This article discusses a paradigm shift from librarian-mediated collection development to patron-initiated selection of library materials. The authors report on two programs at FROM LIBRARIAN SELECTION TO LIBRARIAN-MEDIATED PATRON SELECTIONAcademic libraries have traditionally allowed patron input on purchasing decisions, from the suggestion box to online request forms, but the authority for collection development ultimately resided with librarians. Technology and economic factors have positioned a paradigm to shift. This article examines the progression from librarian-mediated to patron-initiated collection development and the factors driving it. The shift will be illustrated with programs at the Ohio State University Libraries (OSUL).During the expansion of Ohio State University following World War II, with classrooms overflowing with GI Bill students, library acquisitions funds increased along with the number of subject specialists hired to build the collections. The postwar ideal was to build a research library to meet the needs of existing and future patrons. This was the "just-in-case" model of collection development. It was the bibliographer"s job to identify the best materials, and the job of the acquisitions department to acquire them. Items requested by patrons could be ordered, but the bibliographer strove to anticipate the needs of faculty and students, by being familiar with their research and classes, and to purchase titles in advance of need.As decades passed, economic factors exerted greater pressure on this model. Monumental collection building as a societal good or as a marker of university quality was no longer considered economically feasible, due to price inflation for print and electronic products, the increase in the production of scholarly material, and the increased cost of storing materials that might never circulate. Some libraries adopted the new paradigm of "justin-time" (JIT) inventory, implemented in the Japanese auto industry in the 1980s. In the JIT model, a large inventory of parts is viewed as waste. Instead, only the minimal inventory is maintained on site. In a library context, inventory consists of materials purchased in anticipation of future need. A large inventory of materials that

The authors identify the major issues associated with e-books and their expanding role in libraries, especially in patron-driven acquisitions. E-book access began when NetLibrary entered the patron-drivenMany libraries first experimented with acquiring e-books in the 1990s, following the Project Gutenberg example, when they digitized historic treasures from their own collections, including rare books, manuscripts, photographs, and sound recordings. Examples include the British Library's digitization of the only known manuscript of the epic poem Beowulf and the Library of Congress' American Memory project, a substantial digitized collection of American historical documents and media (Lebert 2009(Lebert , chap. 1998). At about the same time, publishers began offering individual e-book titles for sale, including more recent imprints. The paradigm shift to patron-initiated e-book collection development occurred in 1998 when NetLibrary offered libraries three acquisitions methods: orders for individual titles or subject packages of e-books; a notification service for librarian selection; and the patron-driven acquisition model. The patron-driven acquisitions model allowed patrons to act as de facto collection development personnel. Patron use of e-books triggered purchases, bypassing mediation by a collection development librarian.The original NetLibrary business model raised concerns for some libraries. A purchase was triggered after an e-book was accessed for the second time; the second view could consist of as little as viewing a single page, the equivalent of a patron browsing a print book and returning it to the shelf without checking it out. Some libraries were not willing to finance this level of e-book browsing. NetLibrary also adopted the model of a circulation period. The library established a check-out period, such as two weeks, during which the e-book was available only to the patron who had "borrowed" it. The book would only be available to others when the checkout period expired or the borrower went through a nonintuitive process to "return" the e-book. NetLibrary printing was limited to one page at a time to discourage copyright violation, a limitation that many patrons found highly restrictive. Patrons also disliked the need to create a NetLibrary account after authenticating in the local system or via IP address.Some libraries participated in a NetLibrary patron-driven acquisitions program through a consortium. For example, The Ohio State University Libraries (OSUL) used its OhioLINK

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