Reinventing Collection Development for a Digital Age: On-Demand and On-the-Go

Michael Levine-Clark
Collections Librarian, Penrose Library, University of Denver

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The library of 2030 should be a very different place than today. No longer a warehouse for little-used print volumes, the library will focus instead on providing services and spaces for students and scholars – an emphasis we already see in library renovations, but not in the way we build collections. Though digital technologies have transformed the way that libraries provide access to information, libraries and publishers have not yet taken advantage of the possibilities offered by this new environment to make necessary changes in the way that collections are developed. This talk will suggest ways in which libraries and publishers must work together to develop new delivery mechanisms and business models for management of scholarly research collections. Short-term loans, demand-driven acquisition, and disaggregation of journal content should all be options for libraries as they build 21st-century collections.