“Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees”: Using a Data-Driven Review Process to Add New Resources With No Budget Increases

At Drake University’s Cowles Library, increasing budgetary pressures, combined with improvements in gathering and analyzing usage data, compelled the library in 2014 to reassess its collection development philosophy and approach. This new philosophy—that the value of a resource is directly related to its usage—necessitated a more systematic and analytical process. The library has developed an annual review process that uses data-driven decision making for canceling and acquiring electronic resource subscriptions.

The steps in this process are as follows:

• Reviewing cost-per-use data

• Generating candidate deselection lists (“watchlists”)

• Soliciting faculty feedback via a library liaison process

• Communicating and marketing

• Canceling low-use items

• Identifying and acquiring new resources on a yearly cycle

With a more deliberate process, the library was able to save $175,169 over a three-year period. Combined with reallocated book acquisition funds, these savings allowed for the coverage of inflationary costs and the acquisition of new electronic resources requested by faculty for unmet curricular needs. This process, including both the challenges and the timeline, will be covered in this paper.