COLLECTING and CONNECTING for the EXTENDED CLASSROOM

FOCUSING OUR COLLECTIONS

OUR RECENT PAST

The Library's collections reflect the University's dual mission as research institution and liberal arts college. The collections have been largely print-based, physically owned by the Library and considered to be permanent. The faculty has played a decisive role in selection of materials. Users have had to come to the Library for resources and services. Cataloging of materials has been highly standardized and centralized; the main catalog has provided access primarily to book collections; access to materials not recorded in the main catalog has been through departmental catalogs and staff consultation. The Library added its two millionth volume in 1988 and its three millionth less than a decade later in 1997.

FORCES FOR CHANGE

The Library is now in a complex transitional phase. The revolution in availability and networking of electronic resources has created a virtual, as well as a physical, collection. Demand for and availability of electronic information has not lesse ned the demand for and availability of print sources. Publication of research materials in multiple formats requires that the Library balance user preference, space constraints, cost, and archival stability in choosing one format over another. As costs for library materials continue to escalate faster than the rate of inflation, it is no longer possible, within any field, for a library to own everything; cooperative partnerships which permit access to materials not locally owned are essential to the Library's ability to meet research needs.

Rapid growth of the Library's physical collections has overtaxed the capacity of its buildings to house them; an ever larger portion of acquisitions funds is spent on renting off-campus shelf space for previously acquired materials. Providing bibliographic access to large gifts, which have fueled the rapid growth in collection size, has proven equally difficult during a time when grant monies are no longer readily available for this purpose.

While faculty and academic departments continue to be important players in the collection development process, the independent learning style fostered by the Brown curriculum, and undergraduate users' growing preference for expensive electronic resources, add new factors to the selection equation. As the University moves forward with plans to revitalize graduate education and emphasize interdisciplinary studies, the Library must be prepared to support and further those endeavors. At the same time that the Library struggles to support the curriculum and changing University directions, the Library's role as a major research institution with distinctive collections of record must continue if the University is to contribute as a major player on the world educational stage.

OUR FUTURE

The challenge for the future is to make those choices which will permit us to expend our limited resources to meet user needs, and at the same time to maintain the strength and distinction of our collections; to grow rationally by focusing on what we do best and by pursuing joint ownership of physical materials and joint purchases of electronic products; and to continue to support the curriculum while being flexible enough to respond to rapidly changing educational and technological developments. With finite financial and spatial resources, the Library must find a rational and feasible balance between collecting, organizing, and housing printed material, which will continue to be primary for users in many fields, and providing access to electronic products, which are primary research tools in other fields, and have a strong attraction to users comfortable with new technologies.

To achieve a more focused collection, the Library should move away from a fragmented, often overlapping, academic department-based approach to collection development and move toward a more holistic approach which treats the collection as a whole organism while recognizing different research patterns within humanities, social sciences, and sciences, and within different user groups. Special collections should be part of this more holistic approach and its growth targeted and focused to advance the Brown University Library's greatest strengths as a research institution. In order for our users to derive full benefit from Library collections, the Library must strive to provide online access at some level to all library materials. Mechanisms for organizing and providing access to collections must be developed in concert by staff with bibliographic and subject expertise who are mutually focused on connecting users with the resources we house and network.

While we recognize that scholars will, for years to come, utilize the rich print collections and primary research materials which we continue to develop, we must consciously move beyond our print-based models in building collections and seek to exploit and make available to users all media that promote learning, scholarship, and research. The Library must seize the opportunity afforded by current technologies to promote its unique and historical materials by engaging directly in electronic publishing efforts. We must seek productive collaborations within our user community, and participate in broad-ranging collegial efforts with other academic and research libraries for the mutual benefit of our scholarly communities.

STEPS TOWARD THE FUTURE

  1. Develop, manage, and promote the use of the library collection as one integrated whole with three broad discipline areas - humanities, social sciences, and sciences - spanning a life cycle which includes budget allocation, acquisitions, access, location, retention and use, and encompassing the entire spectrum of traditional and newly emerging formats, as well as physical access and shared ownership options. Refocus the decision-making points in this life cycle on the research and curricular needs of our undergraduate, graduate student and faculty populations, the University's academic directions and priorities, and the vitality of our collections of record.

    1. With a focus on the Brown community - past, present and future - and the University's planning and decision-making, evaluate all current collecting areas and define desired levels of research and instructional support. Make critical choices and set priorities by:

      • Confirming the Library's collections of record, those areas in which we make a long-term commitment to build and provide resources through ownership, retention, preservation, publication and leadership in global, national, and regional library communities.
      • Aligning our research-level collecting with University goals for achieving national prominence in graduate education, by providing ongoing support for established and recognized programs, and building retrospective collections for newly charted University-sponsored directions. Collection growth in research-level collections must combine selective ownership of materials with direct access through cooperative partnerships.
      • Identifying those collecting areas which closely reflect the undergraduate curriculum, class enrollments, intensity of use, new course offerings, and which must be supported by strong local holdings.
      • Specifying remaining areas in which collecting will be limited to providing access to materials.

    2. Develop the necessary flexibility in building collections to respond appropriately to needs within different disciplines and user groups for: differing levels of support for monographic vs. serial literature, historical vs. current materials, new vs. traditional formats, access vs. local ownership of materials.

    3. Proactively seek out internet and multimedia resources in building collections and exploit their instructional potential.

    4. Address complications which new technologies pose for issues of copyright, licensing, infrastructure, preservation and access.

    5. Work with faculty to meet their resource needs within the broad discipline framework. Expand contacts with faculty beyond the Departmental Library Representative model so that all faculty research needs are met. Communicate a firm commitment to support research by providing means of access when direct ownership is not feasible.

    6. Communicate decisions about collection life cycle issues in a widely available, dynamic Information Resources Development and Management Policy.

  2. Manage the growth of physical collections by increased selectivity, avoidance of unnecessary duplication, and aggressive pursuit of consortial agreements. For example:

    1. Develop and support a multifunctional virtual catalog within the Boston Library Consortium.

    2. Take a leadership role in pursuing shared ownership and joint purchase opportunities within the Boston Library Consortium, the North East Research Libraries, or with other local or regional partners.

    3. Take a leadership role with consortial partners in promoting the mutual benefit of collectively 'owning' a single copy of retrospective journal runs.

    4. Withdraw selected print titles for which the Library owns microformats or electronic subscriptions and does not have consortial retention responsibility.

    5. Establish clear and selective guidelines for acceptance of gifts so that all receipts are evaluated in terms of their potential contribution to the current curriculum, research collections, and collections of record. Balance the value a gift adds to the collection against staff, processing, and space costs it exacts.

  3. Optimize intellectual access to collections and resources by establishing priorities and processing levels which make it possible to provide access on Josiah to all Library holdings.

    1. Provide access to 'hidden collections', those collections to which users do not have access through Josiah or the Library Web. These include uncataloged materials, non-book formats, sets without individual records, etc.

    2. Provide links in Josiah to appropriate non-library Brown collections and databases as well as to non-Brown collections of greatest utility to our users.

    3. Explore current alternatives to full-level in-house MARC cataloging and implement those which streamline access to materials without sacrificing quality standards.

    4. Utilize commercially available tools, such as table-of-contents services, for finer indexing of already cataloged Library materials.

  4. Make resources accessible to users as soon as possible and with as little staff handling as possible.

    1. Undertake systematic process improvement initiatives in all intersecting collection-handling areas and implement more efficient workflows.

    2. Utilize commercial services where they serve to increase the productivity and efficiency of our workflows.

  5. Begin to act as an electronic publisher for materials from our collections.

    1. Selectively target materials for digitization based on their immediate value to our users (course reserves, curricular-related collections) and their potential contribution to scholarship.

    2. Resolve issues relating to ownership, copyright, licensing, and archiving of digital collections.

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