This presentation reviewed user-driven acquisitions in general and how the collection development practices and policies at Texas A&M University have shifted to address them.
5. Librarian Mediated to Customer Initiated
• User-Driven
• Books on Demand
• Patron-Driven
• Patron-initiated Purchasing
• Demand-Driven
• Purchase-on-Demand
• On-demand Information delivery
• Get It For Me
• Just-In-Time
12. References
• Association of Research Libraries. 2009. ARL Statistics, 2007-2008.
http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/arlstat08.pdf.
• Hodges, Dracine, Cindy Preston, and Marsha J. Hamilton. 2010. Patron-initiated Collection
Development: Progress of a Paradigm Shift. Collection Management. 35(3/4):208-221.
• Jones, Douglas. 2011. On-Demand Information Delivery: Integration of Patron-Driven
Acquisition into a Comprehensive Information Delivery System. Journal of Library
Administration. 51(7/8):764-776.
• Kent, Allen. 1979. Use of library materials: The University of Pittsburgh study. New York:
M. Dekker.
• Nixon, Judith M., Robert S. Freeman, and Suzanne M. Ward. 2010. Patron-Driven
Acquisitions: An Introduction and Literature Review. Collection Management. 35(3/4):119-
124
• Reynolds, Leslie J. Carmelita Pickett, Wyoma vanDuinkerken, Jane Smith, Jeanne
Harrell, and Sandra Tucker. 2010. User-Driven Acquisitions: Allowing Patron Requests to
Drive Collection Development in an Academic Library. Collection Management.
3(3/4)5:244-254.
• Schroeder, Rebecca. 2012. When Patrons call the shots: Patron-driven acquisition at
Brigham Young University. Collection Building. 31(1):11-14.
• vanDuinkerken, Wyoma, Jane Smith, Jeanne Harrell, Leslie J. Reynolds, Sandra
Tucker, and Esther Carrigan. 2008. Creating a flexible fund structure to meet the needs
and goals of the library and its users. Library Collections, Acquisitions, and Technical
Services. 32(3/4): 142-149.
• Walters, William H. 2012. Patron-Driven Acquisition and the Educational Mission of the
Academic Library. Library Resources & Technical Services. 56(3):199-213.
As library collections evolve from the print to the electronic world, we face new opportunities and challenges. In this presentation, I will discuss user-driven acquisitions in general and how the collection development practices and policies at Texas A&M University have shifted to address them.Librarians traditionally relied on book reviews, publisher reputation and professional intuition based on knowledge of faculty research interests and courses taught to guide the selection of materials for the collection. Requests for specific titles from customers were considered, but the authority to decide what to purchase lived solely with the bibliographer.
Beginning in the late 1970s, several different studies of major research library collections showed that the majority of materials selected by librarians never circulated. We were collecting just in case for potential future needs. These studies showed that we may not be serving our customers as well as expected. ARL statistics also show increased use of interlibrary loan throughout the last 25 years.In the early 1990’s Bucknell University piloted the policy of purchasing books requested by patrons if it was faster or less expensive than interlibrary loan. This idea was embraced and now I would bet that all libraries have some criteria in place to decide when to borrow and when to purchase items requested through ILL. We have had this policy in place at TAMU since the late 1990s. We’ve had a suggest-a-purchase form on our website for several years prior to adding a user-driven acquisitions policy. How many of you have this type policy in place at your institution? For items that are purchased, are they paid out of a central fund?
This type of purchase policy, coupled with increasing customer expectations, technological advances, improved supply chain management and fiscal realities have set the stage for including more User-Driven Acquisitions policies into the collection development model. Another policy change that helped move in this direction at Texas A&M University was a drastic change to how collections funds are structured. In 2007, the TAMU Collection Development Management Team revamped the existing fund structure by eliminating individually managed, subject-specific fund lines for one-time purchases (except for six endowment funds), thereby reducing the number of one-time fund lines from 237 down to 12. The result was 5 unrestricted fund lines that could be used to purchase one-time monographic materials in print, electronic or other media formats. The Approval Fund, used to purchase materials supplied through the library's principal approval plan. The User Generated Fund, used to purchase materials requested by a university student, staff, or faculty member. The Library Generated Fund, used to fund materials selected by a librarian that are below the minimum purchase threshold of $1,000.The Library Proposal Fund, above the minimum threshold price of $1,000 and below the Big Ticket threshold of $10,000. OR more than 25 related The Big Ticket fund for “one time cost” materials selected over $10,000.
As a part of making this change, a goal was set to meet the information needs of every affiliated faculty member and student by funding and expediting the purchase of all reasonable requests. We wanted to involve customers in collection development efforts, so much so that we set aside funds specifically for our Suggest-A-Purchase program. In evaluating this program, we found students, faculty and staff became actively engaged in selecting material for the collection and many reported increased use of the library. The program also gave librarians more time for outreach to our users and provided opportunities for discussion with those who requested multiple items.One of the goals of this shift was to move the organization from thinking about allotments as “MY” money to thinking more holistically about the Libraries collection and “OUR” money. It provided traditionally underfunded subject areas with resources to purchase needed items and stopped evaluating collection development performance on the ability to spend money to focus on analysis and stewardship. We would rather our librarians purchase the right things, than purchase things to spend out their funds by the end of the year.
User Driven Acquisitions has many names. No matter what you call it, it comes down to trusting library users to make appropriate collection requests for materials – books, music, film, etc. and use fiscal resources wisely.So that we are all on the same page, we call our user-driven acquisitions service, Suggest-a-Purchase. Not a great name really, but we had a form on our website for years before we embraced this policy and that was its name.In April of this year we began to pilot the e-book model of loading records for purchase into our catalog, and we refer to this internally as both Demand Driven Acquisitions and Patron-Driven Acquisitions. We’ll call it PDA for short. In this model, when the customer uses the e-book and hits the threshold agreed (be it number of uses or number of minutes of use), we purchase the book automatically. The customer does not even know they have made a request for the library to own the item. I am using the term User Driven Acquisitions as the umbrella term for the models discussed.
Times change, technology evolves, and customer expectations shift.When Amazon made it so easy to discover, purchase and receive a book in a matter of days our customers asked why it took so long for books they wanted to become available in the library. User Driven Acquisitions is a policy that allows our customers to select materials for addition to the library collection. Making this kind of policy shift is uncomfortable. The question will then be asked, if there is any mediation or oversight by librarians? Well, that depends on how this service is set up and what policies you put in place. In 2007, we began promoting our new policy to our customers – well buy whatever you want as long as it is under $150. When requests are received, appropriate librarians and copied on communications with requesters. Appropriate librarians would be the liaison to the department identified by the customer, if applicable, and the librarians who have interest in or responsibility for the call number range the material falls into. Knowing what customers are asking for can inform changes that may be needed to current collection development policies.
Will we buy anything a customer asks for? Yes, as long as it is under the dollar threshold ($150) we have set and we don’t already own it. Can a customer request as many items as they want to? Yes, however, there is a trigger (number of items - 25 or dollar amount $1000 within the fiscal year) where the appropriate selector is asked to mediate before the order is placed.Do librarians still purchase items for the collection? Yes! Librarians apply their knowledge and professional judgment in writing and update collection development policies, which drive our approval plan and additions we make to the collection to meet anticipated needs based on familiarity with research interests and teaching needs.When an order is placed for a customer, the customer receives an email that the order has been placed and the subject librarian responsible for that call number range is blind copied on that message. The librarian can follow trends in customer interests as they evolve throughout the year.
Do librarians still purchase items for the collection? Yes! Librarians apply their knowledge and professional judgment in writing and update collection development policies, which drive our approval plan and additions we make to the collection to meet anticipated needs based on familiarity with research interests and teaching needs.
When this program was first put in place librarians concerns focused on the appropriateness of material requested and the potential for customers to spend a disproportionate share of the funds. After having this policy in place for three years, the librarians were asked if their concerns were validated and the majority of librarians said “No.” Some of our librarians continue to be concerned about the appropriateness of materials requested by users. The study also sought feedback from users who had requested a purchase and one of the comments received from a faculty member discussed a desire to keep up with the latest in a variety of fields, even outside the immediate research area – for teaching purposes. This individual said curiosity of students begins with curiosity of teachers.
The User Driven Acquisitions model for our eBook program is different in that the eBooks that are loaded into our system match our approval profile and collection development policies. Librarians set the criteria for what will be loaded into our catalog, and our users will then use what they need, when they need it and will trigger the purchase. From April to June, 74 books had been triggered for purchase.Prior to our funding structure shift, setting up a pilot program would have caused concern among our librarians related to funds for materials.
The feedback from our survey demonstrates that our Suggest-a-Purchase model of User Driven Acquisitions is valued by our university community. The increasing interdisciplinary Learning environment requires that academic libraries continue to adapt to meet the changing needs of our users. The ability to respond to new curricular and research requirements and to fill requests within a reasonable time frame is crucial if libraries are to remain relevant to their campus communities. Customers recognize, that even in tight budgetary times, the library makes an concerted effort to develop the collection according to users needs and wants. Our fund structure gives the Libraries flexibility to respond to shifting collection and organizational needs and priorities. User Driven Acquisitions demonstrates the library is responsive to faculty and student needs.
