Patron driven acquisitions : history and best practices About 40 percent of the books academic libraries purchase in traditional ways never circulate and another 40 percent circulate fewer than three times. By contrast patron driven acquisition allows a library to borrow or buy books only when a patron needs them. In a typical workflow the library imports bibliographic records into its catalogue at no cost. When a patron finds a patron driven record in the course of research a short term loan can allow him to borrow the book and the transaction charge to the library will be a small percentage of list price. Typically a library will automatically buy a book on a third or fourth use. The contributions in this volume written by experts describe the genesis and brief history of patron driven acquisitions its current status and its promise. David A. Swords New Hampshire USA Vice President of Sales and Marketing for eBook Library a major innovator in technology forpatron driven acquisitions