2019 Charleston Library Conference

Contributing to this presentation but unable to attend the conference: Cynthia Elliott, Content & Collections Librarian, University of Arizona Libraries, and Stephanie Church, Acquisitions Librarian, Case Western Reserve University, Kelvin Smith Library.

Over the past two decades, libraries have increasingly embraced acquisitions models that emphasize broad access over content ownership. While such models provide unprecedented access to content which would otherwise have been financially prohibitive to procure, the shift has left many libraries at odds with their stated mission of content preservation and stewardship. The evidence-based acquisition allows organizations to acquire content that has current demonstrated need by the organization’s users and thus shows immediate and increased return on the investment in the new content. As collection decisions have become increasingly data-driven, the successes of e-book acquisitions by evidence-based processes have progressed into the acquisition of online primary source collections. The general concept is similar to e-book processes, but implementation, analysis, and decision parameters can vary greatly.

In 2018, Case Western Reserve University, the University of Arizona Libraries, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign entered into multi-year agreements with ProQuest to provide access to packages of primary source collections, with the option to purchase in perpetuity selected collections at the end of each year. This evidence-based acquisition model, the first of its kind for primary source material, offers a middle ground between broad access and ownership, allowing libraries to expose previously unobtainable primary source content to its constituents, while also demonstrating a commitment to providing enduring value and availability for its collections.

In this session, we discuss the history, pressures, and timeline for pursuing such agreements, as well as the basics of the agreement itself. We also describe how libraries implemented and promoted the content, the lessons that were learned, the assessments that were made, and how we may use this model in the future. ProQuest will also share why this model is one they offer and the benefits they see.

This session will be of interest to academic librarians interested in collection management and new models for acquiring and accessing primary source content. After this session, attendees will understand this new model, be able to explain it to interested stakeholders, and approach vendors about implementing similar models.