Dear all (and apologies for cross posting),

A big thanks to all the people who responded to our questions from a couple of weeks ago – particularly for those who directed me or sent copies of their stated policies in this area. 
I had an excellent response from 25 different institutions on both sides of the HE/FE divide – and what was clear is (not surprisingly) that we are all struggling with this issue.  At the moment I’m still working through all the reams of information people supplied, but what follows is a brief summary from the comments from the various institutions.

From 25 respondents (64% HE/36%FE):

Do you have a policy with respect to multicopy purchases?
Yes (Formal policy)                                     56%
Yes (Informal agreement/policy)                 12%
No                                              32%

Are these policies varied by department or enforced across the whole institution?
Dept                                            35%
Institution                                     65%

Have you directly surveyed student satisfaction with respect to multiple copies?
Multiple copies survey                          29%
General survey or  other feedback mechanisms    36%
Not surveyed                                    35%

Interestingly the vast majority of those people who use formulas and rules of thumb for ordering multiple copies per student were using a 1 copy per 10 or 20 students (generally moving towards the smaller number).  A very few institutions seem to be attempting to rule out multiple copies per-se all together, and everyone seems to be trying to implement some alternative solutions. The main alternatives I heard about were:

*       Increased investment and use of reference section stock and short loan areas. (making fewer copies work harder). 
*       Introduction of an electronic reserve of digitised local stock items.  
*       Purchase and promotion of full-text online materials (eBooks and eJournals) for areas in high demand.  
*       Expectation of student text purchases. (helped through library negotiated discounts).
*       Instigating institutional change (no more traditional reading lists – a broader collection of stock)
*       Increased use of traditional document supply routes (with additional promotion and funding)
*       Formulation and implementation of an integrated Collection Management policy. ( in partnership with academic departments).


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Gareth J Johnson
Service Innovation Officer
Research & Innovation Unit

University of Warwick Library
Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL
UK
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http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/subjects/riu/
Telephone: 024-765-75793
Fax: 024-765-24211
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