Judging books by their (lack of) covers

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into issues encountered in maintaining library technologies and electronic collections on a limited budget and with limited personnel.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses real world experiences and data to report on collection development decisions as they relate to electronic resources in an era of shrinking budgets and changing user expectations.

Findings

On‐demand access to platform‐independent information has altered user expectations and shifted the balance of power from the content providers to the content consumers. Academic libraries have been slow to adapt and are suffering as a consequence.

Originality/value

This paper examines the colliding forces of progress and tradition as they relate to the provision of information resources in an academic library environment. The author employs real‐world circulation statistics to make a case for shifting the focus of collection development from printed books to ebooks.

Citation

McMullen, A. (2012), "Judging books by their (lack of) covers", The Bottom Line, Vol. 25 No. 2, pp. 41-43. https://doi.org/10.1108/08880451211256324