Re: COUNTER: current status and advice to users]

["Charles W. Bailey, Jr." <cwbailey@digital-scholarship.com>]

Sandy:

Here are some examples of how book circulation data can be used.

It can help determine if books should be withdrawn from the 
collection or moved to remote storage.

It can be utilized to spot trends, such as "hot" topics that may 
require higher levels of purchase or the need for additional 
copies of heavily used books, especially if they have long hold 
queues.

It can be used to fine tune the allocation of collection 
development funds between disciplines and within disciplines. 
Given the ongoing serials crisis, there are always difficult 
decisions to be made about the appropriate ratio of books (and 
other materials, especially specialized, expensive digital 
materials) to journals for specific disciplines. Moreover, the 
increasingly cross-disciplinary nature of research offers 
additional challenges. So, there are issues such as whether the 
book allocation is too high or low for particular subject areas 
as well as whether subject funds are spending appropriate amounts 
on books that serve multiple disciplines.

It might help to imagine that a library collection is a 
delicately balanced ecosystem, where the mix of subject-specific 
material, the type of material (e.g., books and journals), and 
the format of materials (e.g., print and digital) have to be in 
proper proportion for the ecosystem to thrive.

Best Regards,

Charles W. Bailey, Jr.
E-Mail: cwbailey@digital-scholarship.com