1. Using Acquisitions, Circulation, and ILL Data to Study Collection Practices 1 Forrest Link Acquisitions Librarian TCNJ Library linkf@tcnj.edu

2. 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 2

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

4. 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

5. 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? 5

6. 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 6

7. 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 doesnt own – Can identify needs in various subject areas – Can identify user groups 7

8. Data and Methods

9. 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

10. Data Sources 1)Acquisitions data – Voyager data for the past four FY periods (July 2008 June 2012) – Recent publications with 2007 imprints or later

11. Data Sources 2)Circulation data – Voyager data for the past four FY periods (July 2008 December 2012) – General Collections (circulating)

12. Data Sources 3)ILL data – OCLC User Statistics for the past four FY periods (July 2008 – June 2012)

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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?

16. Initial Findings

17. Data Set Acquired Books: Books Acquired 2008-201216,575 2007 and later imprint13,571 ILL: Books Borrowed5,636 2007 and later imprint minus LC classes A,C,S,U,V1,682 Unique Titles 2007 and later imprint minus LC classes A,C,S,U,V1,483 Circulation: Books Circulated127,374 Unique Titles Circulated60,273 Total circulations of 2007 and later imprints minus LC classes A,C,S,U,V10,269 Circulation of unique titles 2007 and later imprint minus LC classes A,C,S,U,V5,043

23. 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

27. ILL Subject Distribution by Borrower Type

30. Some Rethinking Maybe were looking at this incorrectly Maybe all borrowing (via ILL or our acquired collection) is not equal, not all need Maybe were looking at The Long Tail

31. A Brief Digression The Long Tail

32. 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

33. 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 DWHITTAKER, 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

34. 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

35. 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 PATTERNSMASHUTA, 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 VARIATIONCHEN, LYDIA, 1940- TT840.M33.C46 2007

38. 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

39. 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

40. 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?

41. Thank You! Questions? Forrest Link, linkf@tcnj.edulinkf@tcnj.edu With thanks to: Yuji Tosaka, tosaka@tcnj.edu Cathy Weng, weng@tcnj.edu