Assessment strategies in technical services

CHICAGO — Are you spending money wisely? If you’re a technical services manager at an academic library, an administrator, or a dean, you’re tasked with proving it. Incorporate assessment and analysis work into your library’s existing workflow with the guidance of “Assessment Strategies in Technical Services,” published by ALA Editions, a new collection from the Association of Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS) edited by Kimberley A. Edwards and Michelle Leonard. Contributors from several academic libraries draw from real-world practices to suggest new approaches for acquisition and collections, cataloging and metadata, digital preservation, and e-resources and serials. You’ll find advice on such topics as:

• assessing e-resource budgets, workflows, vendors, and collaborative initiatives;
• how to use multiple data sets to assess collections across subjects, formats, or other factors;
• working with data using common applications like Excel, Access, or MySQL;
• four types of preservation assessment and how to structure them for actionable results;
• ways to save on serial expenses while avoiding cancellations;
• seven key considerations for building a data warehouse; and
• benchmarking techniques for improving metadata processes

Edwards is the Information Analyst for Technical Services at George Mason University Libraries. She has taught and presented on collection analysis and assessment tools and techniques at a range of national and international conferences. Leonard is a tenured librarian at the Marston Science Library, George A. Smathers Libraries, at the University of Florida. Co-author of “Implementing and Assessing Use-Driven Acquisitions,” she has conducted presentations on assessment and collection building at numerous conferences.

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