The Long and Winding Road to Building an Electronic Reference Collection

Abstract

As libraries increasingly embrace e-books, no part of a library’s collection goes unaffected, even the reference collection. Today physical reference collections are shrinking as more titles are provided electronically. This shift has resulted in new challenges to selecting and acquiring e-books, and also to providing strategies for access and discovery. There are many reasons why it makes sense to collect electronic reference sources. Our users value convenience and want access 24/7, no matter their physical location. E-books are especially useful to those enrolled in distance education courses, and also support the provision of research help via instant messaging with students. Furthermore, decreasing the physical collection allows library spaces to be reconfigured for new purposes to enhance the “library as place” for our users. This presentation will outline some of the issues related to transforming the reference collection to e-preferred and discuss our approach to acquiring and promoting reference e-books at the University of Kansas Libraries.