New Perspectives in Collection Assessment: flexible, customized delivery of collection evaluation data

Abstract

As collection budgets for libraries are decreasing or remaining flat, libraries have invested much time and effort into the assessment of usage and cost data of library materials. Traditionally, usage data have been gathered and distributed by collection development and management departments which create cost and use reports for individual subject librarians and liaisons. However, this top-down approach to providing collection data is time-consuming and many libraries do not have enough staff or time to provide these reports.

This paper presents a new perspective on collection assessment where collection evaluation and assessment is placed into the hands of subject librarians and liaisons. New technologies and collaborations with vendors and publishers mean collection development departments no longer need to collate and create individual cost and use reports for subject liaisons to review. Software such as Tableau® and customized collection evaluation reports provided by vendors and publishers allow focused, individualized data to be delivered to subject librarians. This shift to streamlined delivery of data is more efficient and cost-effective, making the assessment process easier for librarians/liaisons and the Library. The paper will describe delivery of assessment data via Tableau dashboards and provide examples of vendor/publisher data including, turnaway reports, interlibrary loan reports, comparison reports within and between institutions, comprehensive publisher/vendor account reviews and COUNTER reports.