Fighting an Uphill Battle: Troubleshooting Assessment Practices in Academic Libraries

Abstract

Scholarly literature provides many examples of librarians who have assessed troubleshooting data in various capacities and demonstrated the benefits that can be gleaned from such an analysis. Though some studies have confirmed that troubleshooting data is often being tracked, the frequency with which that data is being assessed in libraries is not well established. For this study, the author surveyed academic librarians who are currently involved in e-collection management to determine to what extent and for what purposes troubleshooting assessments are being carried out. The results reveal that though many librarians can see the benefits of assessing troubleshooting data, the obstacles to gathering, analyzing, and acting on results are often too great to overcome.