Libraries, the Long Tail and the Future of Legacy Print Collections

Abstract

Chris Anderson's concept of the 'long tail has evoked considerable interest and discussion from librarians. To date these discussions have largely accepted without question the veracity of Anderson's model and its applicability to library collections. The purpose of this article is to examine some elements of the model in order to firstly, determine if it can indeed be simply adopted for use when describing the library collecting environment; and secondly, if there is some divergence, what does this tell us about the future management of print collections?