Electronic Peer Analysis in Collection Development
Presenter: Jennifer Matthews, Collection Strategy Librarian, Rowan University

Academic libraries need to consider how to evaluate their resources when comparing to peer and aspirant institutions as more and more library resources are moving to a strictly electronic realm. The tools available for print title comparisons are not available for the same electronic study, making such a study labor intensive.

As budgets continue to be strictly maintained, and resources continue to move to e-format, other methods of evaluation besides usage statistics and cost-per-use analysis will need to be considered. Thought must be given to how one electronic collection compares to another just as it did with the print collection titles. As such, methods to develop these tools, and support their creation, should be explored. This is one e-primary institution’s journey to resolve this dilemma.

From Just-in-Case (JIC) to Research-Interest-Driven (RID) Collection Development in International and Area Studies Collections in Research Libraries

Presenters: Osman Celik, International Acquisitions Coordinator, The UCLA Library
Roxanne Peck, Head, Acquisitions Services, Penn State University Libraries

Given library-physical space, stewardship costs, and budgetary constraints, it is imperative to find a sustainable collection development method for international and area studies if research libraries continue to further improve breadth and depth of such collections. Based on the analysis of usage statistics of area studies collections, this study argues that collection strategies for research libraries necessitate a critical departure Just-in case - conventionally based on broader subject parameters and profiles on various global regions - to a more user-centered approach. The empirical testing and evaluation of the argument is designed to include cataloging metadata, acquisitions, and access-related data at a research library scale. In particular, the research design involves bibliographic metadata of print monographs, acquisitions, and various usage statistics of several area studies collections such as African, Eastern European/Slavic, Middle East, Latin American, and Western European studies collections acquired by the UCLA library between 2005-2016.