The development of a statistical assessment methodology for collection management in a public library

This thesis addresses the problem of developing procedures to evaluate and manage the collection of a small public library. Data from three branch libraries was used including holdings and acquisitions data, circulation records, and interlibrary loan statistics. To save time and facilitate the ease of interpreting the analysis of the data, a commonly available spreadsheet was used to make calculations and graph the results. Evaluation of the circulating non-fiction collections, utilizing the methodology developed in this study, produced a collection profile which could be used as a basis for making collection management decisions. Analysis of the results did not support the expectation that public service staff would necessarily make collection development decisions that would deviate less from usage patterns than non-public service staff.