Consequences of change: the evolution of collection development

Libraries have experienced dramatic adjustments during the past decade as new directions have impacted the role of librarians, the users they serve, and the product they provide. While attempts have been made to deal with the forces of change at the workflow level through implementation of technology and occasional organizational redesign, it is now time to re‐examine the role of libraries within a new paradigm of library service. An appropriate context for providing this examination is collection development, an area in which the impact of change has been less defined and more subtle. Summarizes changes that have impacted collection development and suggests an approach for the future based on a view of libraries as developers, designers, and managers of knowledge.