Strategies for Developing Collections through Multiple Acquisition Models: Assessment and Benefits

Abstract

This presentation describes an assessment of the English language and literature monographs acquired by a large research library through multiple acquisition methods: Approval Plan, Demand Driven Acquisition (DDA) Program for ebooks, Purchase on Demand Program for print and ebooks, and subject librarian selections. The assessment focuses on answering this question: How close do approval plan and subject librarian selections match the materials requested by users? The usage of the English materials purchased prior to and after the implementation of the Purchase on Demand Program were compared by subject and topics using ILS circulation data and vendor reports. The assessment reveals areas of the approval plan profile that need to be changed to better align with users’ needs. Among benefits of using multiple acquisition methods to developing collections are significant cost savings to the library materials budget, improved library collections, and more efficient use of subject librarian’s time. This approach can serve as a model for any discipline and can be scaled to a variety of libraries regardless of their size and collection budget.