Ward is well qualified to author a practical guide to managing PDA programs, as she helped edit Patron-Driven Acquisitions: Current Successes and Future Directions, while also contributing to the book’s introduction, literature review, and conclusion.1 One other book-length treatment of the subject exists: Patron-Driven Acquisitions: History and Best Practices, edited by David Swords, a vice president at e-book aggregator EBL.² For an exhaustive study of PDA, the reader should consult these publications. In contrast, the present guide, in accordance with the scope of ALCTS Acquisitions Guides, is intended to offer a concise review of the history and literature of PDA and a step-by-step approach to the topic.

The book focuses on two basic types of PDA programs: a print-based interlibrary loan (ILL) “buy-not-borrow” program, and an e-book PDA program. “Starting a PDA Program” describes clearly and simply all the steps to take, the questions to answer, and the issues to consider when setting up an ILL-based program. Methodical sections on administering the program follow. They include not only the bigger-picture topics such as assessment, getting input from users, helping librarian selectors understand and buy into the program, managing cross-unit cooperation, and budgeting, but also more quotidian topics such as deciding who makes purchase decisions, who places orders, and at what point books are to be cataloged.

“PDA and E-books” begins with an overview of the four most common types of e-book PDA programs, and then offers a full guide for setting one up. Libraries with approval and slip plans will especially appreciate the paragraphs on the relationship between an e-book PDA program and an established print book approval plan; likewise, ILL librarians will welcome the segment on how a PDA program affects their work. This chapter—the longest of the book—is even more thorough than the one for the ILL-based plan, for it also provides three detailed sidebar summaries of factors to consider: selecting an e-book aggregator, evaluating an e-book pilot project, and managing ongoing assessment of the program. Together, these sections cover nearly fifty crucial points every planning team will want to ponder.

Five other chapters round out the guide, starting with a clear definition of PDA, and a simple overview of the book in chapter one. “Traditional Collection Development and Interlibrary Loan” leads into the rest of the volume by providing a condensed yet very readable literature-based history of the evolution of collection development, beginning with its roots as a nearly exclusively librarian-centered activity carried out with little input from the user. It then moves on to the gradual and unsettling revelation in recent decades that large portions of our carefully formed “just in case” collections remain unused. The resulting “buy not borrow” option within ILL is represented as the first step in the evolution toward collection development by the user rather than for the user.

In “Cons,” Ward takes up the four main disadvantages of PDA, yet she counters each point with persuasive arguments that might well be used to convince doubters of the value of a PDA program. The final chapter gives a nod to emerging trends in scholarship, publishing, libraries, and technology, then changes direction to pose a question of great interest to many librarians: In years to come, what role might librarians have in building library collections? The author ends the book with a rousing call to librarians to publish and share their innovations in and experiences with user-centered collection building.

Sprinkled throughout the guide are bits of advice of the type one always appreciates from an experienced mentor, for example, “It would be wise not to focus too much energy on all of the differences between vendors … . If all vendors’ products and services seem about equal, then focus on the patron experience” (33–34). Or, with regard to assessment, remember to determine at the outset what elements to track and how to track them, and be certain that the data, once gathered, can indeed be queried and manipulated.

A six-page selected bibliography supports Ward’s approach to her topic, which is to ground her writing in the published literature on the subject. As a result, the reader may ultimately experience this small book as the happy blending of a thoughtful and adeptly written literature review of PDA with a pragmatic guide to implementing such a program.