Collection Evaluation in Academic Libraries
A Practical Guide for Librarians- Authors:
- Publisher:
- 2015
Summary
Librarians have long used data to describe their collections. Traditional measures have simply been inputs and outputs: volumes acquired, processed, owned, or circulated. With the growth since the 1990s of cultures of assessment, librarians have sought statistics that are evaluative rather than simply descriptive. More recently, exponentially increasing journal prices and an economic recession have intensified the need to make careful purchasing decisions and to justify these to administrators. A methodical evaluation of a library collection can help librarians understand and meet user needs and can help communicate to administrators that the library is a good use of the institution’s money.
Collection Evaluation in Academic Libraries: A Practical Guide for Librarians equips collections managers to select and implement a method or several methods of evaluating their library collections.
It includes sections on four tools for evaluation:
• Comparison to peer institutions
• Core lists
• Usage statistics from circulation and ILL
• Citation analysis
Chapters on each of these approaches present the advantages and disadvantages of each method, instructions on data collection and analysis—with screenshots—and suggested action steps after completing the analysis. With a unique combination of step-by-step instructions and discussions of the purpose and role of data, this book provides an unusually thorough guide to collection evaluation. It will be indispensable for collection development librarians and anyone looking to strengthen the culture of assessment within the library.
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Bibliographic data
- Copyright year
- 2015
- ISBN-Print
- 978-1-4422-3859-6
- ISBN-Online
- 978-1-4422-5065-9
- Publisher
- Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 186
- Product type
- Book Titles
Table of contents
- Contents No access
- Illustrations No access
- Textboxes No access
- Preface No access
- Acknowledgments No access
- Chapter 1. How Collection Evaluation Can Benefit Your Library No access Pages 1 - 10
- Chapter 2. Approaches to Evaluating Your Collection No access Pages 11 - 22
- Chapter 3. Before You Start No access Pages 23 - 40
- Chapter 4. Benchmarking—Collecting and Analyzing the Data No access Pages 41 - 60
- Chapter 5. Benchmarking—Interpreting and Acting on the Data No access Pages 61 - 70
- Chapter 6. List-Checking—Collecting and Analyzing the Data No access Pages 71 - 86
- Chapter 7. List-Checking—Interpreting and Acting on the Data No access Pages 87 - 94
- Chapter 8. Usage Statistics—Collecting and Analyzing the Data No access Pages 95 - 120
- Chapter 9. Usage Statistics—Interpreting and Acting on the Data No access Pages 121 - 136
- Chapter 10. Citation Analysis—Collecting and Analyzing the Data No access Pages 137 - 152
- Chapter 11. Citation Analysis—Interpreting and Acting on the Data No access Pages 153 - 164
- Chapter 12. Sharing What You Found No access Pages 165 - 182
- Index No access Pages 183 - 184
- About the Author No access Pages 185 - 186





