Access to Everything: Building the Future Academic Library Collection

Abstract

Academic libraries have always been deeply associated with their collections, but the nature of those collections has changed radically as we have entered the digital age. As libraries continue to evolve, they will focus strongly on special collections while adopting a goal of providing access to as much other content as possible. The collection will be everything that the library can identify that fits local curricular and research needs, and the means of access will be driven by cost. Discovery will be crucial, since a powerful discovery tool will allow the library to conceptualize the collection as the broadest possible range of content accessible to the local scholarly community.