Section on Acquisition and Collection Development

Annual Report
1 September 1997 to 31 August 1998

1. Scope

2. Membership and Officers

The Chairman and Financial Officer during the year was Marjorie Bloss(Vice President for Library Operations, Center for Research Libraries, 6050 South Kenwood Avenue Chicago, IL 60637 USA. Tel *(1) (773) 9554545 ext 316; Fax *(1) (773) 9554339; email bloss@crlmail.uchicago.edu)
The Secretary, Information Coordinator and Newletter Editor was Jim Vickery (Head of English Language Selection & Serials, The British Library, Boston Spa LS23 7BQ UK. Tel *(44) (1937) 546071; Fax *(44) (1937) 546572; email jim.vickery@bl.uk)

3. Meetings and events

3. 1 Amsterdam, 1998

3.1.1 Report on the A&CD Section Open Programme

The Section's Open Programme 'Collection development issues in building the digital library' took place on Tuesday 18 August. There were five presentations, by: Jim Neal, Catherine Petit, Lars Bjoernshauge, Trix Bakker and Sonia Zillhardt. The session was moderated in French by Sara Yontan, and simultaneous translation was provided throughout. There was a record attendance at the Open Programme - up to 200 people. The organisers were congratulated on a successful session, which included a variety of papers on a popular theme and which had kept to the allocated time. The benefits of simultaneous translation, avoiding reliance on English, had been appreciated.

3.1.2 Report on the A&CD Section Workshop

Following the withdrawal of Dominic Farace's Grey Literature Workshop, Ann Okerson had organised in conjunction with the Publisher Liaison Committee a Workshop entitled 'New collections, new marketplace relationships: electronic resources and the phenomenon of library consortia'. There were five speakers from four countries: John Gilbert, Elmar Mittler, John Shipp, Barbara McFadden Allen and Katherine A. Perry; the sixth, Cugdem Ozbag, had unfortunately had to pull out at short notice for personal reasons. Ann Okerson was moderator. The Workshop was heavily over-subscribed - despite a formal limit of 75, there were around 125 people present, with others barred from entry - thereby demonstrating the huge continuing interest in the subject. The range and quality of the presentations at this excellent event held the audience's attention and stimulated active participation during the full four-hour session.

3.2 Bangkok, 1999

3.2.1 The Committee agreed that East-West partnerships in collection building, concentrating on printed material, would be an appropriate and important theme for the A&CD Open Programme at Bangkok.

3.2.2. The Committee considered that the interest in licensing may be sufficient to warrant a half-day Workshop at Bangkok on the theme of pricing and value for money in acquiring electronic resources, including the topic of 'differential pricing' of electronic journals.

3.3 Jerusalem, 2000

Suggestions for Jerusalem included the previously mooted changing organisational structures, the development of special research collections, and sharing resources across national and ethnic boundaries.

4. Projects and publications

4.1 Project: Collection policy guideline

A basic, non-prescriptive guideline for libraries wishing to embark upon writing a collection policy statement (leader: Marjorie Bloss)

A questionnaire on collection development policies was issued to all Section members in 1998. Twelve of the fifteen replies were positive: nine of them already made use of a written policy, and ten expressed an interest in being involved further. The Committee agreed to work towards producing basic, non-prescriptive guidelines for libraries wishing to embark upon writing a collection policy statement. This could be based on existing published documents but would be tailored to IFLA's international audience and translated into the official IFLA languages.

4.2 Publications

4.2.1 Newsletter

During the year two issues of the Section's Newsletter were produced and mailed to members of the Section and posted on IFLANET.

4.2.2 Acquisition and Collection Development Bibliography

The most recent printed issue of the Acquisitions Bibliography was published issued in ??

It was decided to issue the Acquisitions Bibliography in both printed form and on IFLANET in future.

4.2.3 Section Brochure

A new edition of the Section brochure was issued in August 1998. Translations into languages other than English were commissioned.

4.2.4 Articles

Two papers from the 1997 Open Programme were published:
4.2.4.1 Buying shares in libraries: the economics of cooperative collection development, by Elizabeth Chapman. IFLA Journal 24 (2) 1998 102-106

4.2.4.2 Economics of cooperative collection development and management: the United States experience with rarely held research materials, by Donald B. Simpson. IFLA Journal 24 (3) 1998 161-165

5. Financial Report

The Section's finances were sound, and expenses kept to a minimum. Since the British Library had absorbed the costs of producing and distributing the Section's Newsletter and the brochure had been paid for previously out of administrative funds, there had been no expenditure under administration funds. The Section had been allocated project funds previously to begin work on the Collection Development Project which were not spent during the year. Additional project funds were sought to pay for compilation of the next instalment of the Bibliography in early 1999.

REVENUES:

Balance:  31 December 1997
      Administrative funds                722.71
          Project funds                   360.00

Revenues:  1 January 1998 to date
     Transfers from IFLA HQ                 0.00
     Project funds                        482.03
     Bank interest (applied to Admin funds) 1.93

TOTAL REVENUES  (Balance plus revenues)

      Administrative funds                724.64
      Project funds                       842.03
        (1) Collection Development (360.00)
        (2) Bibliography (482.03)

EXPENSES:

1 January-9 August 1998
      Administrative funds                 0.00
      Project funds                        0.00

Anticipated expenses: 10 August - 31 December
      Administrative                       0.00
      Project                              0.00

ANTICIPATED YEAR-END BALANCE:

      Administrative funds               724.64
      Project funds                      360.00

6. Relationship with other bodies

7. Medium Term Programme 1998-2001 and Action Plan 1998-1999

Goal 1
Monitor the impact of the electronic environment on acquisitions functions (such as the ordering and paying of materials electronically, the creation and maintenance of machine-readable acquisition files), collection evaluation and assessment, and exchange.

Actions


1.1 Conduct a program during the 1998 IFLA conference on the impact of building digital libraries on collection development activities.
Open Programme on digital libraries held

1.2 In cooperation with GreyNet TransAtlantic, present a half-day workshop on Grey Literature during the 1998 IFLA Conference in Amsterdam that will focus on the availability and accessibility of this information particularly in an electronic environment. (IFLA 1998 Conference)
Workshop on licensing held instead

1.3 Evaluate the possibility of conducting a survey on the impact of the electronic environment on acquisitions functions of libraries in developing countries. (Initial discussion at the 1997 IFLA conference with follow-up afterwards. If the decision is to proceed, coordinate activities with ALP.)
Now proposed for Jerusalem Conference

1.4 Update the Acquisition and Collection Development Bibliography (previously titled the Exchange Bibliography) and issue it either in the Section's Newsletter or as a separate publication. At the same time, explore with the Professional Board and IFLA HQ the possibility of issuing this publication on an ongoing basis outside of the standing committee. (1998)
In hand

Goal 2
Provide information on collection development activities, such as the formulation of policies, deacquisitions and weeding of collections, and co-operative acquisitions programmes.

Actions


2.1 Request written collection development policies from libraries to form the basis for a new document that could be used for libraries wishing to create collection development policies. (Early 1998, for publication in time for the summer 1999 IFLA Conference.)
Completed

2.2 Provide bibliographic information on the activities listed above through the Acquisition and Collection Development Bibliography (see 1.4 above).
Completed

2.3 Develop a conference programme on collection development policies for the 1999 IFLA Conference in Bangkok, based on 1.1 and 2.1.
Open Programme on East-West exchanges proposed instead

2.4 Explore the possibility of conducting a workshop in Bangkok on profiles for sending gift materials to libraries in developing countries and their criteria for accepting such materials. (1998 IFLA Conference, coordinated with ALP)
Discussion Group on licensing proposed instead of workshop

Goal 3
Assume a partnership role in promoting libraries' perspectives in the publisher and vendor communities in the areas of copyright, licensing, and the pricing of materials, with an emphasis on electronic documents.

Actions


3.1 Conduct a survey on the costs of licensing agreements versus traditional subscription costs, analyze and distribute the results. (Late 1999, early 2000. Coordinate with the Standing Committee on Serial Publications and the Publishers Liaison Committee.)
Still proposed

3.2 Actively participate in meetings of the Publishers Liaison Committee during IFLA Conferences. Provide summaries of the meetings in the Section's Newsletter. (Ongoing)
PLC meeting at Amsterdam attended and reported

Goal 4
Monitor and provide information on the changing organisational structures in acquisitions and collection development departments, especially in the light of the changing electronic environment.

Actions


4.1 Explore holding a workshop during the 1998 conference in Amsterdam on the changing organizational structures in acquisitions and collection development departments in light of the changing electronic environment. (If the Standing Committee is permitted only one half day conference, then the first choice will be that on Grey Literature. See 1.2)
Workshop on licensing held instead

4.2 If the above workshop does take place, explore the possibility of having the papers from the above workshop issued as a monograph. (1998)
Not applicable

Goal 5
Provide information about the work of the section and standing committee in a variety of mediums (printed Newsletters, brochures, publication of papers given during IFLA conferences, and in electronic formats such as IFLANet) to those interested in acquisitions and collection development work.

Actions


5.1 Publish two issues of the Section's Newsletter each year. Forward machine-readable versions to IFLANet for inclusion. (Ongoing)
Completed

5.2 Translate copies of the Section's brochure into at least four of the official IFLA languages. (1998)
In preparation

5.3 Provide translations of conference papers in more of the five official IFLA languages. (Ongoing)
Continuing

Goal 6
Provide information on the processes and procedures governing legal deposits.

Actions


6.1. There was no activity planned for this two-year period.

Goal 7
Promote the section in order to increase membership.

Actions


7.1 Using the IFLA Directory, identify and target libraries that might have special interest in acquisition and collection development. Mail them a letter of introduction about the Section and a copy of the Section's brochure. (Fall 1998)
In hand