The Changing Nature of Collection Management in Research Libraries

The contemporary history of collection management in North American research libraries begin midcentury. Since then, several issues have influenced the evolution of collection management with new forces emerging in the 1980s. In this article, we point to the challenges librarians face in managing the transition into a new and uncharted environment, including differing needs and scholarly communication patterns. We anticipate digital information will bring fundamental changes to scholarly communication and thus to collection management and point to a shift from a decentralized system of duplicate print collections to one of fewer central repositories. We believe print collections are not likely to disappear but the importance of secure storage for digital materials cannot be overemphasized. In the digital age, the “library model” for funding and sharing information will he scrutinized for its applicability in a world of access. Collection management librarians must take the lead in wedding print collection management to new storage and electronic access and delivery options to maintain and preserve the record of knowledge.