C&RL News March 2015 126

I n recent years, the landscape of collection management has been radically trans-
formed by the explosion of digital content, 
the importance of collaborative initiatives for 
content acquisition and shared print manage-
ment, new licensing and acquisition models, 
the dramatic shift in facilitating access versus 
ownership, and a crowded field of providers 
and platforms. The academic library itself has 
been utterly changed in the past two decades. 
What does this mean for the ways in which 
we teach the next generation of librarians 
about the activities, goals, and issues involved 
in collection management? 

I have taught a collection management 
course three times, from 2010 to 2012, at 
the School of Information Studies at the 
University of Ottawa-Canada. The Master of 
Information Studies program was established 
in 2007, and the school is very proud to have 
received full accreditation from ALA in 2014.

A few challenges
Expectations of collections work are rapidly 
changing. As Peggy Johnson has noted, “User 
expectations about the services, collections, 
and access that libraries should provide are 
profoundly affecting collection develop-
ment and management.”1 LIS students need 
to be aware of business practices around 
e-resources licensing, vendor relations, and 
consortial dynamics and goals. Moreover, 
they have to become attuned to the be-
wildering variety of acquisition models for 
ebooks and preservation strategies for both 
ebooks and print books (and other materi-

als), and to understand why these issues are 
so visceral for libraries. It is also essential for 
students to understand the impact of net-
worked resources, scholarly publishing and 
the ever-evolving ecosystem of players in the 
supply chain, and budget constraints that are 
becoming tighter each year. With all of this 
knowledge, however, they need to learn how 
to stay close to the pulse of their patrons’ 
needs and expectations. Therefore liaison 
work and partnership are central to success. 

The challenge for anyone teaching collec-
tion management to LIS students is to articu-
late the paradigm shift from local collections 
to a networked and collaborative model,2 

and to teach skills and methodologies that 
address the issues in a forward-looking and 
holistic manner. Understanding the impact 
of information abundance in a digital world 
and the reduced barriers to access is essential 
for students. We need to use pedagogical 
strategies to convey the new landscape, and 
articulate what it borrows or repurposes 
from the old. Therefore striking the right 
balance is essential for success, to illustrate 
how transformational and traditional thinking 
inform each other. 

Teaching LIS students
The marrying of theory and practice is a 
difficult balancing act for any professional 

Tony Horava

Teaching students what we do
A collection management course

Tony Horava is associate university librarian (collections) 
at the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada, email: 
thorava@uottawa.ca
© 2015 Tony Horava

the way I see it



March 2015 127 C&RL News

education. It is important to focus on learn-
ing goals and foundational knowledge with 
a view of how these issues play out in the 
real world of librarianship. 

Being a practitioner with many years of 
experience in collection management gives 
me an intimate view of the challenges and 
opportunities. For example, informing discus-
sions of vendor relations with real-life stories 
of negotiations (the good, the bad, and the 
ugly) was of real benefit for the students. 
They could see the links between interests 
and outcomes, and the impact on the range 
of resources that we license. 

Students sometimes have very dated im-
pressions of what it means to be involved 
in collections work; some have assumptions 
of spending significant time on title-by-title 
selection. They are unaware of the chal-
lenges of access versus ownership models in 
a digital era, the complexities of navigating 
scholarly communication issues, the impact 
of open access policies, and the necessities 
and challenges of acquiring and managing a 
wide range of new forms of knowledge, such 
as datasets, GIS resources, video streaming 
services, and visualization tools. 

Some students imagine librarians and 
vendors in a two-tone world of good guys 
and bad guys. They were surprised at the 
difficult choices that need be made, such as 
reorienting the collection strategy in response 
to budget cuts or staff cuts, and what sustain-
ability means in the 21st-century library. The 
smorgasbord of licensing models is a surprise 
for many students, as is the complexity of 
negotiating license agreements with ven-
dors and the importance of being a skilled 
negotiator. 

While students are learning the knowledge 
and principles behind collection manage-
ment, it is important to convey a sense of 
these issues that they will have to confront 
once they are working in collections-related 
roles in their professional career. The explora-
tion of library values was a frequent theme 
in class discussions, as students grappled 
with ethical challenges such as censorship, 
public policy issues, consortial dynamics, and 

vendor relations. The sheer interrelatedness 
of many issues and trends was a revelation 
for students. 

It was also eye-opening for students to un-
derstand the critical importance of articulating 
the value of what we do, i.e., demonstrating 
that the significant financial investments made 
by our institutions in the collection, year after 
year, are essential for meeting the goals of 
scholarship and teaching. This opened doors 
to conversations about the role of collection 
assessment in our work, and different tech-
niques and strategies to consider. It also led 
to an appreciation of the political dimensions 
of collection management, in an era of rapid 
change in educational technology, teaching 
methods, program learning outcomes, and 
research agendas. This broader landscape is 
important for students to grasp.

Assignments
I developed assignments that would enable 
students to learn as much as possible about 
the complexities and challenges of collec-
tion management. There was a selection as-
signment for which students were asked to 
assume that they were the Political Science 
selector in our institution, and that it was 
close to year-end with $1,500 left to spend 
in the departmental budget. There was a 
case study assignment for students to focus 
on real-world scenarios and develop effec-
tive strategies in response, and there was a 
Great Debate assignment in which students 
were required to give a class presentation on 
a polemical proposition—“Be it resolved that 
the print book is dying and should no longer 
be a major focus for collection management.” 
These active learning assignments were well-
received and allowed students to engage with 
the issues by applying their analytical skills, 
judgement, and creativity.

I gave term paper topics that would en-
able students to explore current issues, e.g., 
E-books: The tipping point to success; The 
implications of Google Books for collection 
management; Print on demand technology: 
Implications for collection management; The 

(continues on page 130)



C&RL News March 2015 130

patron-driven acquisition model for books; 
Re-defining the nature of a ‘library collection’ 
in the 21st century; New forms of scholarly 
communication: Their impact on collection 
management ; and, Determining the value of 
consortial acquisitions for the library collec-
tion. I used Peggy Johnson’s Fundamentals 
of Collection Development and Management 
as the course textbook; it provided a superb 
overview of broad themes, incorporating 
historical and current knowledge, as well 
as case problems in a variety of different 
library settings. 

Conclusion
Teaching what we do is a challenge in any 
era, but it is particularly challenging in 
today’s world. The collection management 
practices that have guided us for decades 
are being rapidly reinvented. From a profes-
sor’s perspective, instilling critical thinking, 
creativity, analytical skills, and curiosity are 

paramount. Teaching collection manage-
ment to the next generation of librarians 
and information professionals has been a 
privilege and very rewarding. It has allowed 
me to share my knowledge and experience, 
while I found myself being challenged by 
students’ ideas and perspectives. All the 
more power to them, as they will be the 
ones to redefine collection management in 
the coming years.

Notes
1. Peggy Johnson, Fundamentals of Col-

lection Development and Management, 2nd 
edition (Washington: ALA, 2012), 25.

2. “21st Century Collections: Calibration 
of Investment and Collaborative Action: Is-
sue Brief,” Association of Research Libraries, 
Last modified March 10, 2012, arl.org/storage 
/documents/publications/issue-brief-21st 
-century-collections-2012.pdf, accessed Au-
gust 14, 2014.  

(“Teaching students what we do,” cont. from page 127) 

• Approved ACRL Plan for Excellence 
objective change to include the removal of 
objective four, “create and promote new 
mechanisms that reward and value open 
scholarship.”

Enabling Programs and Services
• Endorsed new  strategic initiatives for 

CHOICE and the capital expenditures to 
support them.

• Reviewed the FY14 year-end financial 
report, the first quarter FY15 report, and the 
preliminary draft of the FY16 budget.

Research and Scholarly Environment
Goal: Librarians accelerate the transition to a more open system of scholarship.

• Established a Digital Scholarship Centers 
Interest Group to provide a forum for discus-
sion and the exchange of ideas related to 
digital scholarship centers. 

• Decided to pilot holding a virtual spring 
meeting of the full ACRL Board on April 17 
rather than a face-to-face meeting of the 
Executive Committee.

• Heard plans for the next membership 
survey and focus groups, as well as ideas about 
how to increase member engagement.