Demand-driven cooperative collection development: three case studies from the USA

Purpose - This paper aims to ask how best to integrate cooperative and demand-driven collection development in order to simultaneously lower costs, create efficiency, reduce redundancy, increase the range of accessible materials and satisfy patron demand.Design methodology approach - By means of example, this paper outlines ways in which the University at Buffalo Libraries are merging demand-driven collection strategies with cooperative collection development and the rationale behind combining the two approaches.Findings - This paper presents an analysis of three demand-driven cooperative collection development programs describing the opportunities and challenges posed by such a combination and future directions in demand-driven collaborative programs.Originality value - The paper provides insight into the structure and implementation of academic and multi-type library demand-driven cooperative collection development programs with possible applications for other library consortia.