Library and Information Science Commons^™

National Collecting Trends: Collection Analysis Methods And Findings, Anna H. Perrault

School of Information Faculty Publications

The primary focus of collection evaluation and assessment has been the subjective judgment of the strengths and weaknesses of library collections. The process has generally been a local application, often utilizing peer group comparative data. Quantitative collection analysis to support the subjective processes of collection evaluation and assessment is now almost universally conducted through extraction of data from local systems or network databases. National collecting patterns can be studied through the use of data extracted from the bibliographic utilities. This article examines the use of data from the OCLC/AMIGOS Collection Analysis CD and standard statistical series as a methodology for …