The role of document delivery and collection management for an electronic user clientele

Fee‐based electronic resources such as full‐text journals, databases, abstracts, and indexes are widely available for library users. However, scholarly books and reference sources are usually not available in electronic format, and particular disciplines are not significantly represented by available electronic sources. Traditional document delivery serves as a complement to electronic resources, and offers patrons timely access to materials not available in electronic format. The data represent document delivery requests during the academic years 1997‐1999 at the Policy Sciences and Economics Library (PSEL), a branch library of the Texas A&M University General Libraries. The requests were sorted by academic departments, user types, call numbers, and type of material. The statistics served two primary purposes. First, frequently requested items were ordered for the library’s permanent collection. Second, the data were compared to electronic resource usage statistics to determine which resources best serve the patrons. The statistics assisted the library administrators in making collection management decisions and projected short‐ and long‐term budgetary needs.