From: "Elizabeth E. Kirk" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 14:02:21 +0000

Despite all of the tea leaf analysis, there are some over-arching
facts that seem to be left out of this conversation which, if
remembered, might add some light to the shadows...

1. Libraries are still buying dissertations. They buy revised
dissertations as monographs, as Michael pointed out, and buy some--but
fewer--unrevised dissertations as monographs.

2. Libraries pay for tons of unrevised dissertations by subscribing to
ProQuest's full-text dissertation database. Those that don't, buy them
from ProQuest as one-offs when requests for them come in through ILL
(they are generally not lent, as they are held by archives). My
library was doing this to a quite healthy tune until recently, when we
decided to get the full text product, which ended up being a savings.

3. Approval plans are not the only way that libraries buy books. This
is just the first cut to get the obvious suspects. Librarians also
firm order titles; in my library, more than 50% of titles are firm
ordered.  Most of these are more specialized than the titles that come
through approvals. This is hardly unique to us.

4. We not infrequently have a purchased monograph based on a
ProQuest-accessible dissertation that also has been free on the
Internet for almost a decade. A title worth keeping is one worth
purchasing. You may be able to look at something for nothing, but you
can't guarantee that you can keep it.

5. Purchasing of all kinds of monographs has been depressed over the
last decade or more because of the hyperinflation in the serials
market. And the sun rises in the East.

There can be no discussion of what libraries are doing about one
category of monographs without taking note of the entire environment.
I suspect that every esteemed colleague on this list is more than
aware of this, but it seems that this thread has drifted from that
foundation.

All the best,
Eliz

Elizabeth E. Kirk
Associate Librarian for Information Resources
Dartmouth College Library
6025 Baker Library, Rm. 115
Hanover, NH, USA
[log in to unmask]