Humanities by the Numbers: Evaluating Usage

Data of Collection AreasArianne Hartsell-Gundy (hartsea@muohio.edu)

Masha Misco (stepanm@muohio.edu)Jeffrey Hartsell-Gundy (gundyj@muohio.edu)

Miami University of OhioVirtual Conference Webcast April 1st 10:30-11:30am

Poll QuestionO What areas of responsibility do you

have? Choose all that apply.a. Collection Developmentb. Technical Servicesc. Public Servicesd. Acquisitionse. Administrationf. Subject Specialistg. Access Services

Areas We EvaluatedO Folklore (GR1-GR950)O Communication (HM1206-HM1231)O Linguistics (P1-P1091)O Composition and Rhetoric (PE1127-

PE1497)O Theatre (PN1530-PN2096)

Areas We EvaluatedO Russian Orthodoxy (BL930-BL980,

BR930-BR939, BX200-BX739)O History of Russia and East European

countries (DB901-DB3150, DJK, DK, DR)

O Russian and East European Political Science (JC474, several JN ranges, JQ1070-JQ1198, JS6055-JS6139)

O Slavic and Uralic literature (PG, PH)

Research QuestionsO How close are we to the 80/20 rule?

O Which call numbers in our disciplines circulate the most and the least?

O Break downs of numbers of materials in call number ranges.

MethodologyO Technical Services and Selectors

work together to analyze collectionsO All librarians may not be familiar

with all the functionality of an Integrated Library System (ILS)O Different librarians have different skill

setsO Good communication is necessary to

ensure the right questions are used to find the needed information

MethodologyO An ILS is a rich source of collection data

O CirculationO AcquisitionO CostO Bibliographic

O With the right query you can analyze just about any aspect of your collectionO Using catalog information can lead to a

better understanding of your collection and new questions

MethodologyO Selectors need to know what information is

available and the functionality of the ILSO We used III Millennium

O Different ILS will have different functionalityO The quality of the data you can gather is

only as good as the quality of your catalogO Garbage in = Garbage outO Information that has not been collected in

the catalog can not be analyzed

MethodologyO Basic process

O Formulate questionsO Determine necessary information

O Determine available informationO Create reportsO Analyze data

Initial Findings

0123456789

FolkloreCommunicationLinguisticsCompositionTheatre

Average Use for Select Areas

Initial Findings

47%

36%

12%5%

Total Usage Rates for Folklore (GR) Books

01 through 910 through 2525+

Initial Findings

14%

56%

25%

5%

Total Usage Rates for Communication (HM) Books

01 through 910 through 2525+

Initial Findings

1%

38%

61%

Language of Materials (BX)

OtherEnglishRussian

Initial Findings

93%

7% 1%

Usage By Language (BX)

EnglishRussianOther

Initial Findings

27%

64%

7% 2%

Total Usage Rates for Political Science JC474

0 uses1 to 9 uses10 to 25 usesover 25 uses

How to calculate how close you are to the 80/20 rule

O Sum the ‘total use’ column, this will be value (x). This is the number of times all items in the list have been used.

O Find the values of 20% and 80% of value(x). For example, if there are 515 total uses 20% is 103 and 80% is 412.

O Determine how many items make up 20% of the list, this will be value (y). For example, if there are 79 items 20% is 15.8, rounded up to 16.

O Sort the ‘total use’ column in descending order (don’t include the title line). This will put the highest value at the top. Count down the list according to value (y). Determine how many total uses (y) represents by producing a sum of the ‘total use’ column for the items up to value (y). This will be value (z). Value (z) is the number of usages that are represented by the most used 20% of items in the list.

O Divide (z) by (x). This number is the percentage of total uses represented by the top 20% of the list represented by value (z). If value (z) is close to 80% then your list is close to the 80% rule. For example, if there are 515 total usages (x), and 16 items represents the 20% of items that is used the most (y), with (z) = 335, then (z) is 65%.

Example Formula

Directions for ActivityO Download the following documents:

O Sampledata.xlsxO Sampleformulas.xlsx

O Examine the data in the Excel spreadsheet “sampledata.xlsx”

O Decide which of the research questions you would like to work on

O Apply the formulas from the “sampleformulas.xlsx” worksheet

*remember to keep your data and your formulas in separate documents

Questions?We welcome commentary and questions

after the presentation as well! hartsea@muohio.edustepanm@muohio.edugundyj@muohio.edu