Course Information
| Session |
|---|
| Credits | 1.5 CEUs or 15 PDHs |
|---|---|
| Registration dates | We accept registrations through the first week of classes, unless enrollment is full, and unless the class was canceled before it started due to low enrollment. |
Introduction to Collection Analysis
$250.00
Dates: February 3 - March 2Credits: 1.5 CEUs or 15 PDHs
Data plays a role in almost all collection development decisions. From choosing what subscriptions to renew to negotiating pricing for packages to making decisions about what formats to collect, data can help make a decision or an argument. As collection development has become increasingly informed by data, a subset of the collection development role has emerged called collection analysis, sometimes also referred to as collection evaluation or assessment. This course will introduce some of the common types of data that are used in collection decisions, such as COUNTER reports and circulation statistics, while also noting limitations and controversies around these reports. Students will practice identifying which kinds of data would be useful for a particular analysis as well as teasing out the shortcomings of the data. Students will learn and practice techniques for combining data from multiple sources into a master Excel spreadsheet. The course requires some reading and discussion but emphasizes hands-on practice in selecting appropriate data for an analysis and working in Excel to compile the data. It will be helpful if students have used Excel before, but it is not necessary to have experience with formulas.
By completion of the course, students will be able to:
- Identify common types of data used for collection analysis
- Plan an analysis by deciding which data to use
- Name limitations of common data sources and brainstorm ways these can be mitigated
- Use VLOOKUP formulas to import data from one Excel spreadsheet into another
Course Description
Data plays a role in almost all collection development decisions. From choosing what subscriptions to renew to negotiating pricing for packages to making decisions about what formats to collect, data can help make a decision or an argument. As collection development has become increasingly informed by data, a subset of the collection development role has emerged called collection analysis, sometimes also referred to as collection evaluation or assessment. This course will introduce some of the common types of data that are used in collection decisions, such as COUNTER reports and circulation statistics, while also noting limitations and controversies around these reports. Students will practice identifying which kinds of data would be useful for a particular analysis as well as teasing out the shortcomings of the data. Students will learn and practice techniques for combining data from multiple sources into a master Excel spreadsheet. The course requires some reading and discussion but emphasizes hands-on practice in selecting appropriate data for an analysis and working in Excel to compile the data. It will be helpful if students have used Excel before, but it is not necessary to have experience with formulas.
By completion of the course, students will be able to:
- Identify common types of data used for collection analysis
- Plan an analysis by deciding which data to use
- Name limitations of common data sources and brainstorm ways these can be mitigated
- Use VLOOKUP formulas to import data from one Excel spreadsheet into another
Karen Kohn
Karen Kohn is Collections Analysis Librarian at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA and the author of Collection Evaluation in Academic Libraries: A Practical Guide for Librarians (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015). She has published articles in College & Research Libraries, Journal of Academic Librarianship, Journal of Documentation, and Collection Management. She has an MLS from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MA in Sociology from Temple University.
How to Register
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