Develop modern research collections

ARE THE DAYS of the large research library, conscientiously collecting all resources just in case, a thing of the past? Will libraries of the future consist solely of virtual resources in some format given physical form by archives, or is there a place for more modern, actively acquired collections? If so, what does this mean and how might it be realized?

It is much less common these days for university libraries to identify a gap in the market, so to speak, and start to actively purchase and develop materials to develop modern research collections reflecting current research activity. However, if funds permit and especially if you can identify potential future specialisms focused on key research activity, there are opportunities for libraries to work with researchers to grow their own research collection in a more systematic and potentially marketable way. Not all modern resources are digital and even those which are may still be produced in formats which are unsustainable in the future. Building a collection on a specific research area is also an activity with which researchers themselves can engage, so it can have unanticipated benefits. However, making a case for funding for this kind of speculative acquisition is not easy; perhaps kickstarting with some external funding or taking a proposal to a university research committee might be a way of initiating such a project.

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Liverpool University Library

Liverpool University Library's Special Collections include the Science fiction Collections, which comprise Europe's largest catalogued collection of Sf material, including the Science fiction foundation Collection and a wealth of literary archives.

European Library

one librarian from Europe describes her plans to develop a modern collection:

‘Our university is very strong in researching into alternative energy and we in the library get a lot of queries about resources. It's a fast-moving field and there's such a lot of grey literature around – things like reports from the EC, conference papers, internal working documents, as well as the more mainstream books and scholarly articles.