Mapping a Dental Library Collection Using OCLC’s Worldcat Analysis Service

Presented by:

Jan Cox, Head Librarian

Barbara Gushrowski, Access & Instructional Services Librarian

Ohio Valley Group of Technical Services Librarians Annual Conference

Bowling Green, Kentucky

May 17, 2007

Background: Indiana University School of Dentistry

Established 1879 Only Dental School in Indiana Degrees/Programs: DDS, Dental Hygiene,

Dental Assisting Graduate Degrees: Endodontics,

Orthodontics, Pediatric Dentistry, Periodontics, Prosthodontics

Background: Indiana University School of Dentistry (cont.)

Problem Based Learning Curriculum (PBL) Introduced 1997

Faculty: 107 Full time

113 Part time

100 Adjunct/Volunteer instructors Students: 655

Background: Indiana University School of Dentistry Library

Established: Faculty Library 1881 “Library” contains 900 volumes 1920 First Librarian hired 1927 Volumes: 58,569 as of 6/30/06 (monographs

& serials) Monographs: 26,465 as of 6/30/07 Staff: 5.79 FTE

OCLC WorldCat Collection Analysis (WCA) Service

April 2005 – OCLC announces WCA service

Designed as cost effective, “real-time” collection evaluation tool

Analysis Options: Age, Subject, Title

overlap, Title uniqueness, Peer Library

“Libraries can analyze their entire collection as a single entity, regardless of classification schemes used in their catalog, and libraries can compare their collection with that of other libraries regardless of the classification scheme used.” -- Source: Advanced Technology Libraries

Collection Analysis Opportunity

CIC/OCLC WCA Agreement – December 2005

54 participating libraries Peer libraries: 4 with DDS degree programs 125 year old collection Snapshots – book holdings, peer library

comparisons

Rationale For Participation

Administrative Communication

Grant Application Support

Accreditation Self-Study Support

Collection Development Planning

Rationale For Participation (cont.)

Cooperative Collection Development Opportunities

Deep Analysis of Subject Areas

Fiscal Accountability

Budget Request Justification

Challenges/Limits

Access to group libraries only

University of Michigan did not participate

Large amount of data

Unable to download directly into Excel – must convert

Challenges/Limits (cont.)

“No Call # Present” (aka Unknown)– Carry over from iCAS product not yet resolved

Comparison designed for LC/Dewey

Lack of NLM/MeSH sort

Rapidity with which data becomes out-of-date

Subcription Options

Consortial purchase– Less expensive– Can compare with any library in the consortia– Can create your own groups within the consortia

Stand alone purchase– More expensive– Able to select peer institutions from all OCLC users– OCLC sets up the groups

Advantages to WCA

If you are experienced with Excel the database is extremely easy to use

Lots of rich data to massage

Ability to measure collection strengths/ adequacy

Age analysis – Identification for updating/ weeding

Advantages of WCA (cont.)

Check the duplication rate with peer libraries

Identify duplication rate w/in core subjects

Identify duplication rate w/in non-core subjects

Identify time periods where duplication is highest/lowest

Getting Started. . .

1. Choose the type of analysisa. Publication date (age)

b. Overlap (how many titles you share)

c. Uniqueness (how many titles you don’t share)

2. Choose how to display data

a. Number only

b. Percentage only

c. Number and percent

Age Data Displayed as Number Only

Age Data Displayed as Percentage Only

Age Data Displayed as Number & Percent

Getting Started (cont.)

3. Choose your limits

a. Library (for us one or more CIC libraries)

b. Division (by LC classification)

c. Publication Date (date ranges – MARC 008; 260

$c)

d. Language (54 languages available – MARC 008)

e. Format (28 different ones – Maps, books etc)

f. Audience (adult – juvenile; MARC 008)

Limits Available

Limits cont.

Additional Analysis – Overlap

Additional Analysis - Uniqueness

Recognize Some of the Problems

Instant graph capabilities

– Data not normalized

– Comparing apples to oranges (or decades to single years)

Instant Graphs . . . .

Isn’t This Great!?!? (Until you look a little closer)

Overcoming the Graph Problem

Manipulation required to normalize

– Need to download all the OCLC records

– Sort by date

– Add fields to the spreadsheet

Normalizing the Data

Transfer the Numbers to the Spreadsheet

Now This Looks a Lot Better!

Problems for Medical Libraries

WCA maps individual records based on call number

– First looks for LC number - 050– Then a locally-defined LC call number - 090– Then the Dewey number – 082– Then a locally-defined Dewey number - 092– Then FINALLY NLM number – 060– Or locally defined NLM – 096

LC vs NLM – It’s a Problem . . . .

Conclusions

It’s a good product Good customer service

support Know what you want to

accomplish with WCA Know it’s limitations Ease on down the road!

References

Lyons, L. E. A Critical Examination of the Assessment Analysis Capabilities of OCLC ACAS. Journal of Academic Librarianship v. 31 no. 6 (Nov. 2005) p. 506-516.

OCLC Launches Worldcat Collection Analysis Service. Advanced Technology Libraries v. 34 no. 4 (April 2005) p 1, 10-11.

Spires, T. Using OCLC’s Worldcat Collection Analysis to Evaluate Peer Institutions. Illinois Libraries (Online) v. 86 no. 2 (Summer 2006) p. 11-19.

Contact Information

Jan Cox, Head Librarian, jcox2@iupui.edu

Barbara A. Gushrowski, Access & Instructional Services Librarian, bgushrow@iupui.edu