This independence of multiple persons use allows the PDA model to increase the readership of title without compromising the number of people that have hold of the title (Reiners, et al., 2012).. Libraries only main issue has been that people keep books with them for too long and other readers have to wait too long, often up to a length of a month's period.
Disadvantages of PDA model
With greater freedom for the library administrators as well as the readers, any model with benefits has potential downsides to it as well. This model also has some limitations some of which are discussed below.
Relatively smaller number of titles
The PDA model is known for its limitation of only offering limited number of titles or subject areas into which these titles are available (Reiners, et al., 2012). This limitation owes its existence to the fact that libraries have to pre-communicate the subject and fields from which resources will be made under this service delivery model. This limits their choice of having more number and nature of titles. However, the ultimate aim of libraries is to satisfy the readers and this is considerably achieved under this model.
Change in collection development practices
One of the fundamental challenged that traditional administrators have faced is coping with the changed practice of collection development process to which these administrators have become accustomed over a period of centuries. Essentially, PDA model departs from this practice of traditional collection development in libraries.
With changes in technology...
With significantly more independence in collection process, the reader experience in PDA model is enhanced as the reader is not bound to consult the library staff or put up requests for collecting certain titles. All the readers require is to search for the title online and start reading it. The limitation of having fewer titles or categories might be well-reasoned but other advantages, some of which have been aforementioned, the PDA model outperform the traditional models. Based on pay-per-view philosophy of accessing electronic reading resources, PDA has gained foothold in major public libraries of the U.S. And Europe. Other limitations are only related to change in the 'book collection' culture of libraries that was more dependent on the decisions made by administrators and not the end users. The contemporary models of service in libraries offer more benefit to end users and the libraries to help keep their collection development budgets checked.
References
Alto, P. (2010, Oct). ebrary Launches New Patron Driven Acquisition E-Book Model. Business Wire. Retrieved from: [http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20101013007007/en/ebrary-Launches-Patron-Driven-Acquisition-E-Book-Model]
Polanka, S. (Ed.). (2011). No shelf required: e-books in libraries (Vol. 1). ALA Store.
Reiners, L.A., Walker, D., Heppell, C., Farmer, J., Adey, H., & Berrington, M. (2012). Patron-driven acquisition: the experience of three university libraries.SCONUL Focus, (55), 33-36.
