Collection Assessment Query Summary
From: "Reese, Patricia E." <PatriciaE.Reese_at_unt.edu>
It has taken some time for me to get back to this but I really
appreciate all of your responses to my query:
I am new at this and am wondering if any one knows of some books
or articles that actually describe a manual procedure for
collection analysis. I am in the process of doing a subject by
subject analysis of our extensive collection (job security) and
some of my subject liaisons were wondering exactly what they
should be analyzing. Any hints would be appreciated
Also we are thinking of going to a commercial product for
analysis do you have any favorites or exactly what is out there
I have attached a Word Document with a roundup of the responses I
received--> [MODERATOR NOTE: colldv-l doesn't do attachments
because of virus concerns. The .doc is appended below as
text. JA].
Thanks all of you for your responses. I am getting some ideas of
where to start at least.
Pat Reese
Science & Technology Librarian
Collection Management Coordinator
Liaison to Psychology, Speech and Hearing Sciences
and Behavior Analysis
940.369.6426 office
PatriciaE.Reese_at_unt.edu
Willis Library
Lower Level Rm 087
====================
If you have a way to look at pub dates and circulation (use), you
would have a place to start. When I worked in a public library,
we used the CREW Method for weeding and that should give you some
ideas. Yes, there are some software packages. I am familiar with
only one and it is good for small school collections and very
small public libraries but would probably be clunky for your
purposes.
The WorldCat Collection Analysis Package is great if you can round
up a good peer group.
There is a great chapter on assessment and evaluation in Peggy
Johnson’;s Fundamentals of Collection Development and Management,
2nd ed, 2009 ALA. It is almost 40 pages long and hits on all
manner of subjects in that realm. There is also a long
bibliography at the end
In short, I analyze my collections by comparing the statistics of
each to those of the entire collection (circulation, use, last
used date, pub date, etc), doing my weeding, inventory, and
collecting for each subject area as I go throughout the year. As
far as subject analysis, I might just do a short study of the
subject-- what are the most prominent sub-subjects under
agriculture? Do we have quality, current materials that
represent each? Are they being used? Why? What do we need more
of? What do libraries that are similar to mine have in their
collection? The qualitative and quantitative compliment each
other well, in analysis
we are using OCLC’s WorldCat Collection Analysis service.
We did a rather labor-intensive manual collection analysis back
in 1990-1992. We assigned LC Subject Headings to each course
that was listed in the course catalog, and then checked those
Class Numbers against our holdings
There are many approaches! I have barely scratched the surface
myself! The OCLC WorldCat Collection Analysis program lets you
set up peer comparisons with other libraries. (Some are readily
available, and others require permission from the target
institution. That has been helpful for us with the recent SACS
reaffirmation site visit. You can also look at Interlibrary Loan
transactions, which component is helpful. You can also upload a
circulation report from your ILS.
Some ways you may choose to analyze your collections (depending
on the need):
• Presence of faculty editors from your campus of journals
(determine which titles are part of your collection)
• Accreditation needs for library collection/services
• Usage statistics (online resources and print resources)
• Publication and citation trends of your campus constituents
(using Web of Knowledge and Local Journal Utilization Reports,
both products of Thomson ISI) - determine which resources present
in your collection support publication activities
• Analyze content overlap amongst collections (ebooks and
journals) - tools like SFX and various ERMs can facilitate
overlap analysis
• Expenditures per fund codeAverage cost per item in each fund code
• ILL transactions - is your library a net lender or net borrower
(which subjects are most popular, which libraries borrow from
your collection the most, etc.)
• Multiple holds and Lost items reports
• Return on investment for journal backfile packages
• Return on investment for ebook collections
• Composition of your journal collection (percent print,
electronic, print+electronic combination)
• Transaction statistics (checkouts/renewals) for whole print
collection or slices of your collection (slices by call #
range/subject)
Some tools you might be interested in:
• JISC Academic Database Assessment Tool (ADAT) - compare journal
title lists in major databases, compare database platforms,
compare eBook platforms, etc. (http://www.jisc-adat.com/adat/home.pl)
• SciMago (http://www.scimagojr.com/)
• EbscoNet and OttoSerials are two account management systems
from serials vendors with lots of great reports to help analyze
your serials holdings
• WorldCat Collection Analysis Product - enables subject analysis
of your library’s holdings by date, format, language; etc.
Includes circulation and ILL analysis modules; can compare your
holdings to peer institutions (About WCA:
http://www.oclc.org/collectionanalysis/about/default.htm and Case
studies of WCA:
http://www.oclc.org/collectionanalysis/success/default.htm)resources:
• TRLN OCLC Collection Analysis Task Group: Report to the
Committee on Information Resources (CIR) June 2006
http://www.trln.org/TaskGroups/CollectionAnalysis/TRLN_CollAnalysis_June2Report.pdf
University of Pennsylvania Library Facts:
http://metrics.library.upenn.edu/FACTS07.pdf
Nice set of assessment links: http://www.libraryassessment.info/
We recently subscribed to Bowker's Book Analysis System (BBAS)
connected with the Resources for College Libraries product and I
have been happy with that in terms of automated analysis
possibilities. At a former institution where I worked we used the
RLG Conspectus which I never found to be very satisfactory .We
had previously subscribed to Ulrich's SerialsAnalysis product but
it was very expensive and I didn't find it thathelpful
And a list of resources used by some to help sort out this process.
• Agree, Jim. “Collection Evaluation: A Foundation for Collection
Development.” Collection Building 24, no.3 (2005): 92-5.
• Baird, Brian J. Library Collection Assessment through
Statistical Sampling. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow, 2004.
• Bauer, Kathleen. “Indexes as a Tool for Measuring Usage of
Print and Electronic Resources.” College & Research Libraries 62,
no. 1 (Jan 2001): 36-43.
• Beals, Jennifer Benedetto. “Assessing Library Collections using
Brief Test Methodology.” E-JASL: The Electronic Journal of
Academic and Special Librarianship 7, no. 3 (Winter 2006).
• Blecic, Deborah D, et al. “eMeasurement of Use of Electronic
Resources: Advances in Use Statistics and Innovations in Resource
Functionality.” College & Research Libraries 68, no. 1 (Jan
2007): 26-44.
• Bushing, Mary, et al. Using the Conspectus Method: A Collection
Assessment Handbook. Lacey, Wash.: WLN, 1997.
• Clayton, Peter and GE Gorman. “Updating conspectus for a
digital age”. Library Collections, Acquisitions, & Technical
Services 26 (2002): 253-258.
• Covey, Denise T. Usage and Usability Assessment: Library
Practices and Concerns. Washington, D.C.: Council on Library and
Information Resources, 2002.
http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub105/contents.html
• Davis, Burns. “How the WLN Conspectus Works for Small
Libraries.” In Public Library Collection Development in the
Information Age, edited by Bill Katz, 53-72. New York: Haworth, 1998.
• Gabriel, Michael. Collection Development and Collection
Evaluation: A Sourcebook. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow, 1995.
• Gorman, G.E. and Peter Crayton. Qualitative Research for the
Information Professional: A Practical Handbook. 2nd ed. London:
Library Assn., 2004.
• Greiner, Tony and Bob Cooper. Analyzing Library Collection Use
with Excel. Chicago: ALA, 2007.
• Hall, B.H. “Assessments for Special Purposes.” Collection
Assessment Manual for College and University Libraries. Phoenix,
AZ: Oryx Press, 1985.
• Haycock, Laurel A. “Citation Analysis of Education
Dissertations for Collection Development.” Library Resources &
Technical Services 48, no. 2 (April 2004): 102-6.
• Hart, Amy. “Collection Analysis: Powerful Ways to Collect,
Analyze, and Present Your Data.” Library Media Connection 21, no.
5 (Feb 2003): 36-9.
• Hernon, Peter and Robert E. Dugan. An Action Plan for Outcomes
Assessment in Your Library. Chicago: ALA, 2002.
• Intner, Sheila S. “Making Your Collections Work for You:
Collection Evaluation Myths & Realities.” Library Collections,
Acquisitions & Technical Services 27, no. 3 (Fall 2003): 339-50.
• Knievel, Jennifer E. et al. “Use of Circulation Statistics and
Interlibrary Loan Data in Collection Management.” College &
Research Libraries 67, no. 1 (Jan 2006): 35-49.
• Lancaster, F.W. If You Want to Evaluate Your Library… 2nd ed.
Champaign: Univ. of Illinois, Graduate School of Library and
Information Science, 1993.
• Lange, Janice. “The Conspectus: A Tool for Collection
Assessment & Description.” In Encyclopedia of Library and
Information Science, 65-78. New York: Marcel Dekker, 2000.
• Leiding, Reba. “Using Citation Checking of Undergraduate Honors
Thesis Bibliographies to Evaluate Library Collections.” College &
Research Libraries 66, no. 5 (Sept 2005): 417-29.
• Lesniaski, David. “Evaluating Collections: A Discussion and
Extension of ‘Brief Tests of Collection Strength’. “ College &
Undergraduate Libraries 11, no. 1 (2004): 11-24.
• Martin, M. “Good Grooming: Basic Issues in Weeding and Weeding
Policy in Library Collections.” Mississippi Libraries 68, no. 2:
36-38.
• Mathews, Joseph R. The Evaluation and Measurement of Library
Services. Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited, 2007.
• Nelson, William Neal and Robert Feneckes. Standards and
Assessment for Academic Libraries: A Workbook. Chicago: ALA, 2002.
• Samson, Sue, et al. “Networked Resources, Assessment and
Collection Development.” Journal of Academic Librarianship 30,
no. 6 (Nov 2004): 476-481.
• Shepherd, Peter T. and Denise M. Davis. “Electronic Metrics,
Performance Measures, and Statistics for Publishers and
Libraries: Building Common Ground and Standards.” Portal 2, no. 4
(Oct 2002): 659-63.
• Shows, Daniel L. and Linda Teel. “Inventory; Catalyst for
Collection Development.” Collection Building 25, no. 4 (2006):
129-33.
• Slote, S.J. Weeding Library Collections: Library Weeding
Methods (4th Ed). Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1997.
• White, Howard D. Brief Tests of Collection Strength: A
Methodology for All Types of Libraries. Contributions in
Librarianship and Information Science, no. 88. Westport, Conn.:
Greenwood, 1995.
• White, Andrew C and Eric Djiva Kamal. E-metrics for Library and
Information Professionals: How to Use Data for Managing and
Evaluating Electronic Resource Collections. New York:
Neal-Schuman, 2006.
Received on Wed Jun 10 2009 - 03:07:26 EDT