Collection Development and Data Visualization: How Interactive Graphic Displays Are Transforming Collection Development Decisions

Given the changing collection management landscape a clear tool for evaluating purchase decisions is needed to help selectors make the most of budget allocations. The UMass Amherst Libraries uses the business intelligence software Tableau to help selectors more clearly see the connection between monograph purchases and circulation data. Using dashboards, subject selectors can see the impact of monograph selections within a discipline, across the collection, and over a period of time. Graphic visualizations are easier to understand than previously used text and numerical based spreadsheets for data analysis and facilitate exploration at different levels. This paper discusses how data visualizations are used to effectively communicate monograph purchasing, circulation, and expenditures. Interactive dashboards help transform abstract ideas into a solid holistic understanding of the collections and in turn provide a common language to facilitate collection development discussions, decisions, and policies.