Now a minor motion picture

Way back in July, I asked for help in putting together a presentation on dealing with collection development in these economic times. I finally had the time to turn my October 1 presentation at the UNYOC meeting into a QuickTime movie and dub the audio to it. The video is embedded below, but you can also go to Vimeo to watch it in a larger window or to download it if you want. The text is available separately at Scribd. Many thanks to my colleagues who sent in their ideas and tips. The spirit of sharing has always been alive and well in the library community, and the Internet expands that spirit exponentially.

In case you’re wondering, the presentation was done in Apple’s Keynote, not in PowerPoint.

Collection development in times of diminishing budgets

I knew I was in trouble as soon as I hung up the phone. Diana had convinced me to speak at the UNYOC Chapter meeting in October on collection development in times of diminishing budgets. Oh sure, I have some things I do to deal with budget issues, but that couldn’t fill up 40 minutes. And most of them only work for academic medical libraries. So I’m asking the medical library community to send me the things you are now doing to deal with a diminished budget. I will put the best suggestions into my presentation, and make the presentation available for everyone. So consider this a joint cooperative publication, with me as the editor.

I suspect that many of us are doing the same things, but I will identify interesting techniques with your name, if you allow me. Please post your techniques, even if they seem obvious to you. Here’s what I’m doing (although some pre-date the current economic situation):

• Join consortia (lowers pricing, saves on negotiation time.)
• Partner with the main library (our annual share of the Springer ebook package is less than what we used to pay for print Springer books from our approval plan, and we get tons more.)
• Substitute free “lite” versions for little used paid databases (AGELINE, AGRICOLA.)
• Use those cancellation privileges in your big deal (every $100 helps. /sarcasm)
• Go e-only whenever possible (although sometimes this is more costly, watch out.)
• Cancel the approval plan.

Come on, show the world your brilliant idea. Let me know if I can credit your idea.