CRAFTING PRINT MONOGRAPHIC COLLECTIONS THAT HAVE A PURPOSESUNYLA 2016

Marianne HebertSUNY Potsdamhebertm@potsdam.edu

WE NEED TO MAXIMIZE OUR MONOGRAPHIC FUNDS

• 40-50% of books purchased by academic libraries NEVER circulate

• Library budgets are flat or have decreased• Students often prefer print books over e-books• Undergraduates need “something,” but not necessary a

“specific thing”• We need to optimize purchases to meet users needs• We need to focus our efforts on titles that WILL circulate

TRADITIONAL ASSUMPTIONS

• We teach [topic]• We should have books on [topic]• Selectors should buy books with good reviews

on [topic]• We should have “Choice essential” books on

[topic]• A good academic library should have books on

[topic]

NEW MODEL OF COLLECTION BUILDING BASED ON ASSIGNMENTS

• Students come to the library when they have a research assignment

• Students need books to complete their assignments• Libraries don’t just need “good books” with “good

reviews”• Libraries need “good books” that fulfill current

assignment needs• Don’t worry so much about predicting future needs

WHAT TOOLS DO WE HAVE THAT SHOW US WHAT USERS LOOK FOR?

1. ALEPH Web OPAC Search Strings2. ALEPH circulation by title report3. ALEPH circulation by budget code report4. ILLiad Reports – Most requested Loans5. Ebrary Ebook Title use stats6. SpringShare LibAnswers – Stats – Spy Query7. SpringShare LibAnswers – Ref Analytics – View/Edit

Transactions

FOLLOW THE METADATA BREADCRUMBSFor every title you think you should purchase:• Check holdings on WorldCat (SUNY Rule of 3)• What does the metadata look like? Content notes? Abstract? What

are the Subject Headings?• Search the ALEPH GUI CIRC module using the metadata terms.

• Do you own similar titles? How many titles? How recent are they?• Do they circulate? • How much do they circulate?• To whom do they circulate (students, faculty, public or ILL)? • When did they last circulate?

HOW: WEB OPAC SEARCH STRINGS• ALEPH GUI Cataloging module• Services

• Custom Services - OPAC Stats • Web OPAC Search Strings – Word Searches (custom-

62)

HOW: ALEPH CIRCULATION STATISTICS BY TITLE REPORT

• ALEPH GUI Circulation Module• Services

• Custom – Circ Stats (Titles)• Circulation Statistics by Item – custom-51

(hints: Publication date From: 0000 To: 9999)Include the following transactions: loans, renewals, or in-house (I prefer Loans only)

• Import .csv output file into Excel and sort by “# of Transactions”

HOW: ALEPH CIRCULATION BY BUDGET CODE REPORT• Procedures in Google doc:

http://tinyurl.com/circbybudget

ALEPH Services used:ACQ: General Retrieval Form (acq-02 -01)ACQ: Retrieve Record Keys (manage-70)ITEMS: General Retrieval Form (ret-adm-01)Then manipulate your data in Excel

To see what all the data looks like:

http://tinyurl.com/circbybudgetdata

Note that this example spreadsheet has over 70 tabs. It takes days to generate and compile all the data.

HOW: ILLIAD REPORT - MOST REQUESTED LOANS• Login to the ILLiad client• Search Request Custom Search Request (little arrow in the

corner)• Users.Status contains ”Undergraduate” or local status terms• Transactions.RequestType contains “Loan”• Transactions.Date is between “1/1/16” and “5/31/16”• Click the Search button• Export data to Excel Spreadsheet (note that there will be close

to 200 columns of data, including lots of patron confidential information.

HOW: EBRARY E-BOOK TITLE USE STATS• Log into Ebrary Admin area• Click on “Run reports”• Click on “Title report”• Specify date range• Display output: Export to Excel

HOW: Springshare LIBANSWERS SPYQUERY• Log into SpringShare LibApps Dashboard• Change Spring To: LibAnswers and LibChat• Click on Stats tab and select SpyQuery• Click on Export queries

HOW: Springshare LIBANSWERS – REFANALYTICS – VIEW/EDIT TRANSACTIONS

• Log into SpringShare LibApps Dashboard• Change “Spring To”: LibAnswers and LibChat• Click on Ref Analytics tab, select View/Edit

transactions• Use “Filters” to narrow results. • Export data to Excel

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Stewart, Christopher. 2011. "Metrics: The Next Chapter: Measuring the Pace of Change for Print Monograph Collections." The Journal Of Academic Librarianship 37, 355-357

QUESTIONS?

• I am happy to help explain how to run the reports, and what system permissions might be needed.

• Marianne Hebert• hebertm@potsdam.edu• 315 267-3308• Slideshare: http://

tinyurl.com/SUNYLA2016MH