Diminishing Short-Term Loan Returns: A Four-Year View of the Impact of Demand-Driven Acquisitions on Collection Development at a Small Academic Library

Abstract

When St. Edward’s University’s library implemented demand-driven acquisitions (DDA) for electronic books (e-books) in 2011, the program affordably served as the monographic front list for this small liberal arts university library with minimal demands on the professional staff. Over four years, short-term loan (STL) costs have increased at an alarming rate and important publishers have altered what content was made available through aggregator DDA platforms plus the terms of availability of the content. The library examined how DDA fits into it collection-building and management processes in a continually changing environment and offers some strategies and considerations useful for helping in the choice of e-book purchasing models.