Keeping Up with Patron Driven Acquisitions

Ashley Avila 

American Library Association (2014). "Keeping Up With... Patron Driven Acquisitions", American Library Association. https://www.ala.org/acrl/publications/keeping_up_with/pda 

Summary:

Libraries usually use the "Just in Case" Model for collection development. The model was librarians buying items in anticipation for future needs by patrons. This led to books sitting on the shelves with little to no circulation. There was then a shift to using the "Just in Time" Model. This modal was buying titles on demand, also known as Patron Driven Acquisition (PDA). Prude University conducted a study comparison of circulation rates between the two methods. It was found that using PDA model the books were twice as likely to circulate. There are benefits and challenges to using PDA model with e-books according to the author. The benefit is there is immediate access to materials and it reduces the work load of staff. The challenges are the limited availability of e-books, publisher restrictions, Digital Rights Management (DRM), and long-term licensing concerns. 

Review:

This article gives an insight on the two different models of collection development. This is an example on how collection development practices can impact the circulations rates of materials. If we anticipating needs, then books are going uncirculated due to there being no immediate need. On the other hand, when materials are bought as requested, books are more likely to circulate and the library can map the community immediate needs.