Sara C.

Friest

Meaningful collection management requires proactive collection analysis.

1. Information professionals should move beyond the first obvious collection management question of “Is
my collection being used?” to ____how____ and ____why____ it is being used.

2. The terms Assessment and Evaluation, when applied to the context of Collection Management, are
often used as synonyms.

The terms assessment and evaluation are often used interchangeably; however, assessment focuses on the
utility of a collection (does the collection meet patrons’ needs) and evaluation focuses on the collection’s
quality (is the purpose of the collection being fulfilled). In academic libraries, the term assessment is
regularly used when referring to analysis of a collection. In public libraries, it is more common to hear
the term evaluation.

3. When gathering data, information professionals can use the gap between “where we are” and “where
we want to be” as a ____guide to future development collection efforts____.

4. Why is it important to set goals for collection management activities?

The goal of a collection evaluation must be determined before you begin collecting data so that the most
appropriate techniques are used … techniques that will help you meet your objective. This goal also
saves time because it helps you collect only the information that fits the evaluation’s purpose.

5. Disher suggests steps in a Collection Evaluation that are:

1. Define your collection evaluation goal.

2. Determine what you need to gather, and how.
3. Choose and appropriate evaluation technique.
4. Document and disseminate the results.

6. Disher suggests 4 Collection-based evaluation strategies that are:

1. Checking lists – compare library holdings to standard lists.

2. Scanning shelves – allows you to evaluate the collection the same way a patron does, but to get
accurate results, you must be aware of what is currently circulating.
3. Compiling statistics – usually information about collection size, expenditures, and use.
Comparing statistics – against a benchmark peer library.
4. Applying standards – mostly for school and academics libraries. Public libraries, however,
often are given ‘recommendations.’

7. Disher suggests 3 User-based evaluation strategies that are:

1. Circulation data analysis – actual use in relation to a particular trend (publication date, subject).
2. User surveys - ask what the patron was looking for and if they found it. There are a lot of
potential problems.
3. Interlibrary loan analysis – by knowing which topics are frequently requested, a librarian can
improve their weak collections.

Prompts taken from:

Disher, W. (2007, September 30). Crash course in collection development.
Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited.