![\"Stacks](\"https:\/\/blog.oclc.org\/next\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/book-stacks.jpg\")
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The role of print books in academic libraries is changing, as it has been for more than a decade. Library and campus administrators are evaluating the role of locally held print collections in the library\u2019s strategy and their contribution to user satisfaction and success.<\/p>\n
The factors contributing to this discussion\u2014declining print book use, changes in library spaces<\/a>, redundancy across the \u201ccollective collection\u201d and the cost of maintaining local collections<\/a>\u2014are well known. Increasingly, shared print monograph programs are seen as a way to provide continued access to the full range of titles, while distributing the costs of storage and management among a number of institutions.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As a library community, we face a large task, to understand and manage these print book collections in new ways. Librarians first need to guarantee that nothing disappears from the collective collection\u2014that the scholarly and cultural record remains intact. We also need to assure that material in shared collections remains available to users quickly when needed. Only then can we responsibly consider sharing, storage or withdrawal.<\/p>\nAs a library community, we face a large task: to understand and manage print book collections in new ways. <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n Good data about collections can help establish priorities and focus. While quantitative data must be used carefully, information about overlap and usage can supplement the judgment of librarians and faculty. When aggregated across many libraries, collections data can suggest patterns and provide insights that inform management decisions.<\/p>\n Since Sustainable Collections Service (SCS) began working in earnest with print book collections in 2011, we have compiled data from more than 200 libraries. The SCS Monographs Index<\/a> represents our attempt to identify patterns in some key areas and to provide useful context for collection managers.<\/p>\n These numbers are based on 179 US academic libraries and 70 million holdings. They include research libraries, state universities, four-year colleges and a handful of community colleges.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This March 2016 version of the Index gives a glimpse of what can be learned. It creates a high-level statistical profile of an \u201caverage\u201d US academic library collection, drawing from the bibliographic and item data submitted by 179 libraries, supplemented with holdings data from WorldCat, HathiTrust and other sources. The Index suggests that the average library holds just over 388,000 monographs. Of these, about 3,800 (1% of its collection) are held by fewer than five libraries in the US. These scarcely held titles offer an obvious place to start securing an individual library\u2019s contribution to the collective collection, to consider formal retention commitments and to guarantee that the scholarly record is secure. At the other end of the spectrum, 76% of the books in the average collection are held by more than 100 other libraries in the US. Here there may be more opportunity for shared management or deselection.<\/p>\n Collection use can also provide insight. Note also that of the 70 million US holdings represented by libraries in the Index, 75% (that\u2019s 52 million holdings!) have circulated three or fewer times in the past 15\u00a0years; and 41% (28.7 million holdings) were not checked out at all during that period. That might suggest a starting point\u2014or inspiration\u2014for some sort of shared print program. It also suggests how difficult it is to predict which titles will be used in an academic library.<\/p>\n These are early days in aggregating this sort of data, and results should be viewed as indicative rather than definitive. But they can serve to guide us where to look more carefully.<\/p>\n While average data can be interesting and illuminating, it\u2019s even more compelling to see one\u2019s own library in this context. As OCLC works with each of its library clients, we provide a short list of Key Metrics in GreenGlass, our decision-support application. Recently, we have incorporated data from the SCS Monographs Index into this view, to enable a library to see its results in relation to the average results provided in the Monographs Index.<\/p>\n In the example below, 31% of this library\u2019s collection shows zero recorded uses. This library\u2019s results are significantly better than the average of 43% of titles with no recorded uses. The graphic in the right column indicates the overall range of results, with the gray square representing the Index average, and the blue dot highlighting my library in context.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Here again, we don\u2019t want to overstate the significance of the results. Our base of users and data sets is growing, but still represents only 179 libraries and 70 million holdings. Nonetheless the patterns are intriguing, and suggest how useful this data will become over time, as we continue to gather, monitor and learn.<\/p>\n Managing print collections in new ways is a challenging task. Our goal is to provide an evidence base to help you make intelligent, data-driven decisions. Only after doing the research and building the tools can we identify which titles to keep locally, which to withdraw and which are the best candidates for shared collections.<\/p>\n This is a challenge best handled together.<\/p>\nA change in focus on collections and spaces<\/h2>\n
Collection data and pattern recognition<\/h2>\n
SCS Monographs Index<\/h3>\n
![\"SCS](\"https:\/\/blog.oclc.org\/next\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/scs-monograph-table2.png\")
<\/p>\nMy collection in context<\/h2>\n
![\"GreenGlass](\"https:\/\/blog.oclc.org\/next\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/greenglass-web-example-2.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"shared_print_infographic_thumb\"](\"https:\/\/blog.oclc.org\/next\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/shared_print_infographic_thumb.jpg\")
<\/a>Make the effort and take the time<\/h2>\n