EUI Library Collection Development

Current strategy and trends

The collections of the EUI Library reflect the evolving research and teaching activities of EUI departments and centres, and contribute to the development of the scientific, educational and cultural heritage of Europe.

The purpose of collection development is to provide access to quality and relevant resources for the research and teaching activities of the EUI community.

Collection development takes place within the context of, and is facilitated by, sustainable Library financial management.

Library collections are in print and electronic formats; components of a single collection development strategy. The hybrid balance is an important aspect of strategic and discretionary collection building.

Financial models for the acquisition of scholarly content – including purchase, subscription, publisher-defined collections, time-limited access, ‘transformative agreements’, article processing charges and other models – imply that Library collection development is closely aligned with Library budget development, financial sustainability and market evolution.

Collection policy is aligned with open access goals. The Library includes open-access materials and supports open-access initiatives.

The selection, acquisition and classification of print and digital resources is closely related to other Library functions, including cataloguing, web indexing, collection maintenance and preservation.

Library Information specialists – who hold PhDs in the relevant disciplines – are in close contact with EUI departments and centres, as well as with individual Library users and project teams, to evaluate the quality of resources, and to gauge demand and usage.

The paradigm of ‘collection’ has evolved to include the indexing of, and linking to, relevant quality internet resources beyond the traditional acquisition of print and commercially licensed content. Outputs of open science are important in this regard.

Synergies between Library collections and Library services are at the heart of the Library’s mandate to support the research and teaching activities of the EUI community.

Collection development takes place in the context of the Library’s overall service provision: (i) the acquisition, classification, cataloguing, indexing and provision of access to, quality and relevant information resources (ii) Library reference support, departmental helpdesks, bespoke assistance and training and (iii) preservation and dissemination of EUI scholarly outputs. These three pillars complement, and support, the stages of the research lifecycle: (a) input (b) elaboration and (c) output.

Library collection development is located in the overall context, priorities and evolution of the EUI, as indicated in the EUI Strategic Plan.

Community suggestions

EUI scholars play an active role in Library collection development by suggesting books, journals, databases, reference works and news resources to the Information Specialists.

The journals collection, data collection, news collection and reference collection are almost entirely in electronic format, facilitating campus-wide and off-campus access.

Almost 60% of new books are acquired in electronic format.

Selection criteria for new titles include: Quality indicators, including publishers’ reputation; Relevance indicators, including requests and anticipated usage; Alignment with broad departmental, research centre and HAEU profiles and; Potential inter-disciplinary usage.

The trend is to provide electronic access where possible. However there are very important economic constraints. Print versus electronic selection criteria include: Cost of print book versus cost of electronic book; Multi-user demand and course requirements; On-campus/off-campus user needs; Digital access terms and conditions and; Providers' and publishers platform performance.

Suggestions from EUI scholars help enrich the collections by informing Information Specialists of emergent themes, new works, new editions, older works newly relevant, new translations, re-issued works and anniversary editions.

Forward guidance

Quality and relevance remain the paramount criteria for future EUI Library collection development.

The hybrid, multi-media nature of the Library collection requires the sustainable and flexible evolution of the budget to meet EUI community needs. External factors continue to be significant, including publishers’ models, market evolution and inflation.

The Library seeks the widest possible coverage for research and teaching materials within its budget. New models, such as 'evidence based acquisition' and 'time limited access' continue to be monitored for value to users and the library budget.

The EUI continues to expand its teaching programmes, increasing the budgetary and administrative workload associated with the provision of access to textbooks, case studies and other teaching resources.

In addition to being responsive to the EUI community, librarians are also responsive to developments in librarianship, information science and the international publishing sector.

Library staff are attentive to further publisher model innovation, including the potential emergence of transformative agreements and processing charges’ in the scholarly monographs’ market.

Flexibility in the open-stack print collections is facilitated by weeding to create space for new works. Books in storage can be retrieved for readers within 24 hours.