Why Did We BuyThat? New Customers and Changing Directions in Collection Development

This article describes the new role of academic libraries in higher education and shows how it has changed collection development objectives to serve a nontraditional constituency not served in the past. This is illustrated, in part, by Kent State University Library's review and selection of language-learning software, motivated by the university's strategic initiatives for globalization. It demonstrates a new trend to purchase resources that support administrative agendas and non-teaching programs, and the impact this has on how libraries frame collection development policies and allocate dollars for library content. As collection managers are redirecting support to revenue-building objectives, are they compromising support of educational objectives?