Remember Me? Content Development in a User-Centered Services Library

Bailey, Rachel

Morris, S.E. & Currie, L. (2014). Remember me? Content development in a user-centered services library. Collection Management, 39, 96-109. doi:10.1080/01462679.2014.891493.

Summary: Because of strategic planning and the need for budget cuts, the University of Kansas libraries restructured their collections’ department. The libraries went from thirty librarians working on collection development to seven working on materials selection. The old structure had librarians that were specialists for a particular academic discipline. The new structure has the librarians working together to gather materials for all the disciplines. The article also mentioned how they were able to cut down on serials collections after looking at usage data.  Surprisingly, there were many advantages noted for this new model. Obvious disadvantages were noted as well.

Evaluation: Since much of a library’s materials are supported through funds, it was interesting to see how KU handled the situation. As a graduate of the University of Kansas, this article was of personal interest to me. I always thought the university had top-notch libraries and it seems like it will continue to do so.