Assessment Of Library Collections In A Consortial Environment

The consortial environment provides librarians with new ways to manage collections at their home institutions. Academic libraries in Ohio have been participating in OhioLINK since 1988, and the consortium has had an effect on shaping local collections for more than one decade. While each institution pursues its own collection management strategy, the shared resources and delivery system provided through OhioLINK influence local collections profoundly. What has been the effect? This work is a collection of articles assessing local collections within a consortial environment. The authors assess collections from their own vantage points, considering such diverse factors as cost, regional depositories, book reviews, and faculty input. The influence of consortial ties in shaping local collections is a common thread throughout the work. This book was published as a special issue of Collection Management.

The consortial environment provides librarians with new ways to manage collections at their home institutions. Academic libraries in Ohio have been participating in OhioLINK since 1988, and the consortium has had an effect on shaping local collections for more than one decade. While each institution pursues its own collection management strategy, the shared resources and delivery system provided through OhioLINK influence local collections profoundly. What has been the effect? This work is a collection of articles assessing local collections within a consortial environment. The authors assess collections from their own vantage points, considering such diverse factors as cost, regional depositories, book reviews, and faculty input. The influence of consortial ties in shaping local collections is a common thread throughout the work. This book was published as a special issue of Collection Management.

This is the single most convenient reference source available about the RLG Conspectus. Collection Assessment explains in detail why the Research Libraries Conspectus is the best collection development and assessment methodology available for acquisitions librarians. Experienced collection development librarians thoroughly and precisely define the RLG Conspectus and explore its origins and describe how librarians can use it effectively for consistent evaluation of total library collections in an individual or consortium environment. Chapters include in-depth discussions of pitfalls to avoid when using the RLG Conspectus and clear illustrations of its advantages compared to other collection development methodologies. It is a practical guide which helps library administrators and librarians prepare for, plan, and implement a collection development or assessment program based on the widely used and proven RLG Conspectus. Librarians adopting the Conspectus will find this helpful book divided into two informative parts. The Conspectus and all of its elements are first carefully examined; authoritative contributors then explore the use of the Conspectus by specific libraries or groups of libraries. This highly readable and informative volume covers every aspect of the RLG Conspectus including: a complete description and explanation of the RLG Conspectus origins and reasons for its conception and an overview of its progress and development over the years how and why the RLG Conspectus has been adopted by the Pacific Northwest Libraries, library consortia, and smaller academic, public, school, or special libraries practical recommendations from librarians who have used the conspectus an annotated bibliography for further reading All academic and public librarians, library science instructors who teach collection development, acquisitions, serials, and administration, and librarians who are members of a consortium interested in cooperation, collection development, and resource sharing will find invaluable guidelines for using the RLG Conspectus in Collection Assessment. Some of the detailed advice provided by experienced librarians include an overview of the Conspectus with worksheet illustrations of its use in a specific library environment, the use of Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheets and ANSI standards for statistical reliability, implementation of the RLG conspectus in a humanities collection, the use of the Conspectus by the State of Alaska, and the issue of the Conspectus Supplemental Guidelines in a regional library setting.

Applicable for all types of libraries. Needs assessment can be defined as the process of using one or more techniques to collect and analyze data on library users or potential users. The guide includes the methodology and techniques for carrying out needs assessment projects, ranging from short-term assessments to long-term research or comprehensive collection assessments. Various types of data, techniques, and methodology are described, as are associated pointers and pitfalls.

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.

In this sweeping revision of a text that has become an authoritative standard, expert instructor and librarian Peggy Johnson addresses the art of controlling and updating library collections, whether located locally or accessed remotely.

If the heart of the library is its collection, this textbook provides the keys to the heart of your library. Alongside standards of basic principles and processes, you'll find practical guidance on everything from acquisitions to preservation. Managing collections in today's libraries is more complicated and challenging than ever. Electronic formats, new options for collaboration and sharing, and the drive to use data for evaluation purposes are just a few of the changes now driving collection management. This updated edition of a classic text addresses changes in the field and provides a thorough overview of what collection development specialists now need to know to effectively and efficiently manage processes that range from selection and assessment to sharing resources, handling challenges, weeding, and preservation. Readers will find increased coverage of technical services, intellectual freedom and censorship, and collection policy development, as well as budget development and tracking, joint purchasing, and negotiating with vendors. Updates on e-resources, user needs assessment (including data visualization), and disaster management, along with suggestions for further reading, are also included. Engagingly written and easy to understand, this is a valuable text for students preparing for careers in public, academic, school, and special libraries. It will additionally serve as a training resource and professional refresher for practitioners.

For purposes of accreditation, resource sharing, and institutional mission, librarians need to assess the strengths of their collections in particular subject areas. This book describes and illustrates a brief test for determining a library's collection strength. Though such tests are most often employed in academic libraries, the methodology outlined by the author should be useful to all types of libraries in assessing the strength of their holdings. In a time of increasing material and limited resources, libraries need to be particularly judicious in deciding which works to acquire. Oftentimes, a library seeks to develop strong holdings in one or more subject areas. Such an approach is especially useful for libraries that share their resources with other institutions. To plan their acquisitions carefully and to be of greatest use to other consortia members, a library needs to gauge the strength of its holdings accurately. This volume describes and illustrates a relatively brief test to assign libraries a score for existing collection strength in a subject area. Drawing upon expert human judgment and holdings data available from OCLC, the test can assist librarians in setting and verifying collection levels on the RLG or WLN Conspectus scales. Collection strength is often verified in a labor-intensive fashion. The brief test presented by the author is an economical alternative to the more typical labor-intensive approach to collection analysis.