CDL: ALA MW -

ALCTS Collection Evaluation & Assessment Interest Group Meeting
From:
Gabrielle Wiersma <gabrielle.wiersma_at_Colorado.EDU>


***Apologies for cross-posting**
*

*ALCTS Collection Evaluation & Assessment Interest Group ALA Midwinter 
Program *

*Date: Sunday, February 1, 2015*

*Time:  1:00-2:30 pm*

*Location: McCormick Place West,  MCP-W184a*

*http://alamw15.ala.org/node/25639*

Please join the ALCTS Collection Evaluation and Assessment Interest 
Group for three presentations about collection assessment projects to 
support data-driven decision making in academic libraries.  The meetings 
of the Interest Group are open to anyone registered for the conference.

*/Planning for Certain Future Cuts when the Future is Uncertain./*

Beth R. Bernhardt, Assistant Dean for Collection Management and 
Scholarly Communications, University of North Carolina Greensboro

Many academic libraries have to make decisions about journal and 
database subscriptions before the university releases the upcoming 
budget. Often, it is necessary to not only make decisions for the 
following fiscal year without a final budget, but to plan ahead and 
forecast for an additional year. The Library at the University of North 
Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) formed a Collection Development Team with 
members from several invested departments who could divide into 
subgroups, analyze data, and return quickly with proposed cuts. 
Different scenarios were identified, and a proposed plan for cuts was 
created for each potential scenario. This data-driven process provided 
CPU, circulation, and other data to assist the team in making decisions. 
Timelines were created to allow for ample input from subject liaisons 
and departments, including time for departments to react to the proposed 
cuts in their areas and to swap out items. This presentation will cover 
how UNCG librarians worked as a team and used data to arrive at budget 
cut decisions and how we conveyed this information to the UNCG campus.*
*

*/Right Sizing the Print Collection: Collection Assessment Methods for 
Ensuring that Shippensburg University Has the Right Books for Its 
Users./ *

Ashley N. Esposito, Collection Development and Assessment Librarian, 
Shippensburg University

In August 2014, the Associate VP and Dean of Technology and Library 
Services assigned the task of creating a right sizing plan for the 
print collections that had been weeded and moved to one floor in a 
previous and hurried project to make room for renovations on the main 
level of Lehman Library. He posed the question: We still have books, 
but are they the right books?

This presentation will provide an overview of the various user-based and 
collection-based assessment techniques designed to systematicallyand 
with great careidentify what books are not right for supporting our 
curriculum, what books are that we do not have, and, most importantly, 
what formats students in various disciplines are accessing curricular 
and research materials. Methods include a survey of faculty and 
students, statistical analysis (circulation, interlibrary loan, age), 
and collection comparison. In addition, the presenter will discuss how 
the library expanded the current collection map, an approval plan for 
collection development that connects LC areas to specific department 
purchase codes to reflect the requirements of a four-year undergraduate 
liberal arts university with additional graduate degree programs, to 
include the much-debated Conspectus levels. *
*

*/Assessment methodology:  Information gathering for serials review./ *

**Carol Seiler, Account Services Manager, EBSCO Information Services; 
Kelli Getz, Assistant Head of Acquisitions, University of Houston.

Each year, the University of Houstons M.D. Anderson Library reviews 
serials to make sure the current title list harmonizes to faculty 
research areas.  Depending on the budget, titles may be added or 
canceled. Often titles are both added and cancelled to complement both 
the collection and university research objectives.  Over the years, the 
University of Houston has developed specific methodology to gather and 
disseminate vital information needed to make such decisions. They have 
determined a wide scope of information needed to best evaluate the 
existing collection.  The presenters will share what they have learned 
is needed to assess serials purchases and will discuss each area and 
their adventures in bringing together this information.

Hope to see you in Chicago,

Gabrielle Wiersma

Chair, ALCTS Collection Evaluation and Assessment Interest Group 2014-15

Head of Collection Development

University of Colorado Boulder

303-492-4316

gabrielle.wiersma_at_colorado.edu <mailto:gabrielle.wiersma_at_colorado.edu>

Wenli Gao

Vice-Chair, ALCTS Collection Evaluation and Assessment Interest Group 
2014-15

Communication, Sociology, and Anthropology Librarian

University of Houston

713-743-8370

wgao5_at_uh.edu <mailto:wgao5_at_uh.edu>