Summary of Survey Responses re. "A Show of Hands?" Tony Schwartz 18 Dec 1995 22:35 UTC
Summary of Responses to "A Show of Hands?" On Dec. 12 I posted a survey asking who has undertaken analysis of periodical collections focusing on cost-per-use of low-use periodicals for the purpose of making access versus ownership decisions. The overall responses included 55 "yes's," one "I am tired of Internet surveys" (gee, thanks for the input), and a few "it sounds interesting." Particularly thankful were some articles faxed by Chuck Hamaker at LSU, Kate McCain at Drexel U., and Dorothy Milne at Memorial U. Overall, however, Internet responses did not convey the idea that cost-per-use has become a professional norm, or even that some of the "yes" respondents actually appreciate it. Two kinds of responses suggest otherwise. First, only a few libraries (e.g., Calif. Poly. State U. and Rochester Inst. of Tech.) indicated that they had reinvested monies saved into new serials. Everyone else apparently did it "just" to cut budgets. In that sense, there was very little "pro-active" use of cost-per-use analysis for the purpose of being cost-effective or to reinvigorate collections. Considering the likely savings involved--hundreds of thousands of dollars for libraries that take cost-per-use analysis seriously (e.g., Mount Sinai School of Medicine, NY; NASA in Cleveland; U. Southern Florida at Tampa), it's a shame that relatively few libraries undertake it. The other kind of response that was somewhat perplexing had to do with arbitrary steps that librarians take to undercut the whole rationale for systematic cost-per-unit analysis. Some respondents said that they used this method only for the most expensive titles (those over $500 or $1,000). As a rule, low-use, high cost-per-use titles have average subscription prices (rather than being the most expensive ones). Other respondents said that cancellations were predetermined to be only 5-10% of the collection. Low-use, high cost-per-use titles, however, typically take up 30-40% of a collection. For a kick on how much can be done to make periodicals management cost-effective and tightly coupled to document delivery, read about LSU's experience in _Forbes_ (12/18/95, pp. 200-201). For a good how-to-do-it guide, see Dorothy Milne's article in Jan. 1995 _Lib. Resources & Tech. Services_. Heartfelt thanks to those 60 respondents for your time and consideration. Tony Schwartz Assistant Director for Collection Development Healey Library University of Massachusetts at Boston 100 Morrissey Blvd. Boston, MA 02125-3393 617-287-5923 voice, fax 617-287-5950 Tony@delphinus.lib.umb.edu