Automated Collection Analysis Using the OCLC and RLG Bibliographic Databases
Nancy P. Sanders, Edward T. O’Neill, Stuart L. Weibel · College & Research Libraries · 1988
This study examined the feasibility of automating the labor-intensive process of collection analysis.Collections in botany and mathematical analysis from institutions holding membership in the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (the Big Ten universities plus the University of Chicago) served as the study population.The databases of the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) and the Research Libraries Group (RLG) were initially used as the sources of holdings information.The study found that the methodology provided a promising alternative means of analyzing and comparing library collections.However, due to varied cataloging practices of the participating libraries, accurate results could not be obtained without local verification of the holdings data.• he growing trend toward research library participation in cooperative collection development agreements has prompted collection managers to seek consistent means to evaluate and compare their collections.Unfortunately, most methods currently available are labor-intensive.The purpose of this study was to test the feasibility of using the databases of the bibliographic networks for computerized collection analysis to reduce the labor required.The project was formally initiated in summer 1985 when the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) and the Research Libraries Group (RLG) were invited by the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) to participate in a meeting of its sci-ence bibliographers and collection development officers.The meeting explored the potential for cooperative collection development among CIC institutions.Discussions with participants and program planners suggested that science and technology collections would be good subject areas for study.