Brief Tests of Collection Strength

by White, Howard D.

• ISBN13: 9780313297533
• ISBN10: 0313297533
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1995-11-01
• Publisher: Praeger Pub Text

Summary

In a time of increasing material and limited resources, libraries need to be particularly judicious in deciding which works to acquire. Oftentimes, a library seeks to develop strong holdings in one or more subject areas. Such an approach is especially useful for libraries that share their resources with other institutions. To plan their acquisitions carefully and to be of greatest use to other consortia members, a library needs to gauge the strength of its holdings accurately. This volume describes and illustrates a relatively brief test to assign libraries a score for existing collection strength in a subject area. Drawing upon expert human judgment and holdings data available from OCLC, the test can assist librarians in setting and verifying collection levels on the RLG or WLN Conspectus scales. Collection strength is often verified in a labor-intensive fashion. The brief test presented by the author is an economical alternative to the more typical labor-intensive approach to collection analysis.

Table of Contents

Tables and Figures	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
Part One: The Methodology
A Collection-Centered Measure for All Types of Libraries	3	(12)
Problems of the Past	15	(18)
The Logic of the Test	33	(22)
Part Two: Results
Setting Levels	55	(18)
Verifying Levels	73	(16)
Gains in Strength through a Consortium	89	(18)
The French Literature Test	107	(16)
Part Three: The OCLC Database and Holdings Counts
Creating New Tests	123	(30)
Appendix A: Eight Specimen Brief Tests	153	(30)
American History	153	(6)
American Studies	159	(2)
Classical Music	161	(4)
Cultural Anthropology	165	(4)
French Literature	169	(3)
Genetics	172	(3)
Mathematics	175	(4)
Policy Studies	179	(4)
Appendix B: Additional Brief Tests	183	(2)
Bibliography	185	(4)
Index	189