Beyond Circulation: Assessing Collections in the Age of Student Success

In a time of decreasing collections budgets and expectations of increased fiscal accountability in libraries, collection management librarians are increasingly expected to justify expenditures through the provision of usage data to their stakeholders. Yet traditional methods of collection assessment, often focused upon summary circulation statistics, are only marginally useful in demonstrating collection strength to patrons. To paint a more complete picture of a library’s successful collection development program, librarians need to identify and verify a relationship between circulation statistics and improved student outcomes, as well as support of faculty scholarship and teaching. While this task can seem daunting, many methods not involving the use of advanced statistics or an inordinate amount of effort and time do exist. This paper will (a) address best practices in assessment; (b) briefly discuss common barriers to assessment; and (c) review several methods of collection assessment beyond basic circulation counts, including analysis of circulation and interlibrary loan activity, and citation analysis of patron scholarship with practical examples of such analysis from a medium-sized academic library.