An economic case for a UK collective collection

Abstract

Purpose

This paper is a thought experiment that investigates the possibilities of moving from the typical “just-in-case” model of managing legacy collections of printed monographs to a centralised “just-in-time” model.

Design/methodology/approach

Reliable published statistical data have been used; the core of these are the annual library statistics for UK research libraries collected by SCONUL. From these and other sources, the costs of monograph storage across UK research libraries have been determined.

Findings

Establishing a centralised collective collection would bring a large return on investment.

Research limitations/implications

This is not an empirical study.

Originality/value

The value of this study is high.

Citation

Ball, D. (2015), "An economic case for a UK collective collection", The Bottom Line, Vol. 28 No. 1/2, pp. 63-69. https://doi.org/10.1108/BL-12-2014-0036