For purposes of accreditation, resource sharing, and institutional mission, librarians need to assess the strengths of their collections in particular subject areas. This book describes and illustrates a brief test for determining a library's collection strength. Though such tests are most often employed in academic libraries, the methodology outlined by the author should be useful to all types of libraries in assessing the strength of their holdings. In a time of increasing material and limited resources, libraries need to be particularly judicious in deciding which works to acquire. Oftentimes, a library seeks to develop strong holdings in one or more subject areas. Such an approach is especially useful for libraries that share their resources with other institutions. To plan their acquisitions carefully and to be of greatest use to other consortia members, a library needs to gauge the strength of its holdings accurately. This volume describes and illustrates a relatively brief test to assign libraries a score for existing collection strength in a subject area. Drawing upon expert human judgment and holdings data available from OCLC, the test can assist librarians in setting and verifying collection levels on the RLG or WLN Conspectus scales. Collection strength is often verified in a labor-intensive fashion. The brief test presented by the author is an economical alternative to the more typical labor-intensive approach to collection analysis.

Librarians have long used data to describe their collections. Traditional measures have simply been inputs and outputs: volumes acquired, processed, owned, or circulated. With the growth since the 1990s of cultures of assessment, librarians have sought statistics that are evaluative rather than simply descriptive. More recently, exponentially increasing journal prices and an economic recession have intensified the need to make careful purchasing decisions and to justify these to administrators. A methodical evaluation of a library collection can help librarians understand and meet user needs and can help communicate to administrators that the library is a good use of the institution’s money. Collection Evaluation in Academic Libraries: A Practical Guide for Librarians equips collections managers to select and implement a method or several methods of evaluating their library collections. It includes sections on four tools for evaluation: • Comparison to peer institutions • Core lists • Usage statistics from circulation and ILL • Citation analysis Chapters on each of these approaches present the advantages and disadvantages of each method, instructions on data collection and analysis—with screenshots—and suggested action steps after completing the analysis. With a unique combination of step-by-step instructions and discussions of the purpose and role of data, this book provides an unusually thorough guide to collection evaluation. It will be indispensable for collection development librarians and anyone looking to strengthen the culture of assessment within the library.

To say that graphic novels, comics, and other forms of sequential art have become a major part of popular culture and academia would be a vast understatement. Now an established component of library and archive collections across the globe, graphic novels are proving to be one of the last kinds of print publications actually gaining in popularity. Full of practical advice and innovative ideas for librarians, educators, and archivists, this book provides a wide-reaching look at how graphic novels and comics can be used to their full advantage in educational settings. Topics include the historically tenuous relationship between comics and librarians; the aesthetic value of sequential art; the use of graphic novels in library outreach services; collection evaluations for both American and Canadian libraries; cataloging tips and tricks; and the swiftly growing realm of webcomics.

Evaluation is essential to library management: it provides the data that underlies informed and effective decision-making. This book is a one-volume, how-to guide to library evaluation techniques, planning, and reporting. Library professionals—regardless of whether they operate in a school, public, or academic library setting—need to have effective evaluation skills in order to be accountable to stakeholders and to effect informed improvement. Practical Evaluation Techniques for Librarians provides information and guidance that is highly useful and accessible for all librarians looking to intelligently manage the strengths and weaknesses of their library as well as communicate its value to its stakeholders. Rather than focusing on data-gathering methods appropriate for researchers, the book concentrates on data collection at the local level that enables informed managerial decision-making. It describes and compares techniques that can be used with any level or type of resource—staffing, software, and expertise, for example—in any size library. Author Rachel Applegate makes it clear that accountability is everywhere and imperative, and any librarian can learn the simple techniques to benefit from evaluation.

Automated System for the Generation of Document Indexes to Volume Visualization

In this sweeping revision of a text that has become an authoritative standard, expert instructor and librarian Peggy Johnson addresses the art of controlling and updating library collections, whether located locally or accessed remotely.

A guide to balancing traditional collection issues with electronic access and document delivery demands, Collection Development: Access in the Virtual Library helps librarians find solutions and approaches for dealing with changes occurring in interlibrary loan, regional consortia, commercial vendor relations, and ownership versus access. Its sophisticated analyses offer you clarity of vision, the wisdom of experience, and solid advice as you are transported into the 'virtual library environment' with its variety of expectations, service complexities, and information technologies. Interested in reducing local collecting costs while expanding the universe of information and knowledge available to your primary clientele? Collection Development will show you just how many options are out there for enhancing your virtual environment, as it explores: teaching your users advancing bibliographical retrieval and assessment methodologies the delivery of library resources electronically for distributed learning/distance education conducting CD-Rom collection development comparisons planning space for a more technologically oriented research environment enriching your on-line catalog with contents pages and new indexing capabilities the impact of change and shifting paradigms on public services staffing the development of good electronic presentation design Still not convinced that this is the book you need to improve access in your library? Think again! Collection Development will help you with library control and ordering articles via commercial document delivery; it will help you develop coherent and intuitive ways of organizing and presenting available electronic resources; it will help you work with administrators and funding agents to attain a balance between traditional library resources and emerging information technologies, and much, much more!

This guide provides library directors, managers, and administrators in all types of libraries with complete and up-to-date instructions on how to evaluate library services in order to improve them. It's a fact: today's libraries must evaluate their services in order to find ways to better serve patrons and prove their value to their communities. In this greatly updated and expanded edition of Matthews' seminal text, you'll discover a breadth of tools that can be used to evaluate any library service, including newer tools designed to measure customer and patron outcomes. The book offers practical advice backed by solid research on virtually every aspect of evaluation, including quantitative and qualitative tools, data analysis, and specific recommendations for measuring individual services, such as technical services and reference and interlibrary loan. New chapters give readers effective ways to evaluate critical aspects of their libraries such as automated systems, physical space, staff, performance management frameworks, eBooks, social media, and information literacy. The author explains how broader and more robust adoption of evaluation techniques will help library managers combine traditional internal measurements, such as circulation and reference transactions, with more customer-centric metrics that reflect how well patrons feel they are served and how satisfied they are with the library. By applying this comprehensive strategy, readers will gain the ability to form a truer picture of their library's value to its stakeholders and patrons.

This book represents an ongoing effort to fill the void in the library literature relating to collection development policies. The authors, whose experience each spans four decades as library educators and practitioners, created the book--as well as a forthcoming companion volume devoted to school libraries--to assist both library school students and professionals in the field in the compilation, revision, and implementation of collection development policies. Cutting edge trends such as digital document delivery and library cooperation are also covered. Furthermore, given the premise that a well-rounded policy reflects all activities concerning the collection management process--including the evaluation, selection, acquisition, and weeding of information resources--it is hoped that this work will also prove useful to non-librarians possessing some kind of stake in high quality library holdings, such as library board members, politicians, and administrators directly responsible for library operations, and institutional patrons.

Written by experts in the field, Collection Development: Preparing Today's Bibliographers for Tomorrow's Libraries offers librarians proven and effective suggestions on how to solve and alleviate common problems in order to make your library more efficient and beneficial to patrons. Discussing concerns about cooperative collection development, locally available data, managing personnel at varying career stages, vendors, selecting the right mix of resources, and serials collection management, this valuable guide gives you insight into the future of collection development and keeps you up-to-date on important technological advancements. For both beginners and professionals, Collection Development addresses your vexing questions that librarians continually face to assist you in creating a cost-effective and resourceful library.