In July 2008, a group of collection development librarians from large academic libraries held their first annual meeting in Portland, Oregon. The group, which is modeled on the Cataloging Big Heads, plans to foster greater information-sharing among its members. Representatives from the following libraries are participating: UC Berkeley, Columbia, Georgetown, Harvard, University of Iowa, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, University of Pennsylvania, University of Texas, University of Virginia, and Yale.
The inaugural meeting last summer took place in much happier economic times. Even then, however, it was clear that the libraries represented are all moving in new directions. These changes are motivated by budget changes, space constraints, and evolving philosophies about collections. While scale and topical focus will vary, each of the libraries represented aims to: (1) strengthen monographs collections; (2) develop electronic resources collections; (3) maintain foreign collections of historic depth; and (4) build rare and special collections. In order to accomplish these goals within budgetary constraints, all of the libraries represented were cutting subscriptions and moving towards reliance on electronic resources - though there were clear philosophical differences regarding the extent to which various members were willing to cut print and rely on electronic access.
The group will meet again on July 26 in Washington, D.C.