Weeding book collections in the age of the Internet

Weeding book collections in the age of the Internet The author is Professor at Kent Library, Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, USA. Keywords Academic libraries, Collection management Abstract The weeding project at Southeast Missouri State University presented an opportunity to identify different variables, i.e. shelf level, book jackets, added entries, and untraced series, that impacted a book s circulation behavior and to consider the relationship between circulation and the Internet/online database activity. Using the political science collection, the investigator found that shelf level has the strongest impact on circulation among the variables studied, but the Internet and electronic reference databases have an even greater influence on circulation. Surprisingly, one of the conclusions was that 61 percent of the political science collection either circulated only once or never circulated. It is argued that because of the pressures the Internet and electronic reference databases are placing on book collections and their use it is more important than ever to identify new collection development strategies to pinpoint which titles will be used. Introduction The impetus to weed Kent Library s book collection at Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) grew from three sources: (1) statements by students in an in-house survey and in the student newspaper that much of the material in the library was outdated; (2) an architectural firm s library consultant, hired to plan a building renovation, who indicated that space was at a premium; and (3) the library s strategic plan that highlighted the need to improve the general collection. As a result, it was decided that a weeding program would be undertaken with each library faculty member choosing various subject areas/ Dewey Decimal Classifications related to his or her scholarly background or interest. A twoyear schedule was developed when books in each of the different classifications would be weeded and brought to a room in the library for teaching faculty to view. Faculty had the right to send any of the tagged books back to the shelves. Titles left over at the end of the viewing period were to be boxed and sent for auction. This paper summarizes the weeding process of the political science portion of the collection and reports the correlations between circulation frequency and several variables, e.g. shelf level, run on a random sample of those books. It also considers the future of book collections now that the Internet and online databases have ascended as the information tools of choice in today s academic libraries. Literature review Electronic access The research register for this journal is available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregisters The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0160-4953.htm Volume 21. Number 3. 2002. pp. 113±119 # MCB UP Limited. ISSN 0160-4953 DOI 10.1108/01604950210434542 113 Many scholars have written about various aspects of weeding for some time. This fact is abundantly clear when one reads Slote s (1997) literature chapter in his Weeding Library Collections. He divides the cited works into two categories: those that report judgment and those that report research findings. Several works from the latter group are of interest because they provide the fundamental platform for thinking about weeding and the value of book collections. For example, Fussler and Simon (1969) wanted to identify appropriate

books that could be moved from the stacks to compact storage at the University of Chicago. To accomplish this, they looked at the circulation history of the collection for specific time periods, five years and 20 years, in order to determine the likelihood of a book being used versus not being used. Their main finding was that past use was the best predictor of future use when enough data were available (Fussler and Simon, 1969). Kent et al. s (1979) Pittsburgh study lasted seven years. Some of their major conclusions were: books rapidly aged and became obsolete, only a small portion of the collection was extensively used, 39.8 percent of the titles acquired in 1969 never circulated, and past use was the best predictor of future use (Kent et al., 1979). Trueswell s (1966) main focus was on the identification of a core collection; and to that end, he recommended that any volume that had not circulated in the last eight years be withdrawn. Jain (1968) preferred to use the age of the monograph, instead of its circulation history, as the main factor in determining books to weed. Slote (1975) carried out three research studies and reported that shelf-time period, i.e. the time a book remained in the stacks between uses, was a superior predictor of future use and that weeding did not lower circulation rates of the remaining collection. After conducting weeding experiments at four public libraries in Illinois, Roy (1990) concluded that weeding did not increase circulation, though she suspected it might if the number of weeded titles was large enough. The preceding, fundamental research generally highlights the importance of past use on future use, but this prompts an interesting question: is there any variable that can be identified, besides the potential of weeding itself, which might encourage circulation? Taylor (1982) and Fussler and Simon (1969) found that shelf location influenced book use, whereas Knutson (1991) did not. Books in research libraries sat longer on the shelves between uses than those in undergraduate libraries (Reed and Erickson, 1993), and large collections put users off (The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 1989). Book jackets prompted circulation at the Huntington Beach Library, whereas books without jackets or books that had been rebound fell in use 114 (Hayden, 1987). It does appear that some factors might impact circulation. However, since contradictions appear in the previous research and since the recent embrace of the Internet has caused many perturbations in library activities, the investigator initiated a study to answer which of the reported parameters still hold, whether the earlier studies findings apply to Kent Library, and whether there are additional variables that might influence circulation. Weeding the political science collection The author selected the political science collection to weed because political science is one of the traditional, core subjects taken by all undergraduates and is therefore a collection that can be expected to have consistent use. There were 13,050 titles in Dewey Decimal class numbers 320-329 and 350-354. Because of previous research, books were not tagged if they were published in 1980 or after or had: a date due slip with a date stamp of 1980 or after; been on reserve; no date due slip, signifying that the book had been acquired since SEMO became a NOTIS library in 1988; the date due slip removed because it was no longer needed as a result of the use of computer generated, NOTIS date due slips; or met at least one of the preceding criteria if part of a set. The criteria noted above were used as each book on the shelf was examined. If the decision was made to weed the item, a sticky dot was placed on the book s spine so that it would be pulled at the designated time to be taken for teaching faculty viewing. In the end, a total of 3,277 books, or 25.1 percent of the political science collection, were tagged. Once the faculty examined the pulled titles, they returned 1,093 books, or one-third, to the stacks. The investigator collected a random sample of the returned titles by writing the call number on a p-slip of every tenth book sitting on book trucks for stack return. Over the course of more than a year, the circulation status of

each item has been monitored. Since September, 2000, less than 7 percent of the returned titles have circulated. The resulting study Since the weeded books at Kent Library were to be discarded, not stored for future use, the relationship of past use with future use was taken as a given during the weeding process. Therefore, the study centered instead on whether certain characteristics that enhanced the number of circulations a title enjoyed could be identified. Shelf level, book jacket, number of added entries on a catalog record, and number of untraced series on a catalog record were chosen as variables to examine. In order to look at these different variables, a random sample needed to be drawn with the appropriate number of books in each of the ten Dewey Decimal class numbers that ran from 320 through 329 and each of the five numbers that ran from 350 through 354. To accomplish this, the total number of books in each of the 15 class numbers was taken from the NOTIS online catalog system. This number was then used to figure the percentage of each class in relation to the whole political science collection. Once the percentage was known, it was possible to figure how many books from each Dewey class would be needed to gather an appropriatesized random sample of 651. The investigator then used random table numbers to match numbers with records in NOTIS. Each of the matched bibliographic records was copied. Bibliographic records describe the piece in hand and include, among other information, series statements and added entries, two of the variables under consideration. The number of times the title had circulated since NOTIS went online in 1988 was found and copied on each printed sheet. The sheets were then taken to the stacks to identify which shelf the book sat on, whether it had a book jacket, whether there was a date due slip in the back of the book, how many book stamps were on the slip, and the general condition of the book, this latter variable being subjective and therefore unusable in a study. Once this information was acquired, it was input into SigmaPlot, a computer program that charts graphs. It is worth pointing 115 out here that because some of the books comprising the random sample were checked out or were not on the shelf during the study and because the tagged books in class 353 were taken off the shelf before the 44 titles could be examined, the final number of books included in the study was 531. In addition to thinking about the abovementioned variables that potentially promote circulation, this project offered an opportunity to consider the health of book use in relation to reference online databases and the Internet. This part of the study was prompted by current library literature that inundates the reader with article after article about the rise in popularity of computer-driven resources. Using Kent Library s latest annual report statistics, an OPAC generated report, and data collected from the random sample of the political science collection, the investigator concentrated on understanding the general trend of book circulation at Kent Library and on determining the relationship between online searching and book use. Results and discussion Shelf level The majority of investigators who have considered the impact of shelf level on circulation agree that there is a correlation. This also proved to be the case at SEMO. Figure 1 shows that books sitting on the bottom shelf Figure 1 The effect of shelf level on circulation

circulate the least, followed by those sitting on the top shelf. Books on the three middle shelves experience virtually the same circulation pattern though shelf two is slightly ahead of shelves three and four. It seems reasonable to conclude that books on these middle shelves circulate more because they are more accessible and are easier to browse. It might be that shelf two is eye level for the most number of people. Although space is often a consideration, weeding enough books so that the bottom shelf becomes empty might increase the circulation statistics of the remaining titles. Indeed, perhaps this is the phenomenon Slote addresses when he argues that weeding increases circulation. Another point of interest when considering Figure 1 is that the average number of circulations for each title on shelves two, three, and four is around 2.5. As can be seen when comparing Figure 1 with Figures 2, 3, and 4, shelf level has a stronger correlation with circulation than book jackets, added entries, or untraced series. Therefore, where a book sits on the shelf is more important to its circulation potential than whether the book does or does not have a book jacket, has added entries on its catalog record, or has untraced series on its catalog record. Book jackets Figure 2 shows that books without jackets had an average circulation of 1.85, while books with jackets had an average circulation of only 1.19. This is contrary to past findings that indicated Figure 2 How book jackets affected circulation Figure 3 The impact of added entries on circulation Figure 4 How untraced series affected the mean circulation that having a nice jacket pumped up circulation numbers. At SEMO, this is not the case. Though it is not possible to determine whether the no-jacket data included data points for titles that originally had jackets that were removed, the fact that average circulation is lower for books with jackets suggests that book jackets do not necessarily enhance the circulation of books. 116 Added entries The effect of added entries on circulation is shown in Figure 3. Since there are too few catalog records with three or four added entries, Figure 3 highlights the fact that there is a higher percentage of circulation for those titles with zero added entries. Thus, it is apparent that added entries to a catalog record do not promote the circulation of the book.

Untraced series Figure 4 depicts the average number of times a book circulated in relation to the number of untraced series included on a catalog record. The average is higher for those titles that have no untraced series than for those with one or two untraced series. This suggests that library patrons do not actively use untraced series as aids for locating a book in a particular series. In fact, this prompts the question: do library patrons even know what a series, either traced or untraced, is? Beyond that, it is only possible at SEMO to pull up an untraced series in the online public access catalog (OPAC) using keyword searching, not title searching. Thus, a patron must be a sophisticated OPAC user to find an untraced series, which raises the question why all series are not traced. After all, access and location are the reasons for cataloging. Figure 6 The total circulation of the political science collection at SEMO from 1994 through 1998 Figure 7 The disconnect between collection development and patrons needs Book circulation Figures 5, 6, and 7 are the most interesting graphs presented in this paper because they show the dramatic decline in total book circulation in general and decline in the political science collection circulation in particular at SEMO over the last several years. For example, Figure 5 illustrates that for each of the last five years there has been a steady downward trend of overall circulation per week from over 1,600 titles in 1996 to about 1,000 in 2000. This translates into a 31 percent decline. During this same time, there has been a parallel decline in Figure 5 The total circulation behavior at SEMO 117 political science circulation as seen in Figure 6. Though there are no data available for 1999 and 2000, the time when the weeding project was under way, it is reasonable to believe that the downward pressure on circulation continued for political science titles since this was true for circulation as a whole. And, since all the stack materials were weeded, it does not seem likely that Slote s contention that weeding helps circulation would affect only the political science collection. Research has shown that there have always been academic library books that are never used. For example, Kent et al. s (1979)

numbers showed that 39.8 percent of titles did not circulate in six years for titles acquired in 1969. At SEMO 43 percent of the random sample titles studied never circulated and 18 percent circulated only once, for a total of 61 percent that never circulated or circulated only once (see Figure 7). This is a large number of mostly unused items taking up lots of space. With the upswing in Internet and reference online database use, this trend is likely to intensify. Only time will validate this assertion. For now, however, a look at the data in Kent Library s 2000 Annual Report supports the point. Stack book circulation for 1998, 1999, and 2000 was 67,926, 58,333, and 46,647, respectively. Database hits in 1999 were 989,784 and in 2000 were 1,024,930. Two additional databases were added in 2000; and since that time, even more have been added. Thus, as online access climbs, book circulation falls, though the decline in circulation is at a much faster rate than that of the online database use increase. As a result of the downward shift in circulation, the number of books making up the desired core level of the collection shrinks. Therefore, when weeding does occur, a larger and larger percentage of books can be withdrawn. Conclusions The following conclusions can be drawn: Of the variables considered, book jackets, added entries, and untraced series do not influence circulation positively. On the other hand, location does somewhat affect circulation in that titles located on the top and bottom shelves circulate less than titles sitting on the middle three shelves. More specifically, circulation data show that books shelved on the bottom shelf circulate less than books shelved on the top shelf and definitely less than the three middle shelves. This suggests that browsing plays a role in the circulation of material from the middle shelves. Thus, if a book sits on the middle shelves, it has a greater chance of circulating than if it sits on the top or bottom shelves. The embrace of the Internet and electronic reference databases has led to a decline in 118 monograph usage at SEMO. With the popularity of the World Wide Web and online databases growing, a paradigm shift away from book usage has begun; and this is probably true at all academic libraries. Of all the sampled books, 43 percent never circulated, and 18 percent circulated only once for a whopping total of 61 percent with no or one circulation. This low usage rate is consistent with data reported by previous investigators. With the advent of the Internet and online reference databases, the need for identifying book titles of interest to patrons is even more critical. Less than 7 percent of the weeded books returned to the stacks by teaching faculty have circulated since September, 2000. This suggests that faculty involvement in a weeding project might be politically important but that the faculty is not necessarily the best judge of a library s book collection and its use. Weeding does not improve circulation. Though previous researchers have reported that weeding does improve circulation, the new forces at play in academic libraries appear to have muted this outcome. However, weeding is still an important tool for maintaining the collection size and order. This research generates three questions that are important for our future: (1) How much emphasis do academic libraries want to place on their book collections now that the Internet is such a strong force and e-books are coming online? (2) How can we select the most pertinent books that our patrons want? (3) What should our long-term strategies be in order to remain an essential, viable part of the academic community? References Fussler, H.H. and Simon, J.L. (1969), Patterns in the Use of Books in Large Research Libraries, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. Hayden, R. (1987), ``If it circulates, keep it, Library Journal, Vol. 112 No. 10, June, pp. 80-2. Jain, A.K. (1968), ``A statistical study of book use, PhD dissertation, Purdue University, West Lafayett, IN.

(The) Journal of Academic Librarianship (1989), ``Ridding collections of deadwood, The Journal of Academic Librarianship, Vol. 15 No. 1, p. 3. Kent, A. et al. (1979), Use of Library Materials: The University of Pittsburgh Study, Marcel Dekker, New York, NY. Knutson, G. (1991), ``Subject enhancement: report on an experiment, College & Research Libraries, Vol. 52 No. 1, pp. 65-79. Reed, L.L. and Erickson, R. (1993), ``Weeding: a quantitative and qualitative approach, Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory, Vol. 17 No. 2, pp. 175-81. Roy, L. (1990), ``Weeding without tears: objective and subjective criteria used in identifying books to be weeded in public library collections", Collection Management, Vol. 12 No.1/2, pp. 83-93. Slote, S.J. (1975), Weeding Library Collection, Libraries Unlimited, Englewood, CO. Slote, S.J. (1997), Weeding Library Collections: Library Weeding Methods, Libraries Unlimited, Englewood, CO. Taylor, M.A.T. (1982), ``The effect of bibliographic accessibility upon physical accessibility in a public library setting, PhD dissertation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. Trueswell, R.W. (1966), ``Determining the optimal number of volumes for a library s core collection, Libri, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 49-60. 119