Looking forward by looking back: Books at the end of the book

XXX Annual Charleston Conference
November 2010
Looking forward by looking back:Books at the end of the book

Never let a good crisis go to waste!

Background
Diminished fiscal resources
Rapid shift towards digital formats
Last opportunity to capture use-data from a primarily print monographic world

Questions
Can historic use of print books predict e-book use?
How might electronic availability change use patterns within different disciplines?
How might historic use data inform decision-making with regard to new models?

The data!
Examined 10-year period from 1997-2007
Edition
Firm order/approval order/gift
Author
Publish year/publisher
Binding (cloth or paper)
Current status (checked out, stacks, removed)
Library (branch or main) that holds the title
Date book added to catalog
Unique number
Date the item last circulated
LC call number
Total charges
Price (total and unit)
Title
Series

Data issues
Consistency
Database migration
Acquisitions
Approval plan
Circulation total and last date circulated included -- no other dates tracked
Human error

Organization
Broken into out by LC range into subject specific spreadsheets
Two tabs included. Tab1: all 10 years of data
Tab2: approval items from the last 2 ½ years

Color coding
We color-coded the spreadsheets in the following way:
RED denoted an item that averages more than 2 circs per year over its life in the collection.
YELLOW denoted an item that averages more than 1 (and up to 2) circs per year over its life.
WHITE denoted items not fitting a color category (see below).
LIGHT BLUE denoted an item that has circulated only 1 time ever.
DARK BLUE denoted an item that has never circulated.

_1 _2 _3 _4 _5 _6 _7 _8 _9 _10
Am I Hot or Not?

Review Guidelines
No one right way
Sheer use only a starting point
Approval plan should catch “must-haves”

Easy! (er…sometimes)
Many call number ranges were not obvious candidates for slip or approval and then selectors had to determine why.
Publisher?
Sub-topic?
Series?
Many many other reasons?

Funds (the money)
Each selector determined cuts of 20% and 40% from their funds.
Approximate money saved based on previous 2 years
Estimate cuts from approval and firm
Net amount “saved” subtracted from approval plan
Balance work of selecting--not simply move wholesale to an item-by-item selection

Estimating savings

Management benefits
Training
Holism
Breadth of users
Usefulness of approval plans

Preliminary Results

We were able to…
Identify Savings!
20% and 40% cuts
Only had to take 20%!
Identify Themes!
Humanities circulation tends to rise over time
Science and math tend to circulate more heavily initially
OVERALL non-circulating items are likely to circulate after 5 years the collection

Philosophy, Psychology, Religion

Social Sciences

Science

Collection Circulation Status

Purchase on demand program
If an electronic title is opened 5 times NCSU Libraries automatically purchases it
Catalog titles are not removed
Some schools are dropping titles that aren’t requested or “opened” within 6 mos.
Our study indicates that, across disciplines, this will leave users without access to needed titles, if print use is indicative of e-book use

E-use patterns
Can monographic use patterns predict e-use patterns?
Not enough data yet!
Sample data trends towards yes in some disciplines
In QA call ranges for the subject area math, with use counted as pages viewed, high use and low use ranges line up closely with ebrary use since 2005
In B and BJ ranges for the subject area philosophy no discernable pattern is recognizable

Future Studies
Comprehensive examination of use via publisher
Use data to select efficiently
Baseline for studies to examine change in use patterns as e-titles increase
(Continue to) examine, across disciplines, whether or not print use predicts e-use

Contact
Darby Orcutt darby_orcutt@ncsu.edu
Genya O’Gara genya_ogara@ncsu.edu

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Looking forward by looking back: Books at the end of the book

by Genya O'Gara

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