by Jen Spisak, January 2021

Analyzing a library's collection is an essential part of collection development. A good collection analysis should involve a number of important factors. The analysis should cover both the print and nonprint collection, use both quantitative and qualitative approaches, and examine the basic, general emphasis, and specific emphasis levels of the collection. It should examine the collection to assure it covers a variety of reading levels, aligns with the content taught within the school, provides appealing topics for students' personal interests, represents diverse groups of people and ideas, and considers weaknesses in school-specific testing data.

What Is Collection Analysis?

Collection analysis is taking an in-depth look at one's print and nonprint collection in both quantitative and qualitative ways in order to holistically and specifically improve the collection in terms of usability, currency, and quality thereby increasing the access of learners and readers to a variety of resources. Wow, that's a mouthful! So, let's break this down.

Let's begin with the library collection as a whole. Analyzing both the print and nonprint materials in a collection is an essential part of collection development. Yes, library materials include print books but they also include eBooks, databases, maps, games, makerspace materials, realia, movies, audiobooks, musical collections, etc. A variety of material formats leads to a more robust collection able to meet the needs of a variety of learners and readers.

How Do You Conduct a Collection Analysis?

Quantitatively

David Loertscher has long touted collection mapping as an important method to use when developing a collection (1985). Using this method, he says we should look at the overall basic collection first. The basic (or base) collection is the entirety of the collection. Examine the whole collection to ensure it is serving a breadth of interests and needs of learners and teachers. Next, the general emphasis collection should be analyzed. That involves looking at all the courses being taught in the school building and determining which courses would benefit from access to library materials and then determining if those needs are being met. Finally, you should examine the specific emphasis of the collection by analyzing if there is in-depth coverage and diverse coverage of units or topics in those courses (i.e. World War II).

Book jobbers such as Follett and Mackin have collection analysis tools that will analyze some aspects of your collection for free. In addition to providing you reports of the number and age of the books you have by Dewey number and category, they can offer you suggestions for where you have holes or outdated materials. They can break down the Dewey categories by 100's, 200's, etc. and even by 110's, 210's, etc. These reports can be invaluable but they should only be one of the many tools involved in a collection analysis.

You can also run reports within your own circulation system for anything you have cataloged. This includes books, audiobooks, eBooks, games, etc. Running circulation statistics is a great way to see how often materials are being checked out. You can also run reports to show materials of a certain age or even to see which items have never been checked out before. If you have had an item for five years and it has never been checked out, it probably doesn't need to be in your collection.

If you have databases, check the usage statistics. If you pay for the individual databases from your school, you should be able to contact the company to get these statistics. If you are part of a conglomerate such as a school division that subscribes as a whole, the person in charge of subscribing will often have to get these statistics, although they may come as total district statistics rather than broken down by site. Either way, ask.

Qualitatively

Up to this point, we have only discussed quantitative analysis. A qualitative analysis is important as well. Go to the shelves and look at the print materials. Examine the physical state of the items.

• Do any of them look old, musty, or moldy?
• Are they still relevant?
• Do any of them have pictures or a font on the cover that looks like it's from a previous decade?
• Are the nonfiction books up-to-date in content?
• Are the nonfiction books aesthetically pleasing including strong text features and visuals?
• Do you have a range of reading levels available across topics?
• On controversial or opinion topics, do you have a range of opinions represented?
• Does the history section cover a variety of materials that examine history through multiple lenses?

The answers to these questions will help determine if there is still a need for the topic being covered and whether or not to replace the material with something more current. Weeding outdated, irrelevant, unhealthy, and biased materials is essential in growing a good collection. Removing the weeds in your library garden allows the flowers to show, and will help increase circulation as well. These qualitative techniques can give you insight that usage reports cannot.

You can begin this process by pulling books from your shelves by general or subject emphasis and putting them on the tables in the library. Invite teachers to come and give you their opinions. Provide snacks and fellowship as incentives for attendance. This is a good time for teachers to see the resources you have and to let you know what they would find valuable versus what they do not. You can use this feedback to aid in material selection and deselection and to increase access to the collection by learning what pertinent subject headings may need to be added to the MARC records.

This face-to-face experience with teachers is also a great time to talk about collaboration opportunities. Use these resources and teacher feedback as a springboard into a discussion with them about how you can help them use these resources in collaborative research or learning stations. Be ready with topics and ideas! Avoid the phrase, "Let me know what I can help you with." Often teachers don't know what your training and capabilities as a school librarian entail, so they don't know what to ask for. Instead, engage in a meaningful conversation telling them what you can bring to a collaborative partnership in addition to library materials.

What Makes a Good Collection Analysis?

A good collection analysis needs to examine usage, quality, and need. Begin by assessing the library resources as they pertain to the curriculum of your school. Are necessary topics for courses available in multiple formats and for a range of reading levels? Discard items that are no longer useful, current, age-appropriate, or healthy (dust and mold-free, etc.). Identify curriculum gaps that remain at the general or specific emphasis levels of the collection. Examine your school's testing data. Where are the biggest weaknesses in your school? Use this data to examine and weed your current collection in these areas. Prioritize the gaps and create a three-to-five year plan for improving the overall collection. Develop a budget with plans for how to raise money. Some ideas would be conducting book fairs, writing grants, requesting money from the principal and PTA, selling coffee or hot cocoa to high school students, doing birthday books with elementary students, having spirit nights at restaurants, or sponsoring concessions at games or dances for a percentage of the profits. Finally, develop an infographic or visual presentation to share with the principal and PTA. Describe what you would like to do to improve the collection for the learners and teachers in the school and what you will need to make it happen.

Focusing Your Budget

So how do you know where to focus your budget first? Prioritize your list. Go back to the curriculum needs and areas of testing weakness. Next, analyze the diversity and currency of your fiction section. Use all of the data to create a list of materials to purchase in different formats and across a range of reading levels. Include this beginning list with your presentations to the principal and the PTA as an example of how you want to improve each section of the library to support student academic success and personal reading interests. Additionally, develop a plan for how to promote these materials to teachers and students to maximize the use of the new materials.

How Often Should I Conduct a Collection Analysis?

This is an answer that involves layers. An in-depth collection analysis should take place at least every three years. That gives you time to build a plan and strive to reach the goals over a longer period of time. This is necessary because of the amount of money it takes to improve a collection. However, it is important to run reports every year to look at the progress you are making toward your three-to-five year goal. In fact, running reports each time a new book order comes in or a massive weeding has been undertaken is a good way to check your progress as well.

Conclusion

Conducting a collection analysis is essential to provide current, relevant, healthy, multi-level, and multi-format materials. Use it as a way to entice students to read for pleasure, drum up collaboration opportunities with your teachers, and show your principal and PTA how the library contributes to student growth, success, and lifelong learning. When done well, it can lead you to meaningful interactions with your students, teachers, administrators, and PTA allowing you to build strong library advocates in the process.

Work Cited

Loertscher, David. "The Elephant Technique of Collection Development." Collection Management for School Library Media Centers 7, no. 3-4 (1985): 45-54. DOI: 10.1300/J105v07n03_05.