Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

In Their Own Words: Perspectives On Collection Weeding From Library Employees And Teaching Faculty, Dan Broadbent, Megan Frost, Gregory M. Nelson, David Pixton

Faculty Publications

Following a Science and Engineering collection weeding project of over 350,000 print items, our research team conducted interviews with 20 library employees and 19 teaching faculty involved in the project. The purpose of the interviews was to assess the interviewees’ perspectives and feelings relating to the time required to complete the project, inter- and intra- library communication, the decision-making processes, and their personal assessment of the costs and benefits of the project. The interviewees also offered their views of the overall project’s successes and areas for improvement. Drawing from a qualitative analysis of the interviews, we provide guidance for other …

Collection Weeding: Breaking New Ground With Innovative Processes And Tools, Gregory M. Nelson, David Pixton, Megan Frost, Dan Broadbent, Michael C. Goates

Faculty Publications

• Intro
• Criteria
• Tools
• Feedback
• Lessons Learned

The Secret Lives Of Ebooks: A Paratextual Analysis Illuminates A Veil Of Usage Statistics, Jonathan H. Harwell, Erin Gallagher

Faculty Publications

This study applies the method of paratextual analysis to six electronic books, or ebooks, in an academic library collection at a small liberal arts college. Two books are selected from each of three platforms: ebrary, EBSCO, and SpringerLink. The characteristics of each book are described, including design and readership, as well as 2 years of usage statistics from the specific library, and altmetrics where available. The paratextual study leads to a closer investigation of the usage statistics themselves and concludes that despite industry standards, they are not calculated consistently across vendor platforms and that while these data are invisible …

What Journals Do Psychology Graduate Students Need?, Margaret Sylvia

Faculty Publications

The increasing price of journal subscriptions and the increasing number of journals available make it difficult for libraries to supply all needed material locally for scholarly research. Bibliographic citation analysis of student research papers is one method of evaluating the use of a journal collection. Journal selection and cancellation may be done on the basis of cost-per-use to maximize the usefulness of materials purchased with the library budget. Theses provide a convenient archival resource of student research. This study used the biblio-graphic citations found in theses and dissertations of graduate students in the psychology and counseling departments of the university, …