ATG: Star of the Week: Kathi Fountain, Head of Collection Development, Washington State University Vancouver

Kathleen Carlisle Fountain
Title: Head of Collection Development
Organization: Washington State University Vancouver
Email: kfountain@vancouver.wsu.edu
Website: http://directory.vancouver.wsu.edu/people/kathi-fountain

Born and Lived: I was born in Eugene, Oregon, where I lived until leaving for college. Since then, I have lived in Washington state, Illinois, Nebraska, California, and the District of Columbia.

Professional Career and Activities: I spent the bulk of my career as a public services librarian specializing in Political Science liaison responsibilities. I built on my collection development experience to move into my current position managing the collection development and technical services operations at a campus of Washington State University. Though my job still involves reference and instruction, it also involves more spreadsheet and data analysis work than ever before, which has been a good change.

In My Spare Time: I spent virtually all of my spare time with my husband and my toddler son. When possible, I try to squeeze in bike rides, trips to the gym, dinners out, or happy hours.

Favorite Books: The Poisonwood Bible by Barbra Kingsolver, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, and The Stand by Stephen King.

How/Where I See the Industry in Five Years: In five years, I expect collections to move to a mostly cooperatively licensed, just-in-time acquisitions model. Collections budgets will be largely supporting annual subscriptions paid through consortia. My hope is that open access continues to grow and presents a direct challenge to our big deals.