. Methodological challenges, including data accuracy and benchmarking limitations, are discussed alongside strategic recommendations to strengthen collection development and support academic excellence. The study contributes to growing discussions around patron-driven acquisition and equitable resource allocation. This assessment identifies strategic growth areas and highlights the Libraries’ evolving role as a responsive academic partner in enhancing resource alignment, improving user satisfaction, and supporting institutional research and learning outcomes.

University libraries curate their collections striving to align with the academic disciplines of their respective institutions and to fulfill the diverse information needs of their users. The integration of digital technologies into library operations has significantly impacted their services and activities. Despite the numerous challenges, Ethiopian university libraries attempt to provide access to electronic resources. This paper aims to investigate the obstacles surrounding e-resource acquisition to enhance access and to identify the existing facilitating factors to the embrace patron-driven acquisition within Ethiopian university libraries. This study adopted an explanatory research method with a qualitative approach. The research focused on librarians, library directors, and postgraduate school directors from two public universities in Ethiopia: Jimma and Ambo Universities. A total of 22 participants were selected purposefully, and 19 of them responded accordingly. Data was collected using semi-structured Delphi techniques and interviews and analyzed using QDA Miner Lite software. The study uncovered several challenges hindering e-resource acquisition, including limited user involvement in the acquisition, the absence of an online acquisition system, inadequate acquisition budget, scarcity of relevant content, exorbitant journal costs, foreign currency constraints, and protracted licensing procedures. Conversely, the research identified enabling factors to patron-driven e-resource acquisition adoption, including the presence of ICT infrastructure, the proliferation of postgraduate programs, librarians’ strong willingness and professional readiness to integrate e-resources in the library collection, heightened user interest in e-resources, the prevalence of e-learning practices, initiatives to enhance digital services and supportive management. Therefore, addressing the challenges and leveraging enabling factors is imperative to formulate a strategic plan for effective patron-driven e-resource subscription in Ethiopian university libraries.

In the summer of 2023, Stony Brook University Libraries (SBUL) embarked on a transformation, shifting from a traditional liaison-based system to a teams-based approach. This transition reflects a broader trend in academic libraries toward optimizing operational efficiency and resource allocation amidst evolving staffing and budgetary challenges. Central to this transformation is the redefined role of the Division of Collection Strategy and Management, which now oversees all areas of collection development. This paper examines SBUL’s decision to pilot a user-centered collection development strategy, implementing a multiple-publisher Patron-Driven Acquisition (PDA) model while maintaining traditional firm order requests from faculty and students. We explore the methodology of transitioning acquisition workflows, the rationale behind adopting a user-centric approach, and the implications of this model on aligning library collections with the diverse needs of the campus community. The new collections team at SBUL identified three main goals for this pilot program: 1) enhancing and diversifying the collection, 2) identifying organizational efficiencies, and 3) implementing fiscal controls. The analysis draws on data collected during the pilot to offer insights into best practices for evolving library acquisition strategies in response to shifting user expectations and campus diversity in an environment of organizational constraints.

In 2020, shortly after campus closure mid-pandemic, the Pollak Library at California State University, Fullerton mediated their Kanopy streaming video patron-driven acquisition (PDA) program, which had been running for six years. There were pros and cons to the timing of this decision given that the demand for streaming video would rise with the move to remote instruction. After the return to campus and weighing the impact of PDA mediation on acquisitions workload and streaming video expenditures, the library decided to reimplement an unmediated Kanopy Smart PDA that would improve access and workflow but provide a sustainable and predictable budget.

Many academic libraries make streaming video content available to their users on the Kanopy platform. This article explores how libraries have approached Kanopy’s various access models, of which the most common are a patron driven acquisition (PDA) access model and a mediated access model. The author examines her institution’s switch in models in light of budgetary concerns and concludes that the change to mediate access has not led to significant delays in providing access to requested materials.

ABSTRACT This study examined the quality of library websites of QS world top-ranked medical libraries’ services, resources, information dissemination tools, and training opportunities to library users. Moreover, this study also explores the medical resources provided by medical universities remotely. The study used web content analysis method. A checklist consisting on nine main categories and 87 indicators have been finalized. The website quality assessment score indicated that none of the university libraries in the discipline of “medicine” gained 100% score. However, two university libraries (University of Cambridge and University of Washington) scored more than 90%. The finding revealed that “patron-driven acquisition” was a least common service (n = 6) and significant number of university libraries (42%) were still not using mobile apps. The most famous five dissemination tools are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn. While web of science, PubMed, PsycINFO are significantly available databases to most of the libraries. This is an in-depth and first study investigating the web content analysis of world top-ranked medical universities libraries.

A case study of Singapore Management University Libraries: Adopting a mixed methods approach towards collection evaluation

This study considered the development, awareness, adoption, and usage of digital library (DL) resources at the university level. To develop and implement a successful electronic library resource system, it is vital to review the success factors and identify the most important technological aspects of DL resources. Electronic library information technology was described and grouped into several categories that influence user satisfaction in a DL context. These are open access to information, the facility of access, uncomplicated interface design, high quality of the communication process, Internet performance, performance assurance service, ease of communication via social network, and patron-driven acquisition. With these important features of DL services, the simplicity of accessing online information and the performance of DL utilities have become of paramount importance. Several research works were therefore reviewed and evaluated to determine the usability of DL services; thereafter, the design of the DL discovery system was developed through Blacklight open-source software.

This study aims to explore the adoption of the Patron Driven Acquisition (PDA) model among Malaysian academic libraries. The study ensues the continuous increase in the proportion and cost of information resources (electronic and print) coupled with the current dwindling budget crushing libraries worldwide. It adopts questionnaires to elicit responses from 111 purposively selected librarians, specifically from Malaysia's academic libraries' acquisition units. This study revealed that some Malaysian academic libraries practice the user-initiated collection acquisition model, with modifications from the Patron Driven Acquisition (PDA) practiced in the developed world. Malaysian academic libraries adopt the stand-alone user-initiated collection development model instead of integrating the model with either the library OPAC or publishers ‘databases as practiced by other libraries. The user-driven acquisition model is productive considering resource usage, library budget justification, and high return on investment (ROI), according to Malaysian academic libraries.

PurposeAcademic libraries continue to invest in eBooks to ensure access to content in various formats. This paper aims to examine eBook acquisition models, including patron-driven acquisitions, one-time purchases, focused collection subscriptions or large-scale subscriptions, to better understand how users engage with this content based on usage data.Design/methodology/approachUsage data provide insights into eBook acquisition and how access models influence use. This study defines the acquisition model for each eBook purchase. Data were examined to determine usage by acquisition model and cost-per-use.FindingsThis paper finds that for a large suburban community college, a large-scale subscription model has the lowest cost-per-use and serves the largest portion of students. Focused collection subscriptions supported small, specialized programs in the Allied Health, Emergency Services, and Nursing fields.Originality/valueThis paper examines how eBooks are acquired to determine which model best serves an academic library community, specifically a community college library, which is currently underrepresented in the literature.

This article outlines the issues and challenges of libraries working with patron-driven acquisition (PDA) or demand-driven acquisitions. Several suggestions are made to improve PDA for librarians and users.

Patron-driven acquisition has been an important, if contentious, topic for decades, with numerous programs having been piloted, adopted, and reported on, largely favorably, in the library literature. Still, questions and doubts persist for academic libraries, especially where the composition of vendor plans and packages and the judgment of patrons are concerned. Past literature has approached the assessment of patron-driven acquisition by analyzing circulation/usage, comparing peer-library holdings, seeking patrons’ or librarians’ judgments of utility and suitability, looking for evidence of collection imbalances, and testing for overlap in patrons’ and librarians’ purchases. To contribute to this literature, this study addresses scholarly impact and examines whose selections—approval plans’, librarians’, or patrons’—have been most heavily cited. For the social sciences, the sciences, and the humanities, the authors gathered topic-matched random samples of books acquired via approval plans and librarian orders during the first five years of operation of their institutions’ interlibrary loan purchase-on-demand patron-driven acquisition program and compared their citation counts to the counts of books acquired via the program. Google Scholar was employed to tally citations.

ABSTRACTThis article focuses on the context and mechanics of a patron-driven acquisition plan for print music scores and monographs at a large American university. The article analyzes, discusses, and compares, the purchasing and usage trends of the print patron-driven acquisition plan with traditional selection methods. Teaching faculty are using the patron-driven acquisition of print music materials to fill research needs, and to find scores and books for teaching and course reserve use. Compared to firm-order monograph and score purchases, print titles acquired through patron-driven acquisition are circulating sooner after arrival in the collection indicating that the need of the patron has been served in a timely and efficient manner.

대학도서관은 구성원이 교육과 연구를 수행하는 데 있어 필요수적인 자료를 선정하여 구입할 필요가 있다. 따라서 이용자의 정보 요구를 장서 개발에 반영하는 방법으로 희망도서 제도를 운영하고 있다. 본 연구는 10년간의 장기적 관점에서 희망도서 신청 과정과 결과를 분석하였다. 희망도서는 단행본에 대한 강력한 정보...

At the University of Minnesota Libraries, the interlibrary loan, acquisitions, and course reserve departments developed a new, data-driven project to provide students access to required course materials through patron-driven acquisition and cross-departmental collaboration. Item usage and student cost-savings data were collected throughout the project. During the spring 2015 semester, a survey was distributed to students across various disciplines affected by the project. Intended to measure the pilot project's success, the data and survey also yielded compelling evidence that academic libraries can best serve student needs by purchasing multiple user ebooks of required materials and promoting their availability.

The acquisitions literature published in 2012–13 shows a strong focus on nontraditional purchasing models, especially for electronic books (e-books). Patron Driven Acquisition (PDA) is one method that helps librarians cope with budget constraints that continue to plague library budgets. The expense of Big Deals has some libraries seeking more efficient alternatives such as Pay-Per-View or Evidence-Based Selection, however, many libraries are still reliant on the depth of coverage and perceived value of Big Deals. This review will cover these trends along with developments in Electronic Resources Management Systems (ERMSs), workflow efficiencies, and negotiation and licensing techniques.

This article is a report of a session presented by Mangala Krishnamurthy and Connie Stovall (a contributor to the presentation) of the University of Alabama Libraries at the 2015 North American Serials Interest Group conference. A patron-driven acquisition (PDA) pilot project was initiated in fall 2013 at the University of Alabama (UA) Libraries mainly serving the Nursing and Allied Health subject areas. Since the Capstone College of Nursing at UA offers an online Doctor of Nursing Practice program and partners with two other schools in the UA system, UA Libraries collaborated with the other libraries in the University System. The project uses Rittenhouse’s R2 Digital Libraries’ PDA module as the basic platform. The Capstone College of Nursing liaison discussed in detail the selection, management, assessment, promotion, and communication part of the project in addition to second year plans for the project.

Three librarians from two similar but unaffiliated state colleges—both members of larger university systems—discuss how they confronted similar e-book acquisition concerns. In this session, presenters described how they took two different approaches toward revising their collection development policies, economizing their processes and streamlining their workflows. The presenters discussed patron-driven acquisition e-book programs, as well as the importance of communication and collaboration among library personnel. By formalizing the purchasing decisions of electronic formats, libraries can provide the structure needed to support changing staff roles and shrinking resources, as well as address important related issues such as accessibility and timeliness.

ABSTRACTThe ease and effectiveness of patron-driven (demand-driven) acquisitions has helped to optimize many academic libraries’ acquisitions budgets. Libraries are increasingly turning to e-books as an alternative to purchasing multiple copies. Academic libraries have for years been forced to purchase large packages of e-books that are of questionable financial value because so much of the content is not used. The number of content units downloaded from large e-book packages by university patrons is not growing. At the same time, the number of checkouts of print books is declining. Advantages of e-books over print are discussed. Also mentioned are a few drawbacks, particularly the fact that European Union countries impose a higher level of value-added tax (VAT) on them than on print books. The author presents a case study analyzing the first two years of experience with the Ebook Library (EBL) platform at the Tallinn University of Technology Library, giving an overview of the advantages and successful measures of demand-driven acquisition in the form of short-term loans.

In this article, the authors describe a patron-driven acquisitions plan successfully implemented at the City University of New York. The authors provide background on the City University of New York and the plan's suitability for such a large consortial library group using examples from the literature and their own experience. The planning, implementation, and outcomes of the plan are discussed as well as thoughts for the future.