Collection analysis tools
From: "Cecilia Harel" <harel_at_univ.haifa.ac.il>
Dear Friends,
I am happy to share with you replies received to my query regarding Collection Analysis
Tools. Thank you to all those who contributed from their knowledge and experience.
Best regards,
Cecilia
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cecilia Harel
Head of Foreign Acquisitions, Collection Development, Gifts & Exchange University of Haifa
Library, Haifa, Israel 31905
tel: +972-4-8249324 fax: +972-4-8249170 http://lib.haifa.ac.il/library_eng.html
=======================================
---Responses below----
Hello Cecilia,
This link goes to a website on collection assessment. Though it is not completely
finished, here you will find a number of non-commercial tools and methods for analyzing
collections:
http://www.library.northwestern.edu/eraca/data_bank_info/top_level/nul_datab
ank.html
I hope this is useful for you.
Lucy
----------------------------------------
Lucy Eleonore Lyons
Coordinator for Collection Analysis
& Subject Specialist
University Library
Northwestern University
1970 Campus Drive
Evanston, IL 60208-2300 l-lyons_at_northwestern.edu
======================================================
I would be interested in hearing the responses, if you don't mind sharing. We have had
both OCLC's product and the Bowker product in the past. My experience with the Bowker
product (BBAS) is that they may have made improvements in the last two years, but when I
used it the product could only match ISBN, not ISBN and title. This resulted in the
product reporting that our library did not own any item that didn't happen to have the
exact same edition that was in the BBAS database. (A real problem, but especially
troublesome for the classics.) OCLC's product is better, but it doesn't compare to a core,
just other schools. It's useful for new program development. At this time, we are not
using either.
Suzanne Mangrum [smangrum_at_mtsu.edu]
=========================================
The OCLC product is invaluable if you can go in simultaneously with a dozen or so peer
institutions who would have access to one another's data.
Paul Metz, Assistant to the Dean for Special Projects University Libraries / Virginia Tech
P.O. Box 90001 / Blacksburg, VA / 24062-9001
Ph: (540) 231-5663 FAX: (540) 231-3694 email: pmetz_at_vt.edu
==============================================
I recommend WorldCat Collection Analysis, especially if you also use ILLiad for
interlibrary loan. The ILL statistics, along with the collection statistics, provide good
visual representations of your lending and borrowing in various subject areas. My only
caveats are that you can't search ILL statistics for specific titles (although you can
browse by subject area to find titles), and there are some odd groupings of some of the
subjects (several different groups that all refer to health and medicine).
We've used these statistics, along with circulation and universal borrowing statistics, to
focus our approval plan only on subjects most in need of monographs, and to show us which
areas are most in need of journals.
I'd be happy to share sample graphs/screenshots if you like.
Jonathan
********************************
Jonathan H. Harwell
Collection Development & Assessment Librarian Zach S. Henderson Library Georgia Southern
University PO Box 8074 Statesboro, GA 30460-8074
(912) 478-5114
fax (912) 478-0289
jharwell_at_georgiasouthern.edu
http://mesoj.edublogs.org
Subject Specialist for Music, Sociology, & Anthropology
=======================================
If you have access to FirstSearch, you may want to experiment with the "Expert Search"
feature. It isn't as powerful as OCLC's Collection Analysis Tool, but at no cost to us,
the price was right. We are a seminary and have been comparing our collection in the area
of Biblical Studies (LC class "BS") with 6 other institutions that have have strong
collections in this area.
The following search parameters tells FirstSearch to return a list of:
*all bibliographic records published in a specified year, *with an LC class number that
begins with BS, *or that contains the word "Bible" in a subject, *that is not held by our
library KAT *but that is held by the 6 other libraries.
Search For:
bs1* or bs2* or bs3* or bs4* or bs5* or bs6* or bs7* or bs8* or bs9* or su:bible not li:kat
Indexed In:
Library of Congress Call number (lc:)
Year:
2009
Limit type to:
not juvenile
not fiction
not microform
Library Code:
pts or vut or ebo or emt or mr4 or bha
Once the list has been created, we export it into the Freeware called JTacq. JTacq is then
used to do an automatic check of our local database to determine if we have other editions
of the titles. Once that is done we use it find out where the titles can be purchased for
the lowest available price and then we purchase them. You can find out more about JTacq at
http://www.jtdata.com/jtacq.html
Using this methodology has made it possible for us to very quickly and efficiently fill
the gaps in our collection. I hope it will be helpful for you as well.
Don
Don Butterworth
Faculty Associate. Librarian III
B.L. Fisher Library
Asbury Theological Seminary
don.butterworth_at_asburyseminary.edu
(859) 858-2227
=============================================
Are you asking about a comparison of your holdings against some sort of objective
standard, or are you looking at a more use-driven model?
I have read a couple of articles about the OCLC collection analysis system. As I recall
the big problem is the quality of many bibliographic records in the World Cat holdings. As
i recall, OCLC Collection Analysis takes one bibliographic record of a 'core' title, and
sees if your library has that title linked to the same bibliographic record. For example,
if you have a copy of 'Future of an Illusion' by Freud, and your edition is the same as
the one OCLC picks as the representative copy, then it says "good'. But, if you have a
different edition, the Collection Analysis method says 'bad- you don't have this book'.
If you want I can dig up the articles, I think.
For use analysis, I like F.W.Lancaster's "If you want to analyze your collection" as a
good book to read before beginning. A more practical volume is "Analyzing library
collection use with Excel" by Greiner and Cooper. (Myself being Greiner.)
Good luck- Tony Greiner, Portland Community College Library, Portland Oregon. USA
anthony.greiner_at_pcc.edu
==============================================
We are currently using the Bowker Book Analysis System (BBAS). I work at a large community
college (2 year institution). As you may know BBAS compares your library collection with
either Wilson Catalogs (for public & school libraries) or Resources for College Libraries
(RCL). We are using BBAS with RCLWeb and RCLWeb Career Resources. I have found it to be a
very useful tool but see it as only a starting point. It seems the major limitation for
BBAS for your library would be that the RCL collection is tailored to the undergraduate
library and may not meet the needs of your graduate programs.
I think that BBAS is very easy to use and it is easy to understand the results. The
reports and booklists have been very useful tools to engage subject faculty in collection
development. We are still in the process of doing our analysis using BBAS, so I don't have
any final conclusions to share- but we do plan to use the data to inform the collection
development policy that we are currently crafting. We have also already used it to support
collection development decisions. Feel free to contact me directly if you have any other
questions.
Chisa
E. Chisato Uyeki
Reference and Collection Development Librarian Mt. San Antonio College cuyeki_at_mtsac.edu
909-594-5611 x4257
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Received on Thu Dec 17 2009 - 03:06:01 EST