1 / 13

The Future (or Not) of Library Collections: A Serials Perspective

This article discusses the future of library collections, focusing on serials and the challenges they face in the 21st century. It explores issues such as scarcity, high costs, and changing perceptions, and examines the current situation of library collections. The article also discusses possible changes and trends, such as the impact of print on demand (POD), shrinking budgets, and the rise of patron-driven purchasing. It questions traditional library practices and suggests potential alternatives for the future of library collections.

rodriguezdonald
Download Presentation

The Future (or Not) of Library Collections: A Serials Perspective

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Future (or Not) of Library Collections:A Serials Perspective Rick Anderson Associate Director Scholarly Resources & Collections

  2. (Up through) 19th-century model

  3. 20th-century model

  4. 21st-century model

  5. Problems of Print-derived Scarcity • Expensive • Print run • Shipping • Hard to find • Not searchable • Hard to move

  6. Three Killer Realities • Scarcity and high cost characterize a shrinking minority of the documents that matter to our patrons • An increasing number of competitively high-quality documents are easily findable and available for free • Reality doesn’t matter; perception does

  7. The Current Situation • Library collection is becoming: • Bigger (despite cuts) • More diffuse (internally) • Less defined (externally) • More inclusive • Patrons no longer perceive (rightly or wrongly) the problems the library is designed to solve • Alternatives to traditional library services abound (and grow daily)

  8. The Current Situation • POD is making the concept of “out of print” obsolete … and therefore making purchase delays less risky • Collection budgets are shrinking … and therefore making JIC purchasing more risky • Online environment makes JIT, patron-driven micro-purchasing technically feasible for the first time

  9. Possible Sacred Cows? • Approval plans • Bibliographer-driven selection • Big Deals • Journal Subscriptions (i.e., Medium Deals) • Comprehensive, JIC collecting generally • cf. “Cloud-sourcing Research Collections” (http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/library/2011/2011-01.pdf) • Title-level serial cataloging

  10. What Will the Future Look Like? • Google Books Corpus/Hathi Trust

  11. Hathi Trust Projected Growth

  12. What Will the Future Look Like? • Google Books Corpus/Hathi Trust • More in the cloud generally • General collections • Special collections (digital) • Metadata • Small core collection reflecting local emphases/strengths • Outward orientation • More throughput; less gathering • Library as conduit, not vessel • Fewer librarians • Fewer publishers

  13. Discuss! Rick Anderson Assoc. Director for Scholarly Resources & Collections rick.anderson@utah.edu

More Related