COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT
2008-2009 Annual Report
The Collection Development Department provides leadership for the development, management and evaluation of library resources in all formats. Responsibilities include:
· Overall management of the Library’s $6.1 million dollar collections budget;
· Coordination and support for the selection activities of the 16 subject librarians;
· Chairing the Information Resources Council;
· Development of collection development policies;
· Vendor relations, negotiations and training; and
· Analysis and assessment of library collections.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Collections Budget
Overview
We began the year with a $400,000 addition to our collections budget which was a 7% increase from the FY 08 collections budget. These additional funds were targeted to cover journal inflation and to provide a small discretionary fund to add new resources and to cover the additional cost of migrating selected print resources to online access.
GALILEO Budget Changes
In September, GALILEO announced that in response to the state budget decline, they were instituting a number of changes including several that directly impacted the GT collections budget.
· CSA ProQuest databases: The cost of these databases was shared between GALILEO and USG institutions with our annual cost being $15,860. Matt worked with an ISD intern to perform an overlap analysis of the journal coverage of these databases with our other subscribed databases. Based on this analysis, it was decided not to subscribe to the CSA databases and notes were added to our list of databases recommending alternative databases. In January, we began a subscription to CSA’s Sociological Abstracts based on feedback from HTS.
· Current Contents: This database was not cancelled for FY 09 but GALILEO indicated that it would be cancelled for FY 10. The 5 GETSM schools receive a substantial discount (~40%) for our Web of Science (WOS) subscriptions based on GALILEO’s subscription to Current Contents. Negotiations were begun with Thomson Reuters regarding how GETSM subscription costs will be increased to list price. A decision was made that the cost increase would be applied to the January 2010 WOS renewal despite the fact that GALILEO’s subscription to Current Contents would end June 2009. Negotiations continue.
· PsycINFO: GALILEO announced that it would pay for this database for USG schools for FY 10. Our cost for this database was $12,556.
Georgia Tech Collections Budget Changes
· In October, library administration requested a $75,000 cut from the collections budget which represented an approximate 1.2% decrease. This cut was made in part by ceasing to bind resources which saved $30,000. The remaining $45,000 was taken from the funds set aside to purchase new resources and to upgrade print resources to online.
o In response to the budget situation, it was decided to cap monograph spending at 70% of the amount allocated to ensure that there would be funds to purchase books in FY 2010.
· In April, an additional $63,250 was cut from the collections budget for a total cut of $138,250 or 2.3%. This amount was available as a result of the GALILEO savings (CSA databases + PsycINFO) and our conservative approach to spending since October.
Summary of Georgia Tech Collections Changes
· Cancellations
o GALILEO CSA Databases: See above.
o Investext Plus (Thomson Reuters): Access to this database moved from Gale to Thomson Reuters with an increase in cost from $8,000 to $18,000. Several attempts to negotiate a more reasonable price failed and the database was cancelled despite faculty concerns.
o Rand print standing order: Rand publications are freely available in PDF from their web site and MARC records are freely available to everyone. It was decided to cancel our subscription and load the MARC records into GIL.
o Ready Reference Shelf (Gale): This database was cancelled in anticipation of migrating to Gale’s more robust Directory Database.
· Additions
o Computer Science ebook package (Springer): See FY 09 Goal II.1.2 below.
o Shock and Vibration Digest (EBSCO)
o Sociological Abstracts (CSA): See above.
o Synthesis Collection 3 (Morgan & Claypool)
o Urban Studies Abstracts (EBSCO)
· Back files
o None
Journal Review Project
In anticipation of further budget cuts and in order to be able to address journal inflation for FY 2010, a major journal cancellation project was begun in November.
· A list of 1,343 titles worth $728,000 in 2008 was identified for review by the GT community.
· Working with Larry Hansard of the Systems Department, a database was created listing these titles and providing a process for the GT community to provide comments on specific titles. This database was available for comments from March 23 – May 1. Over 1,600 comments were received and 46% of the titles received at least one comment.
· To aid in the decision making process, a backend was created and additional data was added. Added data included faculty input from the 2006 Review Project, ISI Impact Factors, ISI LJUR data, cost and vendor use data, and availability in full-text databases such as EBSCOhost and ProQuest.
· A review process, including subject librarian review was developed and the review process was begun. The amount to be cancelled was dependent on the FY 2010 budget which was unknown in June 2009.
Resource Promotion
Guy marketed the Knovel University Challenge through postings on the library web site and posters in the Library and Student Center. Georgia Tech was one of only a few institutions that had more than 100 correct entries and as a result a Tech student won an iPod nano.
COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT GOALS FOR 2008-2009
FY 09 department goals were aligned primarily with Goal Area II, Developing, Managing and Making Accessible Library Collections, of the Library’s Strategic Plan for 2007 – 2011.
Goal II.1.1: Meet research and curriculum needs of existing, new, and emerging academic programs through increased funding opportunities.
· Using Considered File and ILL requests, prepare budget requests for additional funds to specifically address the needs of underserved academic departments.
o Guy solicited suggestions from subject librarians and submitted a list of one-time collections purchases to library administration for use in a fundraising brochure.
Goal II.1.2: Aggressively move Library collections to digital format.
· Continue to identify print and microform journal and reference resources to migrate to electronic access.
o Guy compiled cost data for Springer book and standing order purchases for comparison with Springer ebook subject collections.
o Based on this data the 2009 Springer ebook Computer Science subject collection which includes Lecture Notes in Computer Science was purchased. The total cost for 2008 Springer print firm order and standing order purchases exceeded the ebook costs for this Springer subject collection. As part of this purchase, access to all Springer computer science ebook titles for 2005-2008 was included.
· Implement the recommendations of the E-book task force to begin to firm order e-books using Blackwell Collection Manager.
o Guy chaired the ebook task force which evaluated and compared both the EBL and ebrary ebook platforms. Ebrary was chosen based on the functionality of their reader and their pricing model.
o Guy worked with CAM to set up the ebrary account and to develop and test procedures for processing individual ebooks. Subject librarians began selecting ebrary books and by the end of fiscal year 2009 twenty seven ebooks totaling $3,175.41 had been purchased.
Goal II.1.4: Create collection development strategies to guide and prioritize collection decisions.
· Prepare a data-driven collection development policy for the Georgia Tech Library.
o No progress.
Goal II.1.5: Regularly communicate the Library’s collection initiatives and decisions.
· Continue to develop the Collection Development Portal and migrate to LibShare if feasible. Based on input from the subject librarians, enhance the content to provide the resources they require to succeed in their collection development responsibilities.
o Matt created a Collection Development space in libSHARE and has begun to migrate content from the Collection Development Portal on the old intranet to this space.
· Continue to regularly report at the Information Resources Council (IRC) on collection related initiatives and decisions.
o Seven IRC meetings were held during FY 2009 where collection related issues were shared and discussed and input sought.
Goal II.3.1: Provide more user focused access to collections.
· Continue to configure databases for metasearching and enter additional metadata for increased access to these electronic resources.
o Guy worked with the Metalib task force and Vufind/Metalib Publicity Committee to develop a customized interface for Georgia Tech users. Guy also worked with the Metalib task force to investigate the use of Xerxes open source software as an alternative to the Metalib interface.
o Guy migrated the Library’s list of databases to Metalib and this is now the source for
Goal II.3.2: Increase awareness and use of collections.
· Continue to gather and analyze usage statistics to help guide resource decisions. If possible, provide library-wide access to this data.
o Matt spent considerable time gathering journal use data for the Journal Review Project including identifying vendors from whom we had not previously gathered use data. He also gathered use data from EBSCOhost and ProQuest full-text databases. The use data was collated with cost and other factors to create measurable metrics that helped decide whether a journal would appear in the Journal Review database.
o Matt was responsible for compiling and adding data to the Journal Review Project database backend. Added data came from many different sources (EBSCO, ISI, vendor use data, SFX, 2006 Serial Review Project, etc) and compilation was difficult due to the lack of an ISSN database.
· Continue working with Systems to provide a public user interface for our local Journal Value Project database to provide library-wide access.
o No progress.
OTHER ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Library Activities
· RAPID ILL Implementation Committee – Guy Leach (Chair)
· EPIC Committee – Guy Leach & Nancy Simons
· Information Resources Council – Nancy Simons (Chair), Guy Leach, Matt Frizzell
· Vufind/Metalib Publicity Committee – Guy Leach
· Ebook Committee – Guy Leach (Chair), Matt Frizzell
· Collection Development Department contributes:
o 7 to 8 hours per week to the Information Services Desk;
o RATS Night – Nancy Simons & Matt Frizzell;
o FASET – Nancy Simons & Matt Frizzell;
o Open Repository Conference volunteer – Matt Frizzell.
Professional Activities
Campus, State and National Committees
· Georgia Tech Faculty Student Activities Committee – Nancy Simons
· SciFinder Scholar Academic Advisory Committee – Nancy Simons
· GALILEO Core Databases Evaluation Group – Guy Leach
Conference Participation
· Charleston Conference, Charleston, SC – Nancy Simons & Guy Leach
· ACRL 2009 National Conference, Seattle, WA – Guy Leach
· ELUNA 2009 Meeting, Richmond, VA – Guy Leach
Professional Development
· Matt Frizzell graduated with an MLIS degree (August 2009) from the Florida State Distance Program.
o Matt held internships in both the GT Library Archives and Information Services Departments
· OLE Regional Design workshop, Georgia Tech – Guy Leach
STATISTICS
FY 2009 ARL Statistics: Electronic Materials Expenditures
· Q22. One-time electronic resource purchases = $38,395
· Q23. Ongoing electronic resource purchases = $4,596,261
FY 2009 ARL Supplementary Statistics
· 6. Number of sessions to databases or services = 1,308,729
· 6a. Number of resources for which you are reporting = 45
· 7. Number of searches in databases or services = 2,447,994
· 7a. Number of resources for which you are reporting = 53
· 8. Number of successful full-text article requests = 1,594,113
· 8a. Number of resources for which you are reporting = 52
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GT Collection Development Department Annual Report 2008-2009