Considering the Value of Usage Data for Better Collection Strategies Forrest Link Yuji Tosaka Cathy Weng VALE Annual Users’ Conference January 4, 2013 Rutgers University 1

Presenters Forrest Link Acquisitions Librarian The College of New Jersey Yuji Tosaka Cataloging/Metadata Librarian The College of New Jersey Cathy Weng Head of Cataloging The College of New Jersey 2

Presentation Summary Report of a library usage study Examined 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. Study findings may help reshape local practice of collection development 3

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

The College of New Jersey 5 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.

Notes on Collection Development

Library Collection Development To develop a quality collection in support of community’s academic needs – Budgeting – Selection (including withdrawal) – Collection evaluation – Policy formation (*) * About Collection Development at Cornell University ( accessed Dec. 26,

Rethinking Collection Development Long-standing “just in case” approach “80/20 statistics” “Overselection” vs. “Underselection” Emphasis shifted to demand-based funding and selection Towards effective collection development 8

Effective Collection Development To ensure a “return on investment” Measured by collection use Aim to avoid Type I and II errors – Type II errors: titles acquired but not used – Type I errors: titles used but not acquired Can be measured using circulation data and interlibrary loan data (ILL) 9

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 titles – Reflect user needs that the library doesn’t own – Can identify user groups 10

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? 11

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 12

Data and Methods

Data Collection Data extracted for the study period (July 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 used to analyze circulation and ILL data

Imprint Dates for New Acquisitions FY 2008—2011 Imprint DateNumber of titles % of total purchase Cumulative % of total purchase % 88.00% % 85.86% % 82.16% % 73.45% % % % % Note: Percents do not add up to 100% due to the exclusion of titles published outside the imprint dates above. Cut-off date

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 library 1)Circulation of local library materials 2)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 Set Acquired Books: Books Acquired , and later imprint13,571 ILL: Books Borrowed5, and later imprint minus LC class A,C,S,U,V1,682 Unique Titles 2007 and later imprint minus LC class A,C,S,U,V1,483 Circulation: Books Circulated127,374 Unique Titles Circulated60,273 Total books loaned 2007 and later imprint minus LC class A,C,S,U,V10,269 Unique titles 2007 and later imprint minus LC class A,C,S,U,V5,043

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

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 A VERA WANG / KROHN, KATHERINE E. TT505.W36 K VERA WANG : ENDURING STYLE / KROHN, KATHERINE E. TT505.W36 T FABULOUS FAT-QUARTER BAGS / HAWLEY, M'LISS RAE, TT667.H JAPANESE KIMEKOMI : FAST, FUN, AND FABULOUS FABRIC HANDBALLS /SUESS, BARBARA B. TT751.S CROSS STITCH CUTIES. TT778.C76 C CROSS STITCH WIT & WISDOM : OVER 45 DESIGNS WITH WORDS TO BRIGHTEN YOUR DAY /ELLIOTT, JOAN. TT778.C76 E WOMAN'S WORLD IN CROSS STITCH : OVER 40 DESIGNS TO MAKE YOU SMILE /ELLIOTT, JOAN. TT778.C76 E

BEWITCHING CROSS STITCH /ELLIOTT, JOAN. TT778.C76 E DONNA KOOLER'S ULTIMATE STOCKING COLLECTION : 15 OF DONNA'S FAVORITE CROSS STITC TT778.C76 K ORIENTAL CROSS STITCH /TEARE, LESLEY. TT778.C76 T FANTASY CROSS STITCH : 60 SPELL-BINDING DESIGNS /TEARE, LESLEY. TT778.C76 T ALL OUR YESTERDAYS : CROSS STITCH COLLECTION : 33 CHARMING DESIGNS FROM BYGONE DWHITTAKER, FAYE. TT778.C76 W STUMPWORK MEDIEVAL FLORA /NICHOLAS, JANE. TT778.S75 N X KNITKNIT : PROFILES + PROJECTS FROM KNITTING'S NEW WAVE / GSCHWANDTNER, SABRINA. TT820.G TOP DOWN SWEATERS : KNIT TO FIT, TOP TO BOTTOM / MARQUART, DOREEN L. TT820.M

KNITTING ART : 150 INNOVATIVE WORKS FROM 18 CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS /SEARLE, KAREN. TT820.S CHEMO CAPS & WRAPS /ELLISON, CONNIE. TT825.C CABLE CONFIDENCE : A GUIDE TO TEXTURED KNITTING / HARPER, SARA LOUISE, TT825.H KNIT ALONG WITH DEBBIE MACOMBER. 10 SHAWLS TO MAKE AND SHARE. FRIENDSHIP SHAWLS TT825.K55F AFGHANS FOR ALL REASONS & ALL SEASONS : 29 CROCHETED AFGHANS /LEINHAUSER, JEAN. TT825.L GRAMMY'S FAVORITE KNITS FOR BABY / MARQUART, DOREEN L. TT825.M VAMPIRE KNITS : PROJECTS TO KEEP YOU KNITTING FROM TWILIGHT TO DAWN / MILLER, GENEVIEVE, TT825.M KNIT KIMONO : 18 DESIGNS WITH SIMPLE SHAPES / SQUARE, VICKI, TT825.S MAKING HISTORY : QUILTS & FABRIC FROM / BRACKMAN, BARBARA. TT835.B

QUILTING DESIGNS FROM THE PAST : 300+ DESIGNS FROM / KINNEY, JENNY CARR, TT835.C CATHEDRAL WINDOW QUILTS : THE CLASSIC FOLDED TECHNIQUE AND A WEALTH OF VARIATION EDWARDS, LYNNE, TT835.E QUICK STAR QUILTS & BEYOND : 20 DAZZLING PROJECTS, CLASSROOM-TESTED TECHNIQUES, KRENTZ, JAN P., TT835.K FOOLPROOF MACHINE QUILTING : LEARN TO USE YOUR WALKING FOOT : PAPER-CUT PATTERNSMASHUTA, MARY. TT835.M PAULA NADELSTERN'S KALEIDOSCOPE QUILTS : AN ARTIST'S JOURNEY CONTINUES. NADELSTERN, PAULA. TT835.N COMPLETE BOOK OF CHINESE KNOTTING : A COMPENDIUM OF TECHNIQUES AND VARIATIONCHEN, LYDIA, TT840.M33.C

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 usefulness 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 continue be seen as needs in the long tail or are we looking at the cutting edge? If ILL needs represent more than just long tail, should the library re-examine our collection development policy?

Thank You! Questions? Forrest Link, Yuji Tosaka, Cathy Weng,