1. COLLECTION
DEVELOPMENT IN
DIGITAL LIBRARIES
By: Agnes Kawa

2. SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
 “Libraries are not about books; they were, are, and will be about
facilitating communication across space and time. Books have
been a way to do that historically, but today there are other, often
better, ways to accomplish this. Libraries need to become facile at
supporting all sorts of media, and they must continue to embrace
the new, or face the consequences of losing relevance to the
mainstream culture”.
- Mark Sandler

3. TOPICS OF DISCUSSION
 Defining Digital Libraries
 Advantages vs. Disadvantages of Digital libraries
 Examples of different library settings and their digital collection
 Weeding in a digital library

4. DEFINING DIGITAL LIBRARIES
 Digital Library – A library in which collections are stored in digital
formats and accessible through computers
 Function of a digital library:
 Access to large amounts of information to users wherever they
are and whenever they need it.
 Access to primary information sources.
 Support multimedia content along with text
 Network accessibility on Intranet and Internet
 User-friendly interface

5. ADVANTAGES VS. DISADVANTAGES OF
A DIGITAL LIBRARY
 Advantages  Disadvantages
 Nearly unlimited storage space at  Lack of screening or validation
a much lower cost  Lack of preservation of a fixed copy (for
the record and for duplicating scientific
 Re-allocate funds from some staff, research)
collection maintenance, and  Lack of preservation of “best in class”
additional books.

 No physical boundary Difficulty in knowing and locating
everything that is available, and
 Round the clock availability differentiating valuable from useless
Multiple access information.

 Enhanced information retrieval. Job loss for traditional publishers and
librarians

 Preservation for some print Costs are spread and many become
material hidden.

6. PUBLIC LIBRARIES AND DIGITAL
COLLECTIONS
 Looking at the big picture
 299 Public libraries participated in a survey about digital
collections
 How the numbers add up about increasing a digital collection
 What type of digital items are in demand
 What Patrons have been requesting since the digital rise
 Print vs. Digital in the Public Library

7. DIGITAL COLLECTIONS FOR THE
DIGITAL NATIVES
 Who are the Digital Natives?
 How children view the digital world
 Open access
 Digital Libraries and Digital Design Features
 Using Digital Children’s collections in your library
 International Children's Library

8. ACADEMIC LIBRARY AND DIGITAL
COLLECTION
 When looking at Academic
libraries, need to consider:
 Core Values: equity of
access intellectual freedom,
open access, stewardship
and trustworthiness
 Scholarly communication
issues
 Author rites and copyright
issues
 Acquisition of digital material
 Develop tools for digital
material

9. WAYS TO REDEFINE COLLECTION
DEVELOPMENT IN THE NETWORKED
AREA
 Focus on what is sustainable
 Consider what a collection does rather than what a collection is
 As our parent institutions are changing, so must we
 We must make strategic decisions about what formats we support in
the multi-format universe
 Changing current practices will add value for our patrons
 We must seek the right balance between competition and
collaboration
 We must seek creative partnerships with publishers and vendors
 We need to exploit our new understanding of the collection to the
best of our ability.
 Collection librarians must expand their skills and expertise

10. WEEDING A DIGITAL COLLECTION
 Ebooks should be treated the same way as physical collections with
guidelines for retention based on use, accuracy of information and
relevance to the patron
 Knowing the numbers
 Ebook vendors and customer needs- OverDrive
 OverDrive Video
 http://ebooks.nypl.org/A55F27A7-AB28-49FF-B295-
1803F6D87A09/10/257/en/Default.htm
 Standards to your eBook collections
 Ebooks need to be manually weeded when materials become
outdated, demand decreases and relevance can be compromised
 Ebook platforms are not merged with the ILS

11. THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN
WEEDING
 OverDrive reports- Turnover Rate by Subject
 B&T Axis 360 – Top Circulation by Subject
 Create a plan to use information as it becomes available
 Take steps to be proactive in pursuing outdated material
 When purchasing new titles in popular subjects check holdings to
look for titles to weed
 When considering the purchase of backlist titles, look at the other
titles by that author to inform your purchases and consider
weeding