Library and Information Science Commons^™

Measuring Use Of The Academic Print Reference Collection, Jennifer Putnam Davis

Georgia Library Quarterly

Level of use is a key factor in print reference collection development, but often this is determined by anecdotal observation rather than empirical measures. This is evident by the lack of use studies available in the literature. Yet there is a large presence of literature on weeding the print reference collection to repurpose its space. Managing this collection without assessing use can have negative impacts on both library staff and library users. This article presents a review of the available literature on use studies of print reference collections in academic libraries. Methodology and results of the studies are discussed.