Using Acquisitions, Circulation, and ILL Data to Study Collection Practices

Forrest LinkAcquisitions Librarian TCNJ Librarylinkf@tcnj.edu

Presentation Summary

• Report of a library usage study examining recent library purchases and circulated and ILL titles to find out if and how library purchases met user needs

• A look at the kinds of data that can be generated and some ways of interpreting that data to influence local of collection development practices

The College of New Jersey• The College

– Public, primarily undergraduate with graduate programs in nursing and education

– Approximately 6,100 undergraduates, 650 graduate students, 350 full time faculty

• The Library– Holds over 600,000 volumes – Acquires approximately 4,100 books annually– Borrows approximately 1,400 unique books

annually through ILL – Circulates approximately 15,000 unique titles

annually

*Images taken from TCNJ website, May 3, 2011.

How the Story Begins

• Charleston Conference 2011– Richard Entlich of Cornell presents on the capture and use

of ILS data• June 2012– TCNJ Library forms new committee to develop and

implement collection development policy• July 2012– TCNJ Library hires a new librarian for Access Services and ILL

Study Questions

• What do ILL book requests and circulation data tell us about our collection use and patron needs?

• How can data analysis inform our collection development practices to better serve our patrons?

Beginning Assumptions

• Effective collection development can be measured by collection use

• Collection use = meeting user needs• User needs represented by titles– owned and circulated – not owned but borrowed via ILL

Measuring Collection Use

• Circulation statistics– Titles that library acquired and used – Can identify needs in various subject areas – Can identify user groups (student or faculty)

• ILL book requests filled– Reflect user needs that the library doesn’t own– Can identify needs in various subject areas – Can identify user groups

Data and Methods

Data Collection

• Data extracted for the study period (July 2008-June 2012) – List of books purchased during the study period– Circulation data for titles purchased for the

General Collection– ILL data for books borrowed

Data Sources

1) Acquisitions data– Voyager data for the past four FY periods (July

2008 — June 2012)– Recent publications with 2007 imprints or later

Data Sources

2) Circulation data– Voyager data for the past four FY periods (July

2008 — December 2012)– General Collections (circulating)

Data Sources

3) ILL data– OCLC User Statistics for the past four FY periods

(July 2008 – June 2012)

Data Scope

• Included all faculty, graduate student and undergraduate transactions for books circulated and borrowed via ILL having imprint dates of 2007 onward

• Eliminated LC classes A, C, S, U, V because of very low acquisition rate– End result represented 82% of purchased books

and 30% of books borrowed on ILL

Measures

• Total user needs in a library1) Circulation of local library materials2) ILL requests for library materials that are not

locally available

• Focus on recent acquisitions

Testing the Assumptions

• What are we buying?• What are we circulating?• What are we borrowing on ILL?• How well have we done in collection building to

meet user needs?

Initial Findings

Data SetAcquired Books:Books Acquired 2008-2012 16,5752007 and later imprint 13,571

ILL:Books Borrowed 5,6362007 and later imprint minus LC classes A,C,S,U,V 1,682Unique Titles 2007 and later imprint minus LC classes A,C,S,U,V 1,483

Circulation:Books Circulated 127,374Unique Titles Circulated 60,273

Total circulations of 2007 and later imprints minus LC classes A,C,S,U,V 10,269Circulation of unique titles 2007 and later imprint minus LC classes A,C,S,U,V 5,043

B D E F G H J K L M N P Q R T Z0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

Subject Distribution of Unique Titles Acquired

B D E F G H J K L M N P Q R T Z0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%Subject Distribution of Circulation of Acquired Titles

Total Circulation TransactionsUnique Titles Circulated

B D E F G H J K L M N P Q R T Z Total0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Subject Distribution of Unique Circulation as a Percentage of Acquisitions

B D E F G H J K L M N P Q R T Z0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

Subject Distribution of Unique Title ILL Borrowing

B D E F G H J K L M N P Q R T Z0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

Acquisitions, ILL, and Circulation Data Comparison by Subject

ACQ CIRC

ILL

Another Way of Looking at the Data

• If Lending = User needs met and• Lending = Circulation + ILL• Then (ILL / (Circulation + ILL)) = the part of

lending that is ILL or the portion of user needs not met by our collection

B D E F G H J K L M N P Q R T Z Total0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

Subject Distribution of ILL as % of Lending

B D E F G H J K L M N P Q R T Z Total0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

Subject Distribution of ILL as % of Unique Title Lend-ing

B D E F G H J K L M N P Q R T Z0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

Circulation Subject Distribution by Borrower Type

FacultyUndergradGrad

ILL Subject Distribution by Borrower Type

B D E F G H J K L M N P Q R T Z0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

FacultyUndergradGrad

B D E F G H J K L M N P Q R T Z0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Unique Title Circulation by Subject by Borrower Type

FacultyUndergradGrad

B D E F G H J K L M N P Q R T Z0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%ILL Borrowing by Subject by Borrower Type

FacultyUndergradGrad

Some Rethinking

• Maybe we’re looking at this incorrectly• Maybe all borrowing (via ILL or our acquired

collection) is not equal, not all “need”• Maybe we’re looking at “The Long Tail”

A Brief Digression• The Long Tail

The Light Bulb

CROSS STITCH ART NOUVEAU / HAMMET, BARBARA. TT

STELLA MCCARTNEY / ALDRIDGE, REBECCA.TT505.M34 A43 2011

VERA WANG /KROHN, KATHERINE E.

TT505.W36 K76 2007

VERA WANG : ENDURING STYLE /KROHN, KATHERINE E.

TT505.W36 T63 2009

101 FABULOUS FAT-QUARTER BAGS /HAWLEY, M'LISS RAE, 1956-

TT667 .H395 2008

JAPANESE KIMEKOMI : FAST, FUN, AND FABULOUS FABRIC HANDBALLS / SUESS, BARBARA B.

TT751 .S92 2008

CROSS STITCH CUTIES.TT778.C76 C76 2007

CROSS STITCH WIT & WISDOM : OVER 45 DESIGNS WITH WORDS TO BRIGHTEN YOUR DAY / ELLIOTT, JOAN.

TT778.C76 E45 2007

WOMAN'S WORLD IN CROSS STITCH : OVER 40 DESIGNS TO MAKE YOU SMILE / ELLIOTT, JOAN.

TT778.C76 E45 2008

BEWITCHING CROSS STITCH / ELLIOTT, JOAN.TT778.C76 E45 2008

DONNA KOOLER'S ULTIMATE STOCKING COLLECTION : 15 OF DONNA'S FAVORITE CROSS STITC

TT778.C76 K66 2007

ORIENTAL CROSS STITCH / TEARE, LESLEY.TT778.C76 T35 2007

FANTASY CROSS STITCH : 60 SPELL-BINDING DESIGNS / TEARE, LESLEY.TT778.C76 T428 2008

ALL OUR YESTERDAYS : CROSS STITCH COLLECTION : 33 CHARMING DESIGNS FROM BYGONE D WHITTAKER, FAYE.

TT778.C76 W45 2007

STUMPWORK MEDIEVAL FLORA / NICHOLAS, JANE.TT778.S75 N53 2009X

KNITKNIT : PROFILES + PROJECTS FROM KNITTING'S NEW WAVE /

GSCHWANDTNER, SABRINA.

TT820 .G84 2007

TOP DOWN SWEATERS : KNIT TO FIT, TOP TO BOTTOM /MARQUART, DOREEN L.

TT820 .M32 2007

KNITTING ART : 150 INNOVATIVE WORKS FROM 18 CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS / SEARLE, KAREN.

TT820 .S44 2008

CHEMO CAPS & WRAPS / ELLISON, CONNIE.TT825 .C386 2010

CABLE CONFIDENCE : A GUIDE TO TEXTURED KNITTING /HARPER, SARA LOUISE, 1963-

TT825 .H25647 2007

KNIT ALONG WITH DEBBIE MACOMBER. 10 SHAWLS TO MAKE AND SHARE. FRIENDSHIP SHAWLS

TT825 .K55F75 2008

AFGHANS FOR ALL REASONS & ALL SEASONS : 29 CROCHETED AFGHANS / LEINHAUSER, JEAN.

TT825 .L456 2007

GRAMMY'S FAVORITE KNITS FOR BABY /MARQUART, DOREEN L.

TT825 .M2678 2011

VAMPIRE KNITS : PROJECTS TO KEEP YOU KNITTING FROM TWILIGHT TO DAWN /

MILLER, GENEVIEVE, 1969-

TT825 .M564 2010

KNIT KIMONO : 18 DESIGNS WITH SIMPLE SHAPES /SQUARE, VICKI, 1954-

TT825 .S71385 2007

MAKING HISTORY : QUILTS & FABRIC FROM 1890-1970 /BRACKMAN, BARBARA.

TT835 .B64215 2008

QUILTING DESIGNS FROM THE PAST : 300+ DESIGNS FROM 1810-1940 /

KINNEY, JENNY CARR, 1951-

TT835 .C376 2008

CATHEDRAL WINDOW QUILTS : THE CLASSIC FOLDED TECHNIQUE AND A WEALTH OF VARIATION

EDWARDS, LYNNE, 1943-

TT835 .E378 2008

QUICK STAR QUILTS & BEYOND : 20 DAZZLING PROJECTS, CLASSROOM-TESTED TECHNIQUES,

KRENTZ, JAN P., 1955-

TT835 .K7685 2009

FOOLPROOF MACHINE QUILTING : LEARN TO USE YOUR WALKING FOOT : PAPER-CUT PATTERNS MASHUTA, MARY.

TT835 .M38428 2008

PAULA NADELSTERN'S KALEIDOSCOPE QUILTS : AN ARTIST'S JOURNEY CONTINUES.

NADELSTERN, PAULA.

TT835 .N3275 2008

COMPLETE BOOK OF CHINESE KNOTTING : A COMPENDIUM OF TECHNIQUES AND VARIATION CHEN, LYDIA, 1940-

TT840.M33 .C46 2007

Caution in Using ILL Data

• Purpose of ILL service– To meet academic needs (e.g., multidisciplinary titles)– To meet user needs of general interest outside

curriculum scope– For recreational purposes

• Take above factors into consideration when considering user-initiated acquisitions

Early Conclusions

• We have made some inaccurate assumptions – All need is not equal– The question is not “What should we buy?” but “Should

we buy?”• We cannot judge the appropriateness of the purchase of a

book without expert mediation• Findings can shed light on effectiveness of collection

development practices

Post Study Questions

• What constitutes a good academic collection?• Should ILL requests be seen as part of the long tail?• Or, if ILL needs represent more than just the long tail, should

the library re-examine our collection development policy? • Can we devise ways to tell where on that continuum a request

lies?

Thank You!

Questions?

Forrest Link, linkf@tcnj.edu

With thanks to:Yuji Tosaka, tosaka@tcnj.eduCathy Weng, weng@tcnj.edu