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The purpose of this research aims at extending the knowledge on whether and how universities include sustainability dimensions in managing their collections. Precisely, the study focusses on the creation of a university museum (UM), as an embryonic stage of life during which management concerns both strategic and operational issues.

Sustainability is envisioned as a multifaceted concept, composed of the economic, cultural, environmental and social dimensions. Resorting to an acknowledged theoretical model for sustainable development in museum management, a qualitative interpretative study is carried out, gathering data from multiple sources. The empirical setting is the University of Pavia, which has recently created a new Museum of Natural History (Kosmos).

Results highlight how sustainability dimensions intertwin in UM creation. Moreover, the economic dimension emerges as a basement for the others. Value for the community, expressed in economic terms, must be ensured in UMs creation as well as throughout its entire life, in order to support cultural, environmental and social sustainability.

Focussing on the embryonic stage of UMs life allowed to consider how sustainability is embedded in relevant strategic and operational decisions. Nevertheless, scholars are encouraged to replicate the study in other stages of UMs' life, in a way to provide insights on its dynamics.

University collections managers can benefit from this research by acknowledging the role played by the economic dimension of sustainability. Notwithstanding their mission, universities should pay attention to extracting economic value from the management of their collections, as a means to ensure innovative and sustainable management on the cultural, environmental and social respects. Furthermore, this research suggests how a higher education system is able to create a new museum by relying on interdisciplinary competencies, which support sustainability since the embryonic stage.

This research contributes to the cultural heritage management literature by proposing an updated version of the sustainable development model for museums, which highlights the different relevance of the sustainability dimensions with particular regard to the UM creation and management.

Digital library research has attracted much attention in the most developed, and in a number of developing, countries. While many digital library research projects are funded by government agencies and national and international bodies, some are run by specific academic and research institutions and libraries, either individually or collaboratively. While some digital library projects, such as the ELINOR project in the UK, the first two phases of the eLib (Electronic Libraries) Programme in the UK, and the first phase of DLI (Digital Library Initiative) in the US, are now over, a number of other projects are currently under way in different parts of the world. Beginning with the definitions and characteristics of digital libraries, as proposed by various researchers, this paper provides brief accounts of some major digital library projects that are currently in progress, or are just completed, in different parts of the world. There follows a review of digital library research under sixteen major headings. Literature for this review has been identified through a search on LISA CD‐ROM database, and a Dialog search on library and information science databases, and the resulting output has been supplemented by a scan of the various issues of D‐Lib Magazine and Ariadne, and the websites of various organisations and institutions engaged in digital library research. The review indicates that we have learned a lot through digital library research within a short span of time. However, a number of issues are yet to be resolved. The paper ends with an indication of the research issues that need to be addressed and resolved in the near future in order to bring the digital library from the researcher‘s laboratory to the real life environment.

The purpose of this paper is to present the situation of collection development and management of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati and IIT Patna libraries. This research includes other areas of collection development, i.e. collection development policy, acquisition of resources, selection of resources and budget allocation. The collection management includes accessibility, stock verification, shelf arrangement, weeding out and library security of IIT Guwahati and IIT Patna Central Libraries.

A structured questionnaire was sent to the librarians via e-mail, which includes 20 questions with 103 preferences.

Present research has found that there is a difference in newly established IIT Patna library and old IIT Guwahati library in some aspects of collection development. In the library of IIT Patna, library committee is responsible for collection development policy as well as recommender of resource selection, whereas in IIT Guwahati library advisory committee is responsible for collection development policy and selection of resources on the recommendation of faculty members. The IIT Patna library is not facing any problem, while IIT Guwahati library facing many problems i.e., lack of funds, information explosion and literature scattered. The RFID is used in IIT Patna library, while in IIT Guwahati library it is under process.

The study is limited to the collection development policies undertaken in IIT Patna and IIT Guwahati in eastern India. The research questions are limited to the theme only. Therefore, the findings of the study are not valid for an in-depth study.

The study has great importance for librarians of IITs which have recently established in India. The findings and suggestions can serve as groundwork and could help to solve some common problems that had been faced by them.

This is a comparative study of IIT Guwahati and IIT Patna libraries in eastern India. The collection development aspects, i.e. selection, acquisition, finance and collection management, play a vital role in the collection development to serve their users. The study can serve as a base for future studies in other academic and special libraries.

Library resources evolve daily with ongoing expansion of electronic offerings by publishers and vendors. Collection development policies have long been employed to guide decision making and inform stakeholders, but how are these policies serving libraries and their users as our collections continue to move online? This paper aims to discuss the role of collection development polices, past and present, and the challenge of collections moving to an electronic format.

The authors performed a content analysis to discover how academic libraries are addressing this change in collection development.

The paper finds that virtually all libraries do an excellent job of addressing the traditional elements of collection development. About half of the libraries mentioned electronic licensing issues in the policy, but most of those were general statements.

Although the library profession is well aware of the changes that electronic resources bring to libraries, there is not a lot of research on how collection development policies should guide electronic resource management. As shown in this research, it is often completely left out of the collection development policy process.

Academic librarians are being bombarded with an accelerating stream of news: new services, new public relations, new information formats, new technologies and new catalogs have been introduced during the past 10 to 15 years. Innovations are not always successfully assimilated by large academic libraries and dislocations associated with change in one department often affect the entire library. Coping strategies have been envisioned and even implemented, but usually are grafted onto existing, traditional organizational structures. Therefore, collection development and management in academic libraries is most sensibly addressed in terms of the larger library organization.

Presents case studies of preservation management policies and practice in six independent libraries. The nature of the library buildings, collections, finance and management, preservation policies and practice were investigated. The libraries face similar preservation problems and constraints as other libraries, including a lack of awareness, lack of space, unfavourable environmental conditions and a lack of resources. However, the central role of members, and the fact that many independent libraries are housed in listed buildings, pose additional constraints that make current preservation standards difficult to achieve. User education is essential to understanding the need for preservation activities and to overcome resistance to activities that affect member privileges. Communication and co‐operation between independent libraries is also recommended. Independent Libraries have to engage more with the outside world to gain access to sources of funding and assistance.

How can academic libraries unlock staff capacity for new initiatives as they transition their collections from print to digital? The following are four strategies for recapturing staff time as libraries adopt new formats while still supporting older ones at a smaller volume. First, librarians should employ strategic collection development that takes into consideration opportunities for efficiencies as they make the print to digital transition. Second, libraries should implement creative reorganizations in order to scale down print services and effectively manage new digital formats. Third, libraries should rightscale their infrastructure, that is, choose the appropriate level – local, consortial/regional, national, or global – where collection management activities should take place. Fourth, libraries, library software vendors, and publishers should develop purchasing and resource discovery infrastructures that harness shared data to enable network level electronic resource management.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the e-resource collection development practices of the engineering college libraries of Aligarh. The research includes budgeting, collection development policy, collection evaluation, sources of funds, modes of procurement, pricing models and other aspects related to collection development activity.

The descriptive method was used for conducting the study, in which a well-structured questionnaire was administered followed by interview of the librarians of six engineering college libraries under study.

It was found that these colleges are much more interested in focusing on building a strong e-resource collection in their libraries. During the past few years, the budget has also been increased in majority of libraries for the acquisition of e-resources. The study found that the major factors affecting the selection of electronic resources (e-resources) in these colleges are quality, subject coverage, license agreement and vendor support. It was also revealed that majority of libraries lack proper collection development policy, especially for e-resources. The study suggested that these libraries should build their collections keeping in mind the different areas of specializations of engineering studies and the contemporary changes in the field.

The paper is restricted exclusively to the study of collection development process of e-resources and the librarians of six major engineering colleges of Aligarh as respondents.

This study has great importance for the librarians of the similar engineering colleges in India. The findings and suggestions of the study can help not only in understanding the engineering college librarianship and its current trends but can also help library professionals who are facing similar challenges in their libraries.

The present study is about the e-resource collection development practices followed in engineering colleges of Aligarh, which can serve as a pedestal for future studies in other academic and special libraries in India and elsewhere.

The literature on collection development largely discusses all kinds of managerial and practical issues. There appears to be a noteworthy gap in LIS literature regarding the philosophical and conceptual underpinning of the subject. The paper aims to attempt to explore the developments in the theoretical foundations of collection management practices in libraries.

An extensive review of the available literature was made to synthesise the study. It illustrates the impacts of the developments in civilization, from ancient times to modern, on the collection management services of libraries.

It was found that the philosophy underlying collection management work has expanded through the ages due to various factors.

The paper provides an overview of social and technological changes on the philosophy of managing collections through the ages.

The purpose of this paper is to explore some major challenges in the area of collection management faced by university libraries in Pakistan.

The methodology includes a literature review and a survey of university libraries in Pakistan in 2004.

The challenges regarding collection management in university libraries in Pakistan are: handling the hybrid character of collections, service to users, training of collection management staff, collection evaluation, resource sharing and preservation.

This paper provides an example of the challenges of university libraries in a developing country which must plan and develop a customized paradigm of library service which combines the traditional and modern services.