A Demand-Driven Future

Abstract

The article looks at how demand-driven purchase and lease options through third-party vendors have improved collection development at libraries based on the ability to offer access to unsubscribed content when needed. Particular attention is given to how the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) struggled to finance its collection of large serial bundles from scientific, technical, and medical publishers. In response, the author details how UAB's Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences (LHL) established pay-per-view accounts with commercial publishers as well as a system of selecting books from vendor YBP based on students' requests.