2012 Charleston Conference

Is the idea of starting a PDA program alarming? Are you intrigued, but concerned about how to begin? Looking for a “jumping off” point to start an informed conversation with the administration at your library? Consider your current, well-established profiles to be a safety-net, and the basis for adding in Patron Initiated Purchasing. That’s what a mid-size, midwest university did. They took a conservative approach to PDA by looking at the print profiles already in place with their approval vendor. Since the subject librarians and faculty were confident in the quality and selection of the print material coming in on approval, it was decided that the profile would be the basis for the PDA selections. This minimized the popular concerns about PDA – poor quality, “opening the collection” too widely, lack of control over acquisitions spending. Sections of the profile that were “e-book preferred” could easily be turned into PDA options. Other areas that had been designated to deliver notification slips were included in the pilot. Careful consideration and open dialog between the library and the vendor were essential to creating a plan that works well. Spoiler Alert: After a year of purchasing against rather tight profile parameters – the subject librarians are now considering taking a more “open” approach for PDA.