Organisational Changes and a New Media Policy: Meeting User Demands at the Royal Institute of Technology

This paper discusses why there is a need for organisational changes and a new policy for acquisitions within an academic library when 96.5 % of the media budget is spent on electronic resources related to the 3.5 % spent on print. At the Library of The Royal Institute of Technology the acquisitions and handling of printed material involved more time and personnel compared to that of licensing and administering electronic resources. Given the economic relation between the two expenditures it was clear that this should be reflected in the organisation. A new media plan was developed to form a foundation for better balanced workflows and future organisational changes. The media plan resulted in a new policy for acquisitions and collection management; the most important content can be concluded as follows: The library has focus on Demand Driven Acquisition Printed material is no longer collected E-version is always purchased ahead of print Printed material is weeded if the library owns the e-version As reflected in these core points the main goal for the library is to meet the patrons’ demands for scientific information, provide it as swiftly as possible and present it in the most accessible way. Therefore digital format is always the first choice and print is now only ordered when the library for different reasons is forced to do so. Also it was obvious that the physical library must transform in order to meet the needs of the university. As a part of this process printed collections are to be weeded and partly replaced by digital resources. Altogether these facts made it clear that the library had to move in a new direction. Implementing the new policy has proven that new objectives and qualifications are required in the transition to digital collections, such as knowledge of new systems and software, licensing skills and technical awareness. And not the least – a distinct leadership and a willingness to convert