Current Issues and Future Trends in Collection Management

LIS 610
Fall 2015
Stefanie Stephens

Bad libraries build collections, good libraries build services, great

libraries build communities.
R. David Lankes

To build up a library is to create a life. Its never just a random

collection of books.
Carlos Mara Domnguez

Without libraries what have we? We have no past and no future.

Ray Bradbury

A library is not a luxury but one of the necessities of life.

Henry Ward Beecher

Cutting libraries during a recession is like cutting hospitals during a

plague.
Eleanor Crumblehulme

What is more important in a library than anything else than

everything else is the fact that it exists.
Archibald MacLeish

Libraries are our friends.

Neil Gaiman

Collection management is vital to the operation of a successful library. It

encompasses the selection and purchasing of books, the process for weeding
or de-selecting books no longer relevant to the collection, the best and most
cost efficient methods for protecting and preserving materials, and
monitoring how the materials are circulating (Evans & Saponaro, 2012).
Because of how wide ranging the topic of collection management is there are
also a wide range of issues to be dealt with. These issues change with the
times and so do the methods employed to combat them. Currently some of
the major issues in collection management have to do with technology and
finding ways to keep up with it and use it to the librarys best advantage.
There are also trends in the world of collection management or ways that
librarians have found to stay on top of the issues as we move into the future
of libraries.
One of the biggest issues is that people feel libraries are becoming
increasingly irrelevant to modern life. Their belief is that with the current
advances in technology physical libraries are becoming obsolete. As a result
library funding is being cut in many communities at a time when its even
more vital for them to have the money they need to purchase materials,
update buildings, and increase programming. Those same technological
advances are one of the main reasons libraries need more money. New
computers are expensive and so are tablets, e-readers, and database
subscriptions but all of those things are necessary for a modern library to
remain relevant and useful to its community (Peet, 2015).

Technology is the cause of another issue for libraries as well. As fast as

libraries update their collections to reflect new formats those formats are
becoming obsolete and being replaced with newer, better versions. It can be
difficult to stay on top of these changing technology needs and even more so
to know which new technologies are stepping stones to something else and
therefore short-lived and which ones are going to be around for a while and
therefore worth investing in (Sherwin, 2015).
Its not just technology thats changing either. The way people use their
library has changed too, from how they access materials, to the activities
they engage in while in the library. The library of my childhood was a quiet
place to study and read where people went to check out and return books
and movies or maybe get some research assistance from the knowledgeable
librarian. Modern libraries and the library of the future are so much more
than that; they are meeting places, community centers, and classrooms too
(Sherwin, 2015).
There are many trends beginning to catch on in libraries all over the world
that are either an answer to these issues or the first step in the evolution of
libraries that are preparing for the future. For example, the issue of budget
cuts has led to creative librarians using non-traditional methods for
fundraising such as Kickstarter and other crowd funding websites. In fact,
Kickstarter has reported that their site has been used to raise over $1 billion
in funds for public libraries (Cruz, 2014; Schiller, 2015).

Libraries are also using their spaces to help bring in more money too by
renting out conference rooms and meeting spaces to businesses or
organizations who dont have their own space. In fact, some libraries are
even being built with the knowledge that their meeting and conference
spaces will be used in this way and so extra amenities are being added to
make them more enticing to renters. By charging a fee to use the space
those extra costs are quickly recouped and the libraries are left with an
option for additional income. Retail spaces and cafes are also popular
additions to libraries that make the spaces more versatile and take
advantage of the shifting needs of the community in regards to library use to
generate more income (Sherwin, 2015).
Often, though, raising more money is not possible or not enough to bridge
the gap in the budget and so efforts must then be focused on lowering costs
to stretch the budget. That is why many library systems are putting more
and more emphasis on developing and using more open access databases
instead of the old, expensive subscription based model (Sherwin, 2015). The
concept of open access is not new but the availability of open access
databases and the levels of usefulness they have reached in recent years
are.
Another trend is taking advantage of the new and expanded ways that
physical library spaces are being used by their communities. One university
saw that students were mostly using their library space for digital research

so when it came time to build a new library they took that fact in to
consideration. The new library was built with nothing but workspaces in the
public area, no bookshelves or even books at all, just tables and computers
for students to work on their digital research. They are able to house all 3.5
million books in their collection on 50 foot tall shelves in a below ground
storage area that takes up only 1/7th the space it did before. When a
students research requires they use a physical book they can request it
using the librarys computer system and a robot retrieves it from the stacks.
A bonus to this system is that the book storage area can be climate
controlled separately from the public area so that the temperature and
humidity levels are optimized for the preservation of the materials. The
library has also found that the more people look to digital resources, the
more they consult physical materials as well. (Watercutter, 2011) This
should help assuage the fears of the people who believe this digital
revolution we are in the middle of will be the death of traditional print
media. The New York Public Library is following suit and moving much of its
collection to subterranean shelving as well (Mashberg, 2015).
Libraries that lend items other than books and movies are becoming very
popular as well. There are libraries that lend baking pans and other
infrequently used cookware, seeds for gardeners who return at the end of the
growing season to replenish the collection with seeds from their own crops,
sewing machines and patterns for beginning sewers, digital cameras and
video recorders and so many more things. There is even a library that

lends a person to have a conversation with in order to learn from a

different perspective and help fight stereotyping (Rosansky & Shaw, 2015).

Works Cited
Cruz, R. (2014). Crowdfunding: A new fundraising option for libraries. Public
Libraries Online. Retreived from
http://publiclibrariesonline.org/2014/06/crowdfunding-a-newfundraising-option-for-libraries/
Evans, G. E., & Saponaro, M. Z. (2012). Collection management basics (6th
ed.). Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.
P Kowalczyk. (2015, November 5). 50 thought-provoking quotes about
libraries and librarians [Web log]. Retrieved from
http://ebookfriendly.com/best-quotes-about-libraries-librarians/?
utm_content=buffer0a9ec&utm_medium=social&utm_source=faceboo
k.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Mashberg, T. (2015). Beneath new york public library, shelving its past for
high-tech research stacks. The New York Times. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/16/books/beneath-new-york-publiclibrary-shelving-its-past-for-high-tech-research-stacks.html?_r=1
Peet, L. (2015). Format follows function. Library Journal, 140(14), 34-n/a.
Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1705563321?
accountid=14604

Rosansky, J., & Shaw, A. (2015, August 10). Unusual library things: 50
unusual items/services you can check out at libraries around the world
[Web log]. Retrieved from http://ifllibraries.com/post/131225245787
Schiller, B. (2015). The future of libraries is collaborative, robotic, and
participatory. Fast Company. Retrieved from
http://www.fastcoexist.com/3053682/the-future-of-libraries-iscollaborative-robotic-and-participatory
Sherwin, K. (2015, July). Future libraries: Workshops summary and emerging
insights. Retrieved from
http://publications.arup.com/Publications/F/Future_Libraries.aspx
Watercutter, A. (2011). Robots retrieve books in university of chicagos new,
futuristic library. Wired. Retrieved from
http://www.wired.com/2011/05/robot-powered-mansueto-library/