A Cost-Benefit Analysis of a Collections Inventory Project: A Statistical Analysis of Inventory Data from a Medium-sized Academic Library

Journal of Academic Librarianship

Volumn 35, Issue 4, 2009, Pages 314-323

  Sung, Jan S ^a   Whisler, John A ^b   Sung, Nackil ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII   (United States)

^b EASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 67651111823     PISSN: 00991333     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.acalib.2009.04.002     Document Type: Article

References (22)

1. ARL Statistics 2006-2007 (Washington, D.C.: Association of Research Libraries, 2008), p. 141. Available http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/arlstat07.pdf (Nov 20, 2008).
2. Borchuck F.P., Parsley D., and Dunn P. Library Book Inventory Practice in TBR Libraries: A Survey. Tennessee Librarian 49 1 (1997) 10-18
3. Bluh P. A Study of an Inventory. Library Resources & Technical Services 13 3 (1969) 367-371
4. Niland P., and Kurth W.H. Estimating Lost Volumes in a University Library Collection. College & Research Libraries 37 2 (1976) 128-136
5. Kohl D.F. High Efficiency Inventorying through Predictive Data. The Journal of Academic Librarianship 8 2 (1982) 82-84
6. von Schon C.V. Inventory by Computer. College & Research Libraries 38 2 (1977) 147-152
7. Emery C.D. The Use of Portable Barcode Scanners in Collections Inventory. Collection Management 13 4 (1990) 1-17
8. Chen L., and Ma Y. Library Inventory Using Palm Pilot. Technical Services Quarterly 22 2 (2004) 15-23
9. Catherine Murray-Rust, "High Density Storage for Libraries," Available www.orbiscascade.org/rlsc/Storage.html (Nov 28, 2008).
10. Borchuck, et al. "Library Book Inventory Practice in TBR Libraries."
11. DiCarlo M.A., and Maxfield M.W. Sequential Analysis as a Sampling Test for Inventory Need. The Journal of Academic Librarianship 13 6 (1988) 345-348
12. Shouse D.L., and Teel L. Inventory: Catalyst for Collection Development. Collection Building 25 4 (2006) 129-133
13. Library Stacks Management System: www.library.eiu.edu/download/LSMS As of summer 2008 more than thirty libraries, that are known to the authors, are using the system nationally and internationally.
14. Anderson D.R. Method without Madness: Shelf-Reading Methods and Project Management. College & Undergraduate Libraries 5 1 (1998) 1-13
15. Petersen W.A. Statistical Measures for Shelf Reading in an Academic Health Sciences Center Library. Bulletin, Medial Library Association 77 2 (1989) 219-222
16. Ibid., 221.
17. Anderson, "Method without Madness," 11.
18. The longest shelving unit at Booth library is 36 inches. If 75% of a shelf is occupied, 27 inches of shelf will be taken up by books. We conveniently assume that the average thickness of books is set at around 1 inch, which we converted into 25 books.
19. Anderson, "Method without Madness," 12.
20. Based on data compiled by the administration office, 110 hours per week, or 5,500 hours per year were assigned to fourteen bibliographers for thirty six subject areas. The salaries of these fourteen bibliographers ranged from $62,000 to $ 113,400 with average of $81,000. Assuming there are 250 working days in a year, on average, $43 an hour is paid to an individual librarian. Collectively, for FY 2008, $215,000 is allocated for bibliographic functions at Booth Library. Eighty percent of $215,000, or $189,000, is considered for collecting monographs.
21. Naylor T. The Cost of Interlibrary Loan Services in a Medium-Sized Academic Library. Journal of Interlibrary Loan, Document Delivery & Information Supply 8 2 (1997) 51-61
22. Lewis D.W. A Strategy for Academic Libraries in the First Quarter of the 21st Century. College & Research Libraries 68 5 (2007) 418-434