Gauging Uniqueness: Assessment in Special Collections

This paper examines the Special Collections (SC) book holdings of De La Salle University Libraries, which aims the following: 1) to profile the book holdings of the SC; 2) to identify the strength and weakness of the collection; 3) to examine the utilization of the collection, and; 4) to determine the uniqueness and rarity of the book collection by comparing the SC book titles to the online catalog of University of the Philippines. The results of this study will provide statistical data that may be used in crafting guidelines for acquisitions, weeding and budget allocations for special collections. This study uses collection assessment through collection-centered techniques by counting the holdings of the SC book collections. Google curling was used to gauge the uniqueness of the book collection

Gauging Uniqueness: Assessment in Special Collections

This paper examines the Special Collections (SC) book holdings of De La Salle University Libraries, which aims the following: 1) to profile the book holdings of the SC; 2) to identify the strength and weakness of the collection; 3) to examine the utilization of the collection, and; 4) to determine the uniqueness and rarity of the book collection by comparing the SC book titles to the online catalog of University of the Philippines. The results of this study will provide statistical data that may be used in crafting guidelines for acquisitions, weeding and budget allocations for special collections. This study uses collection assessment through collection-centered techniques by counting the holdings of the SC book collections. Google curling was used to gauge the uniqueness of the book collection

Looking closely: An analysis of resources in course syllabi of the Graduate School of Business

Resource analysis in course syllabi aids collection managers in future resource selection and identification of titles for evaluation for possible inclusion in the collection. The study seeks to analyze the resources in course syllabi used by faculty members teaching graduate courses in the RVRCOB. All listed references were entered into a spreadsheet by a group of library staff identifying their resource type, availability in the library collection, and publication year. Percentage distribution was used to determine the needed data. Despite the implementation of full online classes, print books comprised the most significant percentage of resource type in syllabi. This was, however, complemented by journal articles and websites having the second and third largest percentage, respectively. Journal titles listed in the syllabi were all available in the library collection either in print or electronic format yielding 100% availability for the said resource type. Electronic journal articles have the second-highest percentage of availability with 81.46%. Finally, the study revealed that most of the resource materials used were published between the last 6-10 years or 2012-2016 and materials with no or identified publication date comprised the second- highest percentage, most of which were websites. The majority of the references listed in the course syllabi were print materials suggested several indications- (1) faculty members are yet to adapt to the new normal in education fully; (2) faculty members’ comfort zone is still with the print materials; (3) they are not aware of the availability of materials in electronic format in the library collection; and (4) there may be not enough electronic resources to support their course. The small percentage in the available resources in the library collection suggested an insubstantial collaboration between the faculty. With this, it is recommended to explore other ways to involve faculty in selection and to strengthen collaboration with them to ensure resources are readily available to the students. Titles not available in the library must be reviewed in collaboration with the faculty for purchase or subscription possibility. Lastly, assessment of electronic collection, especially e-books, along with their intensive marketing and promotion must also be in line to ensure the library\u27s readiness to support online teaching and learning fully

An assessment of library holdings and utilization of the College Library (Laguna Campus)

With the utilization of different collection assessment methods, this study seeks to answer the following: (1) identify the strengths, weaknesses and imbalances in the collections of the De La Salle University Laguna Campus College Library, (2) determine how successful it is in acquiring and providing access to its collections (3) examine the usage of its collections. Collection-based approaches such as collection mapping, list checking, comparative analysis against peer libraries, reshelving method and usage factor in the form of Percentage of Expected Use (PEU) were utilized. Findings showed that the strength of the collection comes from the holdings on education related subjects like language and literature (3,821t), social sciences (3,303t), and philosophy (2,138t) are higher. Books on computer studies are also high as they are included in the science collection (2,213t) as well as the engineering books under the technology collection (1,698t). The collection is weak in the areas of local history of the Americas (F), music (M), Agriculture (S), Military science (U), Naval science (V) and Library science (Z). This is understandable as there are no programs offered for such subjects. An imbalance of collection was found in the area of education (L). Aging collection is also one of the weakness as some 80% of the books are 20-40 years of age already. By comparing the holdings with one authoritative list or standard tool – Choice Outstanding Academic Titles, Level 3, Highly recommended: a publication of high quality and relevance for academic audiences (1,355 titles), another weakness of the collection was observed (table 3). There are only few titles that were present in the collection of the College Library (DLSU Laguna Campus) and a large number of titles have not yet been purchased. DLSU Laguna Campus College Library have recorded a number of 1 title held that are listed in Choice. It also holds 1 exact title with different edition. The DLSU Learning Commons recorded 49t, UPD recorded 19t and MAPUA with 24t. If the titles held by the Learning Commons and College Library (Laguna Campus) were to be combined, DLSU will still have the greater number of titles held or purchased based on Choice recommended list but still, the titles they held only make up 5.02% of the total titles recommended by Choice for an academic library. The average acquisition of titles recommended by Choice per year of publication by DLSU Libraries yearly is 6.5%. The acquisition librarian is effective in meeting the required number of books to be purchased per year. By conducting a usage analysis, it was found that 29t (0.18%) are heavily used, 425t (2.69%) are moderately used and 4,339 (27.48%) are lightly used. Only 30% of the collections have usage. Another observation is the high number of titles with zero usage. 10,997t (69.65%) or almost 70% of the holdings of the College have zero usage. The top 5 LC class which have the highest number of collections are also the top 5 class with zero usage collections: Language and literature (P) with 2,825t, Social sciences (H) with 2,440t, Philosophy, psychology and religion (B) with 1,526t, Sciences (Q) with 1,337t and Technology (T) with 1,130t. There could be a mismatch of titles being purchased or not align with the subject or academic interest of the students. By conducting a percentage of expected use (PEU), it was found that the overutilized subject areas are World history and history of Europe, Asia, America, etc. (D), Music (M), Fines arts (N), Science (Q), Agriculture (S), Technology (T), and Military Science (U). Only science and technology is overutilized in the collections that are related to the course offerings of the college. The rest of the subject areas are underutilized and improvement of the collection is necessary to increase the percentage of expected usage (PEU) of those collections. Recommendations are provided in the study for the collection development and increase of usage