How does a library review and rewrite its approval plan while gradually transitioning from a monograph collection that is primarily print to one that in the future will be primarily electronic?
This session will review and describe the arduous but ultimately worthwhile and satisfying project that Loyola Marymount University and YBP Library Services undertook in a yearlong approval profile review. Attendees will hear how the library and the approval plan vendor strategized and collaborated to involve over twenty subject liaisons with varying levels of collection development experience. We will discuss the support infrastructure that the library used to get liaisons up to speed on the relevant issues and their roles in the project. We will also explain the communications and collaboration tools we used to document a process with myriad details to track. Attendees will hear tips from both the library and vendor perspectives on how to effectively structure and implement approval plan revisions for both print and electronic books.
Underlying this whole project was the belief that the approval plan (and intentional collection building) still has an important place in libraries, or at least for one library. During the general discussion segment of our session, we want to hear differing perspectives on whether and how to embark on such a major undertaking.
Head of Acquisitions & Collection Development, Loyola Marymount University
Glenn Johnson-Grau is Head of Acquisitions & Collection Development at Loyola Marymount University. He frequently reminds himself that all is flux and nothing stays still.