Collection development and outsourcing in academic health sciences libraries: a survey of current practices

Academic health sciences Libraries in the United States and Canada were sur veyed regarding collection development trends, including their effect on ap proval plan and blanket order use, and use of out sourcing over the past fo ur years. Results of the survey indicate that serials market forces; budget ary constraints, and growth in electronic resources purchasing have resulte d in a decline in the acquisition of print items. As a result, approval pla n use is being curtailed in many academic health sciences libraries. Althou gh use of blanket orders is more stable, fewer than one-third of academic h ealth sciences libraries report using them currently. The decline of print collections suggests that libraries should explore cooperative collection d evelopment of print materials to ensure access and preservation. The declin e of approval plan use and the need for cooperative collection development may require additional effort for sound collection development. Libraries w ere also surveyed about their use of outsourcing. Some libraries reported o utsourcing cataloging and shelf preparation of books, but none reported usi ng outsourcing for resource selection. The reason given most often for outs ourcing was that it resulted in cost savings. As expected, economic factors are driving both collection development and outsourcing practices.