1. Collection Development and Exploitation Phil Sykes University of Liverpool

2. Questions What is “the collection” and how important is it to our users? How much control can we have over the development of our collections? What will our future collections consist of? What is the right balance between developing our collections and helping people exploit them?

3. “The Collection” What does the collection consist of? Used to be the material we owned But what about e-journals? What about web-based materials? “Big deals” mean that our collections are growing more similar

4. How Important Is the Library Collection to Our Users? Used to be crucial..But now it’s just one source Huge use of the internet..for serious information searching Threat to the quality of learning Can the collection fight back?

5. What is collection development? Cogswell: “the systematic management of the planning, composition, funding, evaluation and use of library collections over extended periods of time, in order to meet specific institutional objectives”. Systematic Long term Whole collection

6. Is systematic collection development still possible? We have less control of collection content than we used to have “Big deals” limit our freedom Lack of money means we can often only meet essential needs …But don’t forget the ideal!

7. What will our future collections consist of?: Print vs electronic Books still what people judge libraries by Issue figures in university libraries have remained buoyant …..Or have they? E-journals will win the day, but printed books will still be with us

8. Balance between building the collection and exploiting it We want to build good collections but we also want to Enable our users to find material Provide advice to users Provide info skills Be welcoming Differentiation by service quality more than collection content

9. Collection Development and Exploitation Phil Sykes University of Liverpool