[Original posting on this topic is reproduced below; the responses follow it.]
From: jhb <jhb_at_copper.net>
Has anyone ever studied OCLC holding counts, that is, the number of
participating libraries holding a given item? Has any research been
published or conducted in cataloging, bibliographic control, or
collection development involving OCLC holdings data? I am aware only
of "Brief Tests of Collection Strength" by Howard D. White, an
article by Danny P. Wallace and Bert R. Boyce on using holdings data
to analyze journal value, and a study of WorldCat by Anne Perrault.
JBernstein_at_Kingsborough.edu
Jay H. Bernstein
Assistant Professor
Reader Services Librarian
Robert J. Kibbee Library
Kingsborough Community College
2001 Oriental Boulevard
Brooklyn, New York 11235
Tel.: (0)-1-718-368-6548
Fax: (0)-1-718-368-5481
(1) From: Linda Erwin <lerwin_at_netrax.net>
Judith J. Senkevitch and James H. Sweetland published "Evaluating Public
Library Adult Fiction: Can We Define a Core Collection?" (RQ 36, No. 1,
Fall 1996, p. 103-117), in which they used the OCLC Union Catalog to
identify "those adult fiction books owned by the largest number of public
libraries in order to determine if a core collection of titles could be
identified for use in evaluating adult fiction collections."
Linda Erwin, M.L.S.
Assistant Coordinator
South Texas Library System
805 Comanche
Corpus Christi, TX 78401
(361) 880-7060
Fax: (361) 883-7463
E-mail: <mailto:lerwin_at_netrax.net>lerwin_at_netrax.net
(2)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: perrault <perrault_at_cas.usf.edu>
This is Anna Perrault replying. For my dissertation research I used a
measure I called "mean number of holding libraries" which is the number of
titles divided by the number of holding libraries. The data were extracted
from the AMIGOS CACD. Basically what I found is that the mean or average
number of libraries holding a title declined going forward in time. How
much cataloging lag affects this is not known. There are two reports of
this study, citations below. I think some of the state networks have run
data on number of holding libraries.
"The Changing Print Resource Base of Academic Research Libraries in the
United States," JELIS (Journal of Education for Library and Information
Science) 36, no.4 (Fall 1995): 1-16.
"The Shrinking National Collection: a Study of the Effects of the Diversion
of Funds from Monographs to Serials on the Monograph Collections of
Research Libraries," Library Acquisitions Practice & Theory, 18, no.1
(1994): 3-22.
(3)----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Janellyn P Kleiner <jkleiner_at_lsu.edu>
Anna Perrault's dissertation was a collection analysis utilizing bib tapes
from AMIGOS -- a subset of OCLC.She's also done several studies of
different libraries, collections using those records -- several libraries
in Louisiana and I believe she's done a number in Florida as well. I
suggest you contact her at U. of S. Fla. Library School, Tampa.
Jane Kleiner
Associate Dean of Libraries, Collection Services
The LSU Libraries
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
Phone: 225-388-2217
Fax: 225-388-6825
E-Mail: jkleiner_at_lsu.edu
Received on Fri Jun 25 2004 - 19:25:53 EDT