Introduction

In the previous chapter, Sheila Corrall discusses the concept of collection development. This chapter will consider, with particular reference to academic libraries, the processes of collection management that have developed over time as technology and publishing models have changed.

On a practical level, collection management encompasses a wide range of activities: selection and acquisition, budget allocation and management, serials and electronic resource management and access control, stock evaluation, weeding, storage and preservation, as well as liaison with users, managers, suppliers and publishers and collaboration with other institutions. Promotion and marketing activities are increasingly becoming associated with collection management and are discussed by Mitrano and Peterson, Stubbings and Fairclough in Part Four of this volume. Collection managers are also responsible for the quality of both bibliographic and electronic records and the use of appropriate metadata to describe resources accurately to facilitate access. These activities are not the domain of any specific library sector, although the extent to which they are developed will be influenced by organizational policies and strategies.

This chapter will consider the core activities of collection management and identify how the digital age has transformed the processes underpinning library resource provision from the relevant literature. Its purpose is to update the established practices described in the standard textbooks by Johnson (2009), Clayton and Gorman (2006), Evans and Saponaro (2005) and Jenkins and Morley (1999), by referring readers to the wisdom of those authorities whose knowledge withstands the test of time. The chapter concludes by focusing on the issues raised and identifies some points for further reflection.

Policy and strategy

Collection development and management have become synonymous with each other and a strategic approach to the meeting of users’ information needs emerged during the 1980s and 1990s. Gorman, in his introduction to Collection Management for the 21st Century: a Handbook for Librarians (Gorman and Miller, 1997), identifies a growing preference for the phrase collection management, rather than development, as the fundamental activities of collection building, selection and acquisition, began to involve wider issues such as budgeting, relegation and stock withdrawal, managing new resource formats, storage, preservation, performance measurement, technology and resource sharing. Branin (1994) noted that, as early as 1981, Paul Mosher identified the trend towards collection management calling for a more managerial approach to matching resources and user needs.