Return on Investment for Collaborative Collection Development: A Cost-Benefit Evaluation of Consortia Purchasing

This paper describes the cost-benefits and the return on investment of one consortium comprised of five separately administered libraries in the University of Colorado (CU) System. With a long history of collaboration, the libraries have developed an ideal cooperative arrangement for acquiring electronic content that is accessible across all campuses. The size and flexibility of this institution-based consortium allows it to be responsive and successful in collaborating across four campuses despite different sized budgets and unique local and institutional constraints. To demonstrate the value of jointly leveraging library budgets to university administrators, the authors conducted a consortium level cost-benefit analysis and describe the methodology used to quantify return on the university’s investment. This paper addresses both qualitative and quantitative outcomes and underscores how consortial participation has become an essential way of doing business

More than a Number: Unexpected Benefits of Return on Investment Analysis

In 2010–2011, University of Colorado (CU) librarians implemented a multi-campus pilot study to measure the institutional value of library resources used by faculty in their research. The study incorporated quantitative methods including return on investment (ROI), cost benefit analysis (CBA), and citation analysis of journal articles published by faculty; and qualitative methodologies such as in-person interviews with faculty. The study resulted in a CU ROI model that can be used to measure faculty perceptions of value and the economic benefits of electronic journal collections for faculty research in terms of ROI. The CU ROI methodology provides outcomes beyond a single ROI number and led to unexpected benefits for informing collection development decisions and strategies

Ebb and Flow: A Selection to Access Workflow for Consortia PDA

In the traditional workflow for delivering electronic resources to patrons, acquisitions have been the bridge between collection development and cataloging. However, new Patron Driven Acquisitions (PDA) purchasing models have reordered workflows and reemphasized communications. The sequence of activities differs since e-book discovery precedes purchasing activities. Workflow complexities are further exacerbated in a consortia environment. The University of Colorado (CU) system collaborated to implement a consortium PDA pilot with Ingram Academic on the MyiLibrary platform in December 2011. This presentation provides an overview of the pilot program and describes the workflow used for shared selection, cataloging, purchasing, and assessment of e-books among five separate libraries. The presenters provide details on the most salient issues encountered at each phase of the process, such as: selecting pilot subject areas; developing a consortium profile; establishing best-practices for MARC record editing and loading; troubleshooting duplicated e-book titles at individual libraries; resolving invoicing logistics; and designing assessment criteria. It also covers strategies for implementing a PDA program and describes some of the issues that may arise in a consortial PDA program

Patron‐Driven E‐book Solutions: Moving Beyond the Banana Books Incident

The University of Colorado Boulder Libraries participated in one of the first patron‐driven acquisition initiatives offered by netLibrary in the late 1990s. One outcome of this patron‐driven pilot was the banana books incident which has now become part of popular collection development lore. This incident will be described more fully and will highlight the difficulties of establishing demand‐driven models that are divorced from an institution’s approval plans. More recently, the University of Colorado has taken the lessons learned from the banana books snafu and has developed institution specific solutions for patron selection and use of e‐books. This paper will discuss strategies for integrating e‐books into subject and publisher based approval profiles with Ingram‐Coutts and the My iLibrary platform. The paper will also address the complexities of customizing 70 profiles that are a combination of print, e‐preferred, e‐patron‐driven with Coutts and 30 selectors

Emerging trends in fee-based information delivery

Fee-based information services in libraries will face many challenges in continuing to offer value-added, cost-effective services to customers daring the opening decade of the new millennium. Some of the challenges are similar to those faced by other library units, but others are unique. Many of these are related to the proliferation of electronic resources and to the do-it-yourself approach customers have toward them. Other issues that must be addressed include shifts in client expectations; the demand for new types of information services and products; unresolved intellectual property issues; evolving means of providing access, delivery, and distribution; the need to form innovative partnerships; and the increasing globalization of the customer base

Exploring Document Delivery Options: A Pilot Study of the University of Colorado System

In the spring of 1993, five libraries in the University of Colorado multi-campus system explored ways to provide expedited interlibrary loan (ILL) for materials owned collectively. As a result, a pilot study was launched to evaluate the feasibility of employing commercial document delivery as an alternative to ILL, and as a possible solution to the growing need for expedited information delivery. The goal of this study was to determine if a significant number of interlibrary loan requests could be supplied by commercial vendors reliably, cost effectively, and quickly. The results showed that libraries with small collections, large populations, and general patron needs could fill a high percentage of requests using commercial suppliers, while libraries with research or specialized needs experienced differing success rates depending on the titles and coverage offered by each service in the study

Library fee-based information services: financial considerations

Fee-based services in libraries offer research and document delivery services to non-primary clientele on a cost-recovery basis. Highlights services at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Rice University and Purdue University. Explores the major financial considerations involved in starting a new fee-based service, including planning, staffing, pricing and marketing. Relates several special opportunities to which the libraries could not have responded without having had an existing fee-based service with experienced staff in place. Also examines Internet opportunities