A Dialogue on PDA

Abstract

A discussion regarding the effect of patron-driven acquisition (PDA) on the business of university presses is presented between the Director Emeritus of Penn State Press Sanford G. Thatcher and Rick Anderson, the Associate Director for Scholarly Resources & Collections at Marriott Library, the University of Utah. Thatcher notes that PDA can pose significant problems for university presses by reducing the immediate cash flow and a lower number of sales overall due to the research on the circulation of the scholarly monograph. Anderson sees a similar problem, but proposes that university presses should gear their lists more to the research needs of the library's patrons rather than publish books that nobody wants.