Collections

I presented updated versions of a presentation on libraries and pandemic effects and some implications for library collections recently. Each was delivered remotely, one to an event in Ostende, Belgium, and one to Milan, Italy, as unfortunately we have not yet returned to professional travel.

Collective collections as an example of collective action. A discussion of the issues library consortia face. Presentation materials.

I was pleased to inaugurate the RLUK Digital Shift Forum, with a presentation on Pandemic effects and collection directions. I was especially pleased to be kindly introduced by my longstanding colleague Robin Green, University Librarian at Warwick University, and current chair of RLUK.

Over the past few years I have been talking about three systemic ways in which collections, broadly understood, are evolving in a network environment. They are: the collective collection, the facilitated collection, and the inside-out collection.

Coordinating collective collections Collective collections are collections addressed at a level above the individual institution. I introduced our recent report

While collective collections have been much discussed, less attention has been paid to how to operationalize them in consortial settings. This post introduces work done with the BTAA to explore this challenge.

Libraries now manage facilitated collections alongside their acquired collections: these are collections assembled from the web organized around user interests.

Collections are changing in a network environment. One important direction is the assembly of resources around user needs based on a facilitated access model rather than an acquisition model.

Business school writing I quite like using the word ‘assets’ with reference to library collections. We tend to think of