Patron‐Driven Acquisitions: History and Best Practices

Citation

Anderson, R. (2012), "Patron‐Driven Acquisitions: History and Best Practices", Library Review, Vol. 61 No. 6, pp. 473-475. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242531211284384

This edited collection of essays on the subject of patron‐driven (also called “demand‐driven”) acquisition in academic libraries fills an important gap in the literature on developing library collection strategies. For the past several years, patron‐driven acquisition (PDA) has been a topic of growing excitement and debate in the research library and publishing communities, as usage of printed resources has fallen and the availability of online resources has grown. Ebooks present an unprecedented opportunity for libraries, in that they can be made “visible” to patrons in the library catalog prior to purchase, and then purchased only at the point of use – thus calling into question some of the most fundamental assumptions about the nature of the library collection.

The authors represented in this book include some of the best‐known thinkers and commentators on this issue, some of whom are also among the more forward‐thinking adopters of PDA practices, and its editor is a vice president at Ebook Library (EBL), one of the industry's leading providers of PDA programs. These facts might well lead the cautious reader to brace himself for a hard sell. But while it is true that the authors are mostly quite bullish on the current benefits and future promise of PDA, all deal fairly with both the upsides and the challenges and limitations of the patron‐driven approach.

In both his introduction and his brief concluding chapter, editor David Swords lays out the historical and technological context for PDA, and the reasons it seems to make sense for so many libraries. In so doing he concisely expresses, almost in passing, one of the most important characteristics of a PDA program: “PDA establishes a specific measured connection between the cost of material and its usefulness to the community of library patrons”. This fact is fundamental, the reality it reflects is unprecedented, and it represents potentially seismic disruption to some of the most basic assumptions of traditional librarianship. If a book is not used, does it have value in the collection? That question is ultimately a philosophical (perhaps even religious) one; the authors presented here focus wisely on more practical matters.

The two themes that are most strongly developed across the various essays are “why” and “how”. The “why” question is generally answered by reference to history, and it is in developing this theme that the book occasionally suffers from repetition: too many of the authors spend a bit too much time telling more or less the same story. It is an important story, granted – one cannot understand or think constructively about PDA without a grasp of the recent history of academic libraries, an understanding of the print‐based environment in which they worked until very recently, and an appreciation for the radically disruptive nature of their substantial migration to the digital realm – but it might have been better to assign that historical overview to a single author, leaving the others free to start right in on their assigned topics without having to provide context. This is not a serious problem, though, nor does it detract from the great usefulness of the book. Authors have been well‐chosen for both writing skill and hands‐on experience. While space does not permit an extensive treatment of each essay, some are especially noteworthy: Rick Lugg, drawing on his extensive work as a consultant helping libraries improve the use of space and increase the rationality of workflow, applies Clayton Christensen's concept of “disruptive technology” in explaining the likely impacts of PDA on libraries and booksellers; Bob Nardini puts his encyclopedic knowledge of publishing and approval programming to work in explaining how traditional approval plans dovetail with PDA; Michael Levine‐Clark and Dennis Dillon offer interesting and useful case studies from the Universities of Denver and Texas, respectively. Sue Polanka and Emilie Delquié provide a very useful overview of different program offerings from the major ebook aggregators, along with a brief discussion of publisher‐specific models. The matrix on pp. 132‐34 is especially useful, though it will surely go out of date quickly. These and related chapters deliver powerfully on the “how” question.

David Swords' chapter titled “Elements of a demand‐driven model” is simultaneously one of the most practical and one of the more hortatory essays in the book. It lays out not only multiple case‐based statistical scenarios indicating what kinds of acquisition and spending rates can be expected by different categories of library, but also tends to argue for broader profiling and more expansive risk‐pool management than some libraries may be comfortable with. This chapter offers not only the most overt “selling” of the PDA concept, but also the most useful analytical tools for those considering a move in that direction. Swords concludes the chapter with this important point: “If you embark on a PDA program, old ideas about how to manage monographs will impose themselves on your thinking”. Some readers will see this prediction as a comfort, hoping that such thinking will provide a welcome brake on runaway innovation; others will see it as a frustrating roadblock to salutary change. In either case, it is a perceptive point and a useful one to keep in mind.

Overall, Patron‐Driven Acquisitions can be confidently recommended to all academic libraries – both those currently planning to move in a patron‐driven direction, and those unsure of whether such an approach makes sense or perhaps even of what all the fuss is about. Its authors effectively cover all of the most pressing and relevant questions about PDA theory and practice, and offer highly useful tools to readers interesting in assessing the practice's viability and likely consequences.