Michigan State University

Digital Text: Collection Development Guidelines

Collection Management Issues

Negotiating terms of use that allow computational analysis of digital text is essential. Where possible, it is preferred that digital text is purchased with perpetual access rights and the ability to store and share locally. At the minimum, terms of use must provide access to all Michigan State University faculty, staff, and students.

Where digital text cannot be stored and provided locally, access to digital text may occur online via digital text provider. At the minimum, terms of use must provide access to all Michigan State University faculty, staff, and students.

If digital text is provided freely online, and no intellectual property issues inhibit library acquisition, it may be preferable to gather, store, and provide access to digital text locally. This preference may be motivated by the perceived value of the collection, determined by subject selector and/or researcher, combined with consideration of the relative fiscal stability of the content provider. Additional factors motivating local storage include the need for researchers to have stable copies of text and difficulty of use posed by original state of digital text. On a case by case basis the library will evaluate whether or not the value of the freely available digital text could be enhanced through library efforts.