Use of Circulation Statistics and Interlibrary Loan Data in Collection Management

Abstract

The authors analyzed the holdings, circulations, and interlibrary loan (ILL) borrowing requests of the English-language monograph collection at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Data for each area were mapped to conspectus subject areas, using Library of Congress Classifications, and then compared. The resulting data and subject distributions were analyzed by overall holdings, transactions per item, percentage of collection circulated, and a ratio of ILL holdings to requests. The method of analysis used in this study could be fruitfully applied to other research collections to assist with remote storage, preservation, and collection development decisions.n the current economic environment, it is critical for librarians to practice evidence-based decision making. With decreasing library budgets, especially for monographic materials, it also is essential for librarians to assess and manage collections to determine subject areas for acquisition, de-accession, digitization, preservation, and remote storage. One empirical collection assessment method is to examine usage statistics, such as circulation and interlibrary loan (ILL) data. Many librarians employ usage data as an indicator of the library's materials' relevance to user populations.Sonia Bodi and Katie Maier-O'Shea believe that librarians' knowledge of collections is often intuitive and urge librarians to make data-supported collection decisions. They suggest that collection development focus on learning outcomes of library users rather than on strictly comprehensive collections or even curriculum support.1 This approach is impossible without solid data from various perspectives.

Are Print Books Dead? An Investigation of Book Circulation at a Mid-Sized Academic Library

“…Ochola (2002) used PEU and RBH to identify underused and overused subject collections at Baylor University. Knievel et al (2006) used "percentage of collection circulated by subject" and "average number of transactions per item per subject" to inform collection development and assessment at the University of Colorado at Boulder and also included interlibrary loan statistics. Cheung et al (2011) examined circulation of books at Lingnan University in Hong Kong over a 15-year period.…”

“…They found that almost 65% had been checked out at least once, but books that did not circulate within the first few years of purchase were unlikely to circulate at all. Knievel et al (2006) urge librarians to use detailed circulation data and statistics to inform "evidence-based decision making" in this era of decreasing library budgets. Ten years earlier, Carrigan (1996) had reported that despite increasing demand for libraries to provide more resources with lower budgets and growing pressures of fiscal accountability, most libraries did not use circulation data to inform collection management.…”

Retroactive Collection Development: Gap Identification through Citation Analysis

“…Librarians must be judicious in their selection process. The abundant funding of the 1990's is no longer occurring, meaning that librarians' approach to collection development must be strategic and purposeful (Knievel, Wicht, & Connaway, 2006). Based on this evidence, the following exercise was undertaken to assess the strength of our current collection and the potential absence of core texts published prior to the library's opening in 1994.…”

Usage-Based Collection Evaluation with a Curricular Focus

“…The subject areas designated by the conspectus system were "broad subject classifications based on the Library of Congress classification system." 13 16 devised a method of quantitative evaluation using WorldCat's FirstSearch interface to see whether his library's holdings were mainly books held by many other libraries or books held by few. This method could identify areas of specialization in one's library.…”