Patron-Initiated Collection Development: Progress of a Paradigm Shift

Amy Kumar

Hodges, D., Preston, C., Hamilton, M.Hamilton. (2010) Patron-Initiated Collection Development: Progress of a Paradigm Shift. Collection Management. 35, 3. p.208-221.

Review: The article examines the shift from librarian-mediated collection development to patron-initiated collection development of both physical collections and e-collections. Their report focuses on two programs at Ohio State University: the interlibrary loan purchase-on-demand program and a testing program of the "ebrary's" patron-initiated collection development. These new programs are examined against the traditional "just-in-case" collection model, in which a bibliographer selects items for a library based on anticipation of demand.

Evaluation: The authors do a great job at presenting the pros and cons of both models. While I initially read the article with a resistant attitude to patron-initiated collection development, I eventually felt convinced that it can work within limits. One one hand, patron-initiated collections run the risk of creating a library collection with no substance or core, and are dictated by the random needs of students at a particular moment in time. One the other hand, when applied to e-books especially, patron-driven collections have proven to be fairly effective. For example, the article states that the Ohio State Library's interlibrary loan purchase on demand program requests "appear to circulate at a higher rate than the general collections" (Hodges, p4). This is an interesting fact, and one that academic libraries especially should take note of.