The emergence of technology today favours both the creation and the publication
of large volumes of information, of which the geospatial information constitutes a noteworthy
part. Lots of libraries worldwide develop geographical collections and provide related
services to their patrons; Greek libraries have not taken similar actions so far.
This paper presents some proposals for geospatial collection development in Greece which
are based on the results of a three-phase-research that the authors conducted. More
specifically, the three-phase-research aimed to collect data for the current context of
geospatial information in Greek libraries. Therefore, it was addressed to libraries, GIS experts
as a focus group and GIS users in order to record their point of view, as well. The research
was conducted from February 2010 to April 2013 and a variety of research tools were used
(interview with questionnaire, website investigation, content analysis and an electronic
questionnaire). The participants of the research answered different sub areas like the “library
use”, the “necessity of a geospatial collection” or the “open access”. Using participants’
answers in the above sections and after we enhanced their suggestions in the open ended
question, we formulate proposals towards geospatial collection development.
Geospatial collections constitute a new research field for the Greek librarian community
which has not yet been adequately investigated. While many surveys aim at measuring
general user satisfaction, this paper is based on the first Greek research for GIS users and their
needs. Therefore, we argue that this written plan could be utilized in two ways: a) as a guide
for those libraries that want to develop geospatial collections and b) as the key point for a
broader discussion among librarians towards the adoption of substantial changes in order to
manage innovative collections and services for covering the growing needs and demands of
their users.