Leveraging Use‐by‐Publication‐Age Data in Serials Collection Decisions

Traditionally, usage figures for electronic serials have lumped all years of publication together. New tools give librarians information about usage according to the year of publication. They allow us to analyze the usage of current material separately from usage of content published in prior years. The relative value of current subscriptions and backfiles has important collection development implications. For example, many libraries subscribe directly to titles that are offered in aggregated databases, but with embargoes. The relative value of current content distinguished from prior years may be useful in reevaluating such subscription decisions. This paper discusses tools and techniques for analyzing usage by year of publication according to several measures—including COUNTER’s JR5 report, Google Analytics, ILL reports, and token reports, and discusses how librarians can use these tools to aid in decision‐making about serials collection development decisions

Are E-Book Packages Overwhelming and Redefining Your Collection?

Most academic libraries offer numerous e-books alongside their print titles. Traditionally, print materials have been chosen by subject liaisons with input from departmental faculty, whereas e-books have been acquired en masse through large collection purchases, subscriptions, or PDA/DDA programs that include large numbers of discovery records. At Kraemer Family Library, the print budget is divided into subject areas using a formula that includes the number of students in a discipline, level of program (bachelor, master, or doctorate), number of faculty by discipline, and average cost of materials in a subject area. This budget breakdown is an attempt to balance the library’s collection so that it reflects the focus and emphasis of the curriculum being taught on campus. Beginning in 2012, the Kraemer Family Library at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs began participating in two PDA/DDA e-book programs. The library also began purchasing e-book packages that were either publisher or subject based. During this same time, the library continued to use a formula to allocate the library’s print budget. Because e-books were not purchased according to any allocation, and the library was beginning a process of weeding the print collection, an analysis of the effect of e-books on the overall collection was undertaken. The purpose of this analysis was to determine what metrics should be used to determine the impact of e-books on the overall collection and to analyze that data for overall impact on the collection

The Library Never Closes: Assessing Resources and Services After a Crisis

There are different ways to interpret the statement, “the library never closes.” One interpretation is that the library as a place and a building is so vital to a university that it cannot close under any circumstances. At the University of Memphis (UM), one of the universities included in this study, the McWherter library did not close, even in March 2020 when fear and uncertainty around the COVID-19 pandemic were at their height. The University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) and Illinois State University (ISU), the other two institutions included in this study, closed their buildings in March and stayed closed into the summer. A second interpretation of “the library never closes” is that the library is more than a place or building. The library is a collection of resources, a set of services, and a group of people who can operate independently of the building. As long as it continues to serve its users, the library remains open even when its doors are closed. This paper uses data to examine the extent to which three university libraries were able to continue serving library users despite the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic. The data cover various aspects of library collections and services: physical checkouts, research services, instruction, website visits, discovery service sessions, electronic serials, electronic books, and streaming videos