Canterbury Will Evaluate Library Collection With New Assessment Tool
The University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand has begun an assessment of all the materials in its four libraries to evaluate their use and help make decisions about future acquisitions.
The university selected ProQuest's Intota Assessment tool to evaluate its collection of 1.9 million physical items, 137,000 electronic books and 60,000 electronic serial titles and how it is all being used.
Canterbury library representatives said they hope ProQuest can help them make better collection management decisions that are based on real evidence and analyze which resources to renew, acquire or weed out in order to get the greatest return on their investment. At the same time, they said they believe the Intota Assessment tool will help them spot trends and identify opportunities to enhance the collection.
"We believe this tool will help us do this work more effectively," said resource acquisition manager at the University of Canterbury. "It considers print holdings as well as electronic, which we hope will be useful for us in our physical collection consolidation work."
Kevin Stehr, vice president of global workflow solution sales for ProQuest, said Intota Assessment provides a holistic view of a library's collection and enables it to make accurate decisions based on real evidence. With the collection management metrics it can provide, library staff can focus on delivering higher value services to patrons.
"With increasing pressure on budgets, libraries need evidence data to show usage and cost for all resources, regardless of format," Stehr said. "We recognize the importance of helping libraries demonstrate their value and streamlining workflows enables staff to focus more on patron-facing activities."
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Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.