Patron-Driven Acquisition and the Educational Mission of the Academic Library

Headnote

Patron-driven acquisition (PDA), also known as demand-driven acquisition, patron-initiated purchasing, or books on demand, allows patrons to select and purchase hooks for the library collection without staff mediation or oversight. This essay presents the argument that PDA programs are unlikely to improve the quality of academic library collections. In particular, they risk failing to distinguish between students' immediate desires and their long-term educational needs, making poor use of librarians' knowledge and expertise, failing to represent the full range of library stakeholders, and producing collections that are biased or poorly balanced. Although PDA can lead to efficiencies in information delivery, those efficiencies do not necessarily support the broader educational goals of the academic library.

Librarians are ultimately responsible for book selection in most academic libraries. Even when faculty selectors help build the collection, librarians regulate the process and ensure that the selected titles meet the broader needs of the library and the university.1 Historically, however, patrons other than faculty have had only an indirect or limited role in book selection. For instance, students might serve on the library committee or occasionally request new titles of particular importance.

Patron-driven acquisition (PDA), also known as demand-driven acquisition, patron-initiated purchasing, or books on demand, is an attempt to give students a more prominent role. In most PDA programs, the titles selected by patrons are purchased in print or digital format without further intermediation. These programs allow patrons, rather than librarians or faculty selectors, to determine which titles are added to the collection.

In many cases, however, PDA programs fail to support the broader educational mission of the university.2 That is, they emphasize the immediate delivery of information rather than the development of collections that meet the longterm needs of the institution. This essay puts forth the argument that PDA is likely to diminish collection quality unless librarians implement safeguards to maintain their central role in book selection. Specifically, the essay

* presents an overview of the PDA programs that have been described in the literature;

* sets forth two core principles that can help guide the evaluation of PDA programs and other collection development initiatives; and

* discusses several problems that may result from the widespread adoption of PDA.

The available evidence supports the idea that librarians have...