Collection Development and Ebooks

Just a few thoughts after a discussion with a couple members of the Electronic Resources Team.

• Do ebooks ever need de-selection?
• There are no physical space concerns so is there a reason to get rid of ebooks and if so, when?
• What would be the trigger to start the weeding process? For physical books, it usually happens when we run out of space in a given call number area and the process is started. How do you know when you should weed an ebook area?
• What is the library's catalog for? Access to everything we own? What about stuff we don't own but have access to?
• Who is the catalog for? Undergrads? Researchers?
  
• Do we make things easier to find for undergrads?
• Do we degrade the find-ability of the most useful resources by adding in primary ematerials such as EEBO and ECCO?
• Do we really want in our catalog the latest newsletter from obscure medical practice newsletter via CINAHL and SFX?
• When we purchase "big deals" that come with too good to pass up pricing are we doing our patrons a disservice by not subjecting these materials to the same collection development criteria that print materials are subjected to?