Denise Lester
Dewland, J. C., & See, A. (2015). Patron driven acquisitions. Library Resources & Technical Services, 59(1), 13-23. Retrieved from http://libaccess.sjlibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=100830847&site=ehost-live&scope=site
This article describes a thorough two-year quantitative study on the print and electronic purchases of the Library of Congress in order to determine the need for a standard of metrics specific to patron driven acquisitions, (PDAs). The study measures the effectiveness of collection development programs conducted by the On-Demand Information Delivery, (ODID) Metrics Team of the University of Arizona using five main categories: financial, patron, performance, usage and resource metrics. Other methods used to measure PDAs include using business inventory models and partnership integration (sharing inventory), and a targeted view on the spending and circulation of specific materials to guide future expenditures. Substantial information is provided on how the information was gathered.
The study offered some practical and structured approaches to studying PDAs that can be applied to most libraries specifically academic, public and special libraries that are helpful in future spending and collection management by examining the data collected; however the University of Arizona's team approach seems highly time consuming and impractical to adopt for most libraries. The study did, however prove its hypothesis that a standard of patron driven acquisitions metrics should be established and is needed, as none currently exits, and variables of metrics approaches are numerous.
I agree that there should be a standard of patron driven acquisitions metrics. It seems to be more and more important to get the patrons opinion on what should be included in the library. It not only makes sense from the user perspective, but from the budget perspective also. Why keep things in the library if they are not used.
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