The report describes how LC developed and implemented a plan for greater accountability over its collections.
Libraries acquire their collections to meet the needs of their present and future users.
The collections, and the services that make them accessible, are essential to fulfilling the library's mission. Most libraries have focused more on the costs of acquiring and maintaining collections than on their potential as assets that are vital to institutional productivity. This report presents a model for the management of library and archival collections that defines collections as core assets and seeks to make them maximally productive while controlling risks to their integrity. The model is not based on the monetary value of library holdings. Instead, it focuses on business risk and proposes a framework of controls to minimize the risks that threaten the viability of those assets.