National collecting trends: Collection analysis methods and findings

Abstract

The primary focus of collection evaluation and assessment has been the subjective judgment of the strengths and weaknesses of library collections. The process has generally been a local application, often utilizing peer group comparative data. Quantitative collection analysis to support the subjective processes of collection evaluation and assessment is now almost universally conducted through extraction of data from local systems or network databases. National collecting patterns can be studied through the use of data extracted from the bibliographic utilities. This article examines the use of data from the OCLC/AMIGOS Collection Analysis CD and standard statistical series as a methodology for studying national collecting patterns. Findings on national collecting patterns from 1986-1995 in academic libraries in the United States utilizing the methodology are presented.

An overview of the literature of management and of information and library services management 1999

“…A method for assessing preservation needs in libraries has been developed by Eden et al (1999). National collecting patterns can be studied through data extracted from the bibliographic utilities (Perrault, 1999). Ajibade and Leach (1999) describe the use of case study interviews with practitioners to reveal resource allocation strategies for electronic database services in academic libraries.…”

Construction Digital Library towards Resources Sharing in the ASEAN Countries

“…Knowing the location of material and being able to get the material for users are the responsibilities of the librarian. Perrault (1994) [6] indicated that -library resource sharing would not work if no library owns the materials sought‖ (pp. 16).…”

“…Samples were drawn from card catalogs and searches were conducted in individual library catalogs to investigate the overlap between large-and small-sized libraries. In a study by Perrault (1999) [6] , the OCLC/AMIGO Collection Analysis CD-ROM database was utilized to analyze the nonserial imprints acquired by ARL libraries. Results indicated declines in the number of monographs purchased and the number of unique titles.…”

Collection Analysis When the Budget Decreases

“…This was not always done with an eye toward deselection of course. Many reasons exist for comparing your library's holdings to others, including to ascertain national collecting patterns, 6 to determine the level of homogeneity between the acquisitions of a specific group of libraries, 7 and to identify important materials that a library may have failed to acquire during a previous period of reduced funds. 8 Indeed, in 2005, the University of Colorado Law Library entered into a consortium with seven other law libraries in the Western states in an effort to compare its holdings with those other libraries.…”