How to Drink From a Fire Hose Without Drowning: Collection Assessment in a Numbers-Driven Environment

Abstract

As collection budgets have dwindled, library acquisitions has become a data-driven field that relies on hard numbers. Libraries are struggling with the demands of adapting to a numbers-driven environment, both from a personnel and a data management perspective. This article includes a literature review, survey results, and practical advice that can be applied to most library environments. A model of transferable outcomes is introduced that encourages libraries to create a data pool of statistical information that can be applied to collections decisions in a variety of ways to quantify the impact of library resources to the broader community.

Changing Times: Assessment of Continuing Resources Due to Budget Cuts Necessitated by COVID-19

“…2 Wilde and Level advocated for extensive interdepartmental collaboration when undertaking assessment. 3 Kelly determined that only collection development individuals should chart the course. 4 Wilde and Level acknowledged that there appears to be a lack of routine, formal assessment taking place in libraries, and that most collection assessment seems to be done on an as-needed basis.…”

Creating a Library-Wide Collection Management Cycle: One Academic Library’s Approach to Continuous Collection Assessment

“…Putting data to work that is already being gathered in the library is an ideal way to begin this process (Duncan & O'Gara, 2015). Wilde and Level (2011) encourage libraries to maintain a pool of collections statistics that can be accessible to library staff at all times. Having this data made available annually, they argue, will improve collections decisions and save time in comparison with collecting this information on an ad hoc basis.…”

“…However, it is important to recognize that statistical information across subjects has very little value without context provided by subject specialist librarians. For this reason, the authors also recommend collections data be examined by discipline so liaison librarians can provide the context needed to understand potential differences in statistics between disciplinary collections (Wilde & Level, 2011).…”

Collection Development and Management

“…The author also consulted several publishers' recent catalogs, including ALA Publishing (Neal-Schuman and the ALA Store) and Libraries Unlimited to find more relevant monographic publications than those titles retrieved from database searches. Most literature retrieved focused on practices and trends in academic libraries, and literature on other types of libraries was LRTS 58 (3) not purposefully excluded. Similarly, publications tended to focus on findings in the United States.…”

“…2 Librarians, knowing they must justify their spending and, in some cases, even the existence of their libraries, have become more judicious about how funds are spent, looking closely at what is being requested and what is used. 3 They make professional decisions about purchasing materials, decisions that are based on several factors, including resource reviews, developments in various subject fields, statistics that include usage and age of a collection, how the current collections might be lacking, and patrons' needs. Librarians have always considered direct requests from patrons, but it is this last method that has seen progressively more emphasis as budgets become increasingly tight and each purchasing decision carries greater weight.…”