The CTW Library Consortium's handout from their ACRL 2011 Workshop on collaborative collection development and patron-driven acquisitions.

1. ACRL Workshop 2011 ‐ The CTW Library Consortium
Collaborative Collection Development + Patron‐Driven Acquisitions
= A Win‐Win for Libraries AND Patrons
Program Track: The Shape of Tomorrow ‐ Liberating Collection Development
Workshop Description:
Economic hardship has become the status quo and libraries' collection budgets are frequent targets.
Administrators are requiring data to support existing budget allocations and forcing libraries to rethink
traditional collection development practices. Instead of reacting to economic circumstances, how might a
library be proactive? This workshop will focus on combining two strategies ‐ collaborative collection
development (CCD) and patron‐driven acquisitions (PDA) ‐ to help liberate collection development from
tightening budgets.
Our workshop will begin with the CCD part of our equation. Our audience will consider: How do your
individual institutional goals align with the goals of the consortium? To what extent do your combined
collections complement each other to support students and faculty at each institution? How will shared
resources impact the individual libraries' current policies and practices? What do you hope to accomplish
with a PDA program? Small groups will brainstorm collaborative collection goals that a PDA program might
address, and identify some common content needs and criteria for their shared collections.
Second, participants will walk through the all‐important task of evaluating a potential vendor for their
PDA program. Conversation will be structured around four questions: Who, What, Why and How? Who are
the primary vendors? What are the distinguishing features of various PDA programs? Why PDA with a
specific vendor? How will you evaluate the vendors you investigate? Small groups will discuss, identify and
share the important features and criteria they see as critical in selecting a vendor. Participants will take
away a ready‐to‐go checklist of criteria to use on their own.
Planning is the next critical component for the consortial implementation process. Many details must be
addressed such as determining who will be involved and estimating how much time may be required.
Scenarios will help small groups identify the major steps and tasks required and strategies for successful
implementation. Some tasks to be considered include: Who will ...create the consortial profile? ...set up a
system for uploading records? ...pay the consortial bills? Participants will take away a preliminary
implementation plan.
Finally, we'll address evaluation of a PDA program that answer the question: Does the reality of PDA
meet expectations? We'll review initial goals and brainstorm what qualitative and quantitative information
is needed to determine if expected outcomes have been met. Outcomes to be considered include: Do
records received match our profile expectations? What is the quantity and cost of our purchases? What has
been the feedback from library staff and patrons?

2. ACRL Workshop 2011 ‐ The CTW Library Consortium
Collaborative Collection Development + Patron‐Driven Acquisitions
= A Win‐Win for Libraries AND Patrons
Learning Outcomes
(1.) Identify selection criteria to be integrated into the PDA program in order to fulfill the libraries’ shared
collection goals.
(2.) Evaluate vendors’ capabilities and proposals in order to achieve consortial goals and assure a
successful consortium‐vendor partnership.
(3.) Anticipate implementation needs and develop strategies that will help the PDA program get off to a
good start.
(4.) Identify criteria for evaluating the PDA program in order to assess if it has met the consortium’s
expected goals and outcomes.
Background on the CTW Library Consortium
Since the early 1980s, the CTW Library Consortium (Connecticut College, Trinity College, Wesleyan
University) has been actively interdependent. In 2007, CTW was awarded a CCD grant by the Mellon
Foundation and implemented a PDA program for shared electronic books with Coutts (MyiLibrary) in
January 2010. Our hands‐on experience will inform every aspect of this workshop to keep it grounded in the
real world. The desired outcome is that participants will start developing a PDA program action plan for
their library/consortium.
Workshop Leaders:
Beth Hansen ‐ Director, Information Resources, Connecticut College, New London CT
Doris Kammradt ‐ Head Librarian for Collections, Research & Instruction, Trinity College, Hartford CT
Andrew Klein ‐ Science Librarian, Wesleyan University, Middletown CT
Pat Tully ‐ University Librarian, Wesleyan University, Middletown CT
Steve Bischof ‐ Integrated Library System Coordinator, The Five Colleges Consortium, MA
Lorri Huddy ‐ CTW Librarian for Collaborative Collection Projects, CTW Library Consortium, CT

3. ACRL Workshop 2011 ‐ The CTW Library Consortium
Part 1: Collaborative Collection Development
Identifying project assumptions and goals
Think about the assumptions and goals you may have for your ebook PDA project. Take 10 minutes to
write these down and share them with others at your table. At the end of that time, we will ask each
table to report on one or two of the assumptions and goals they have come up with.
Your assumptions about project outcomes:
1. PDA options: for P or E or both?
2. PDA title availabilty will meet subject area needs
3. Motivations for PDA: space and budget
4. eBooks as potential ILL solution: speed and access
5. PDA will provide long term sharing of consortial content
6. Ability to pull detailed usage reports and gain insights into use of e‐content that is not possible for print.
7. eBooks cost more ‐ may spend down funds quickly; Pricing models vary by vendor
8. newer content available through ebooks
9. Licensing may create issues; eBooks good for eReserves and distance learning
CTW assumptions:
• Consortial ebook will cost less than purchasing three print copies
(in paperback, if an option)
• For patrons, electronic book an acceptable alternative to print
• Staff workload less than print acquisitions
• Usage level will be about the same for each school

4. ACRL Workshop 2011 ‐ The CTW Library Consortium
Part 1: Collaborative Collection Development
Identifying project assumptions and goals
Think about the assumptions and goals you may have for your ebook PDA project. Take 10 minutes to
write these down and share them with others at your table. At the end of that time, we will ask each
table to report on one or two of the assumptions and goals they have come up with.
Your project goals:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
CTW goals:
• Explore new ways to share collections
• Purchase material for instant access at any school
• Cut costs by reducing duplication of copies across the consortium
• Make more books findable by our patrons
• Increase the number of relevant books accessible to our patrons

5. ACRL Workshop 2011 ‐ The CTW Library Consortium
Part 2: Vendor Evaluation Group Activity
If you want your library to have patron‐acquired books, you’re going to have to buy them from someone. But
how will you decide? To evaluate the potential vendors, you will need criteria. By the time you make your
decision, you will have quite a list of criteria you’d like your vendor to meet.
Eight categories of criteria are listed below. One of them will be assigned to your table. Work with your table
and brainstorm as many things as you can that you would want to know about a potential vendor. Think
about your consortial goals and what a vendor would need to provide in order for them to help you meet it.
We’ve listed an example to get you on the right track.
In a few minutes, you’ll be sharing with the large group, so use your easel/whiteboard to list your criteria in
order of importance. Use the rest of this sheet to make notes of criteria from other groups.
Category Specific Criteria
Business Model (e.g.) What triggers the actual purchase of an ebook?
Consider available options for Purchase triggers: Real Use vs. Clicks, Library may want to use primary or preferred vendor,
purchasing and accessing ebooks, What are your payment options, Print‐on‐Demand, User level access options, preservation
partnerships between vendor and via 3rd party trusted repository, PDA for Textbooks?
ebook providers, terms and
conditions that may apply.
Content (e.g.) Which titles are available to PDA programs? (all ebooks or subset?)
Consider what you hope to eBooks exactly same as print version (no redacted content), File format, PDA profile: Pub
provide, the ability to control Dates, University presses, LC Classes
what's being offered, print vs
ebook versions of titles, PDA
program restrictions
Technology / Interface (e.g.) Are your ebook files e‐reader compatible? (with which ones?)
Consider the technical Band width requirements, platform used, easy to navigate, option of a simple interface,
infrastructure required and your searchable context ‐ keyword, citation on each page, printing, plug‐ins required, handheld
support needs. Is specific options, accessibility (ADA compliance)
software required? Are users'
needs & preferences taken into
consideration?
User Access (e.g.) What are our options for providing off‐campus access?
Consider patrons' potential needs simultaneous use, device independent, ownership of titles, downloadable (at least for period
and wants. How does the vendor of time), "ILL‐able", Functionality: citation‐friendly (page numbers), notetaking, printable /
accommodate (and anticipate) copy & paste
these? What restrictions are
there on use of and access to e‐
content?

6. ACRL Workshop 2011 ‐ The CTW Library Consortium
Part 2: Vendor Evaluation Group Activity
Category Specific Criteria
Functionality / Features (e.g.) How does downloading work?
Consider the ebook platform and (1) Navigation: Search within text ‐ page turning ‐ TOC / Index; (2) Printing/ Saving: ease of
your users. Is it intuitive (esp. for printing ‐ # 0f pages ‐ PDF ‐ Bookshelf ‐ citation software / exporting; (3) Ease of user
first‐time users?) What's interaction; (4) ADA compliance: text‐to‐speech ‐ font size
provided to enhance interactions
with the e‐content online &
offline?
Discovery / Cataloging (e.g.) Does the vendor work with our web‐scale discovery service?
Consider how users will find the (1) Vendor will provide quality standards‐based records that are accessible through library's
ebooks and options provided to discovery platform (MARC, RDA, etc.) and /or online catalog. Sample records will be provided
increase discovery. Consider for quality evaluation. (2) Ability to provide discovery through Google Scholar, online
technical services' workload, databases, and openURL linking from search results in other vendors' products to the library's
ebook content. (3) Vendor will not: (a) restrict access to links from course reserve systems, (b)
cataloging standards and desired
prevent social tagging or (c) restrict fair use
options.
Administrative/Usage Stats (e.g.) Are usage statistics COUNTER‐compliant?
Consider what is needed to usage reports by subject areas, purchase trigger stats, money allocation and "turnaways",
monitor the PDA account as well usage by institution/consortia member, time spent in ebooks, usage coming from various
as potential integration with access points
current workflow and systems.
Licensing (e.g.) Does the vendor assure long‐term access to their ebooks ‐ how?
Consider your potential short and in perpetuity ‐ what does this mean?, perpetual access / Access fees, Legal jurisdication, walk‐
long term relationship with the in patrons, authentication options, Permissions: user level, ILL/ Reserves / CMS,
vendor. What are some Download/Print/Copy
expectations and needs that
should be addressed in the
license agreement?
Other Criteria? What else should be considered while evaluating a PDA Vendor?

7. ACRL Workshop 2011 ‐ The CTW Library Consortium
Part 3: Implementation Activity
Directions: While CTW reviews the various steps needed to implement their PDA program, picture doing
this within your library and consortium.
(1) For each dept , identify PDA implementation tasks that it will be responsible for.
(2) For each task , identify who will be responsible for assuring its completion.
Can you think of any additional steps that may be required? (Please share with group.)
What's your estimate of the time required from start to finish?
Library Dept Tasks to be completed Who's responsible?
Access / Public Services ‐ Circulation, Reserves, ILL
Collections
(ex.) Gather monthly usage statistics for invoices E‐Resources Coordinator
Library Administration

8. ACRL Workshop 2011 ‐ The CTW Library Consortium
Part 3: Implementation Activity
Library Dept Tasks to be completed Who's responsible?
Reference and Instruction
Systems
Technical Services ‐ Cataloging, Acquisitions, etc.
(ex.) Need to review records for quality Head of Cataloging
Other Library Areas ?

9. ACRL Workshop 2011 ‐ The CTW Library Consortium
Part 4: Assessment Activity Worksheet
Directions: Based on our assumptions, goals and desired outcomes, CTW identified these categories to be included in
the assessment of its PDA program:
Budget ‐‐‐ Workflow ‐‐‐ Profiling ‐‐‐ Impact on Access
Vendor Performance ‐‐‐ User Response ‐‐‐ PDA Model
Using these as a springboard, take 10 minutes to brainstorm ideas for assessing your PDA program. Identify specific
ways in which you would assess your program as well as a corresponding means for measuring each.
Designate someone to record and report out for your table. When reporting out, identify one new idea that is
especially important to your group or add to other groups' ideas as we work our way around the room.
Note: A flip chart & markers are provided for each group to record their work.
Example: Initially, a CTW assumption was that consortial ebooks would cost less than 3x the cost in print. Based
upon what we were told, our expectation is that we might pay up to 1.7 times the cost of print.
What CTW wants to know is: Was the cost of our PDA titles at or below 1.7 times the cost of print? This can be
measured using quantitative data: by tracking what was paid for the PDA title vs. its cost in print (both cloth and
softcover prices).
What do you want to know? Ways you could measure?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

10. ACRL Workshop 2011 ‐ The CTW Library Consortium
Part 4: Assessment Activity Worksheet

11. ACRL Workshop 2011 ‐ The CTW Library Consortium
Collaborative Collection Development + Patron‐Driven Acquisitions
= A Win‐Win for Libraries AND Patrons
Workshop Leaders' Contact Information:
Beth Hansen ‐ ehhan@conncoll.edu
Director, Information Resources, Connecticut College
Doris Kammradt ‐ doris.kammradt@trincoll.edu
Head Librarian for Collections, Research & Instruction, Trinity College
Andrew Klein ‐ aklein01@wesleyan.edu
Science Librarian, Wesleyan University
Pat Tully ‐ ptully@wesleyan.edu
University Librarian, Wesleyan University
Steve Bischof ‐ sbischof@library.umass.edu
Integrated Library System Coordinator, The Five Colleges Consortium, MA
Lorri Huddy ‐ lhuddy@conncoll.edu
CTW Librarian for Collaborative Collection Projects, CTW Library Consortium, CT
CTW has tagged many resources related to collaborative collection development, ebooks, PDA and
other cooperative efforts. These links provide lists of resources related to this workshop:
Patron‐Driven Acquisitions
Collaborations in Academic Libraries
Collaborative Collection Development literature
eBook / PDA Vendor Evaluations
Discovery Tools
Communication ‐ CCD and PDA
Assessment
eBooks
all things ebook‐related: blog postings, reports, surveys, vendor info, etc.