ABSTRACT
The significant and rapid rise of electronic resources in what one might term the electronic anti-collection, and the way in which collection development librarians are attempting to balance local holdings versus access, are representative of a major change from the old, stable access/ownership paradigm. And while some of this shift to remote electronic resources can be seen as a substitute (e.g., cancel the print version in exchange for remote electronic access), much of it (e.g., document delivery or remote access to an electronic database) is in fact an add-on in terms of budgeting. Budgeting was initially ad hoc and minimal. A compelling reason for initiating document delivery service at the time was the known fact that the number of serial subscriptions the library could afford to maintain would be diminishing dramatically in the coming years. Certainly hard choices must be made, but it is best to recognize this reality, to attempt to rationalize and to control the budgeting process.
