How to evaluate library collections a case study

How to evaluate library collections: a case study of Collection Mapping in Tampere University Library 1/3/2022

Collection Mapping • a technique to map, evaluate and describe subject-based collections • a method, designed in collaboration among Finnish university libraries • The Finnish Collection Map Consortium (2008 -) – aims to further develop and coordinate the evaluation and the description of the collections in the (14) member libraries – consists of university libraries, a polytechnic library, special libraries, the National Library of Finland the National Repository Library, which is responsible for the administration of the consortium

The history of the University is reflected extensively in its library’s collection -What has been emphasized (multidisciplinary of the university, its history) -What has been the aims and methods of the collection policy (growth, enlargement, to acquire rare books, etc. ) -The economic depression (lack of money to buy library resources) -The era of e-resources

new challenges for library space new challenges for librarians: tighter budgets, more tasks what is the essential part of the collections need for collections mapping and description

Tampere University Library and its collections Today University of Tampere is multidisciplinary university with six faculties Main. Library: social sciences, business and administrative sciences Department of Humanities and Education Department of Health Sciences Printed collections: - books: 492 389 volumes, serials: 6 649 titles Electronic resources: - e-books : 348 771 titles, e-journals: 31 012 titles

• in Tampere University Library Collection Mapping started basically in 2005 • twenty-one collection analyses have been completed, eleven of them in Doria. • library collections can be evaluated using both collectionbased or user-based methods or combining these two methods • statistical data on both subject-base print collection and the electronic collection -both the volume and the usage of print and electronic resources

https: //oa. doria. fi/ The Finnish Collection Map Summary of description mathematics collections in libraries

A case study in a multidisciplinary university library • to examine the state of information resources, both quantitatively and qualitatively, in a certain subject area • to identify the strenghts and weaknesses of a certain field collection with a view of its further development

The search plan for focal areas in mathematics collection 1/3/2022

Age and language distribution of the business administration collection

Language distribution of the mathematics collection (2007) • main language of the collection is English

Evaluating the collection by shelf-scanning What is it - a qualitative method to evaluate collections - the librarian goes to the bookshelves to scan the book collection - the librarian goes to the bookshelves with some representatives of the faculty, teachers and researcher What the shelves tell? - scientific / popular - up-to-date / out-of-date - unnecessary duplicate copies - condition of books (whether books have been used or not) - newest and best books are circulating - representatives of the faculty are specialists to estimate what is really needed

Collecting and analyzing data of electronic collection (volume and usage statistics) -e-journals -reference databases -e-books -e-references -ten most used e-journals in each subject area according full-text article requests

Electronic subject collections

Journals by subject category and subcategory in Nelli portal

Mapping print journals, e-books and databases Volume of the information studies collection

The representatives of the faculties are invited to the library to learn the results. 1/3/2022

LINKS Article: Hyödynmaa, Merja, Ahlholm-Kannisto, Aniita, Nurminen, Hannele: How to evaluate library collections: a case study of collection mapping: http: //tampub. uta. fi/tulos. php? tiedot=371 Collection Map site: http: //www. varastokirjasto. fi/kokoelmakartta/ E-mail: merja. hyodynmaa@uta. fi, aniita. ahlholmkannisto@uta. fi, hannele. nurminen@uta. fi