Collection Assessments

1
Collection Assessments

• Reference Librarian Workshop
• December 12, 2011 930 AM,
• updated and revised on October 30, 2012 by the
  CMDG committee

2
Purpose and Objectives of Collection Assessments

• Gives an overall view of your collection.
• Helps to justify expenditures.
• Enhances the schools academic curriculum.
• Functions as a means of support for
  accreditation.
• Aids in collection development.

3
First steps

• 1. Get a blank copy of the Conspectus sheets from
  Jan.
• 2. Use Vger select to count the number of items
  according to call number range.
• 3. Fill in the corresponding numbers on the
  conspectus sheets.

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Conspectus Sheets

• Collection Language and Codes
• CL Collection Level
• AC Acquisitions Level
• GL Goal Level
• PC Preservation Code (this is always a 2.)
• The 2 indicates that some cleaning and mending
  may be used to repair damage from normal use.
  Material is retained for its useful life.
  Environmental conditions are maintained for the
  average conditions acceptable for most formats in
  the collection.
• Please note that the Emergency Management
  doctorate will require this to be a 5 when it
  comes to EM materials.

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Collection Levels

• Collection Levels are determined by curriculum
  support.
• The levels vary for each discipline.
• To find your collection level look at the
  Collection Management and Development Policy and
  find your subject. Then look at D. Treatment of
  Subject or your last assessment.
• Collection levels may change from assessment to
  assessment based on the addition or deletion of
  programs.

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Collection Depth Indicators

• 2a less than 5
• Basic Information Level Introductory
• 2b 5-10
• Basic Information Level Advanced
• 3a 11-15
• Basic Study or Instructional Support Level
• 3b 16-20
• Intermediate Study or Instructional Support Level
• 3c 21-25
• Advanced Study or Instructional Support Level
• 4-526-30
• Research and Comprehensive Levels

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Determining your collection level

• Normally this is calculated in the Titles Added/
  Titles Published portion of the assessment.
• This information is usually on the second page of
  the assessment.
• We used to use Blackwell Collection Manager, but
  now we use Yankee Book Peddler
  http//www.ybp.com/title_reports.html

8
Determining Acquisition Levels

• This is a little trickier.
• It is helpful to calculate the growth in your
  collection to get an accurate percentage of how
  fast your collection is growing. Doug had to help
  me with the formula
• Present Vger count- Past Vger count x
• x/ Past Vger count n
• n x 100 result

9
Determining Goal Levels

• Goal Levels usually reflect your Collection
  Level.
• Sometimes you may have a class range on your
  conspectus sheets that is not something that
  should be collected as aggressively. It is within
  the discretion of the Librarian to determine the
  level at which it should be collected.

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Basic Structure of the Assessment

• Introduction
• Holdings
• Titles Added/ Titles Published
• Monograph Expenditures
• Periodicals and Serials portion
• Serials Expenditures
• Ebooks
• Non-print Media
• Supplemental Support
• Summary (Strengths and Weaknesses)
• Listing of Checked Bibliographies
• Appendix (for withdrawals or listing of
  periodicals in Serials Solution, this can be your
  choice)

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Introduction

• Based on guidelines provided by the WLN
  Collection Assessment Services, which provide a
  framework within which to evaluate a library's
  current holdings and the level of activity at
  which the collection is being developed, the
  Music collection is rated an overall 3cP
  (Advanced Study or Instructional Support Level,
  in the primary language). The 3c level indicates
  that there are resources adequate for imparting
  and maintaining knowledge about all aspects of
  the topic, which are more extensive than the
  intermediate level, but less than those needed
  for doctoral and independent research. The Music
  Department offers a Master of Arts with a major
  in music with two different concentrations
  General Music or Music Education. Those who
  choose Music Education as their concentration
  focus on either Instrumental or Choral/ Vocal
  study. Please refer to the Music conspectus
  sheets and checklist analysis for a more detailed
  examination of the library's holdings.

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Holdings

• The Music collection contains 22,378 titles in
  the M, ML, and MT Library of Congress
  Classification ranges. This is an increase of 334
  titles since the last assessment in April of
  2004.
• The numbers of titles held for the subdivisions
  of this subject area are listed below
• M Music 12,206
• ML Literature on Music 7,132
• MT Music Instruction 3,040
• E-Books (M, ML, and MT) 206
• Total count 22,584
• Please note that patrons also have unmediated
  access to millions of volumes through our
  universal borrowing agreements with other
  libraries in the state.

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Titles Added/ Titles Published

• Using Yankee Book Peddler http//www.ybp.com/title
  _reports.html
• Determine the call number range and find the
  number of titles added for the last five years
  and check this against the number of titles the
  library added for the last five years. Ask Ms.
  Bevis for this information
• Titles added
• P87-P99 PN1990-PN 1997 PN 4001-PN 5639
• 2006/07 - 30 44 43
• 2007/08 - 31 31 33
• 2008/09 - 17 32 23
• 2009/10 - 24 45 35
• 2010/11 - 26 33 29

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Monograph Expenditures

• Ask Ms. Bevis for this information
• Books
• 2004/05 - 5,518.18
• 2005/06 - 3,573.78
• 2006/07 - 3,724.65
• 2007/08 - 4,239.13
• 2008/09 - 2,916.11

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Periodicals and Serials

• Using Serials Solutions http//we8af9qh2e.search.
  serialssolutions.com/
• Find your subject area by browsing journals by
  subject. Then count the number of journal titles
  for your subject area. It is useful to compare
  the number of journal titles to the last
  assessment. These numbers usually go up every
  year when we add databases!
• Ask Ms. Bevis for the Serials Expenditures.

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Ebooks

• Determine the call number range youd like to add
  to your assessment and email Ms. Poe. She can get
  you a listing of the Ebooks added to the
  collection.

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Non-Print Media

• To get AV counts for your call number ranges
  please look on the Library Policies page
  (http//www.jsu.edu/library/information/policies.h
  tml) for Using VgerSelect to get AV Materials
  information.
• These counts are generally low, but the Films on
  Demand and VAST databases have helped to
  supplement this area.
• The databases above can be searched by your
  subject area.

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Access to Electronic Resources

• This section allows you to discuss noteworthy
  databases and eBooks that help to enhance the
  collection.
• It also lets you mention the remote access of
  databases that can be of special usefulness to
  students and faculty outside of normal working
  hours.
• A good example of defined access comes from the
  Sociology and Social Work Assessment of 2012
  Defined Access means more than simply providing
  patrons with access to the Internet through one
  or more Internet browsers. It refers to menu
  options on the library or institution's homepage,
  etc., which link the user to owned or remotely
  accessible electronic resources selected by the
  library with the needs of its patrons in mind.
  Because the Library provides access to electronic
  journals, documents, e-books, and video databases
  along with integrated, quality web sites that
  encompass the area of Sociology and Social Work,
  the Library's electronic collection in this
  subject area is rated a 3 (Study or
  Instructional Support level).

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Supplemental Support

• In this section discuss which holdings provide
  supplementary support to your collection.
• These are resources which you may or may not
  collect, but that provide additional information
  for your main subject areas.

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Summary

• This part of the assessment allows you to discuss
  in detail some of the changes which have occurred
  since the last assessment.
• Here, you can discuss your strengths and
  weaknesses and maybe discuss increases in
  spending for the collection or mention how
  certain areas of the collection need to be
  collected more heavily.

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Listing of Checked Bibliographies

• Usually this includes ARBA for the last five
  years and Choices Outstanding Academic Titles
  for the last five years.
• Magazines for Libraries should be included for
  periodicals too.
• You can add any additional bibliographies you may
  like to include.

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Appendix

• For the appendix, I usually put a listing of the
  journal titles from Serials Solutions and the
  withdrawal counts.
• Ms. Poe can assist you with gaining access to the
  number of withdrawals, and it might be a good
  idea to include a discussion of this in your
  monograph narrative. It may explain why some
  numbers appear to be down.
• This can be done at your discretion.

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Final Thoughts

• Assessments are personal for each floor
  librarian.
• There are several key points to every assessment
  as has been discussed with the previous slides.
• For additional help and information you can
  locate past assessments here http//www.jsu.edu/l
  ibrary/information/collection_assessments.html
• Always, feel free to ask me. I am happy to help!