Brief Tests of Collection Strength: A Methodology for All Types of Libraries

by Howard D. White

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313297533
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	09/26/1995
Series:	Contributions in Librarianship and Information Science
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

HOWARD D. WHITE is a Professor in the College of Information Studies at Drexel University. He has presented numerous papers and workshops, and his work has been published in jourbanals such as Library Quarterly, Jourbanal of the American Society for Information Science, Library Jourbanal, and the Jourbanal of Academic Librarianship. In 1993 he received the Research Award from the American Society for Information Science.

Table of Contents

The Methodology
A Collection-Centered Measure for All Types of Libraries
Problems of the Past
The Logic of the Test
Results
Setting Levels
Verifying Levels
Gains in Strength through a Consortium
The French Literature Test
Creating New Tests
The OCLC Database and Holdings Counts
Bibliography
Appendix A: Eight Specimen Brief Tests
Appendix B: Additional Brief Tests

Editorial Reviews

Describes a new, relatively brief test to assign libraries a score for existing collection strength in a subject area. The author explains the reasoning behind the tests, describes how they are created and administered, and presents results from trials in numerous subjects in US libraries. The final chapter addresses ideas for improving the tests. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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