Patron‐Driven Acquisition Practices of U.S. Research Libraries: East vs. West

During the past few years, Patron Driven Acquisition, or PDA, has become the catchword at library conferences, increasingly promoted by some as the answer to shrinking budgets and the new normal for developing library col‐ lections. On one level, the debate over PDA is just an extension of the old question of just in time versus just in case collecting; however, technological developments have facilitated taking the just in time model toward the logical extreme as vendors have seen the rewards of implementing the immediate delivery of e‐books and profiled record sets directly to end users with only minimal library mediation. But what does PDA mean for research librar‐ ies, which we generally continue to acknowledge, have a mandate to build collections of record. In the research library environment, can PDA really be the driver of the collection, or is it just another method that merely sup‐ plements the traditional approach to building the collection? As increasing numbers of libraries seem to embrace this acquisition mechanism, the question arises—who is doing PDA, how are they implementing PDA, and why (or why not)? The presenters will report results from a survey administered to collection development librarians rep‐ resenting the Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA, 32 members) and the Northeast Research Libraries (NERL, 28 members) consortia. The survey attempts to gauge the extent to which these 60 research libraries have em‐ braced or rejected PDA—for both print and electronic collections—considering factors such as Carnegie Class/ARL status, materials budget, recent budget reductions, existing collection size, geographical location, and bibliog‐ rapher/subject librarian support. The survey was also administered to the more than 70 NERL affiliates, and results from these institutions will be incorporated into the presentation as well. Ample time will remain to engage the audience in the extent to which PDA may or may not be appropriate for the research library.