Patron-Driven Acquisitions: History and Best Practices

About 40 percent of the books academic libraries purchase in traditional ways never circulate and another 40 percent circulate fewer than three times. By contrast, patron-driven acquisition allows a library to borrow or buy books only when a patron needs them. In a typical workflow, the library imports bibliographic records into its catalogue at no cost. When a patron finds a patron-driven record in the course of research, a short-term loan can allow him to borrow the book, and the transact...