Metrics of monograph use in the Marston Science Library by Michelle Foss Leonard and

Stephanie HaasMarston Science Library,

University of Florida

The current study provides an initial assessment of use data associated with the monograph collection at the Marston Science Library (MSL), University of Florida.

These sciences covered in Marston fall within the major Library of Congress Classification schedules of Q, S, and T.

Potential Audiences

Potential Science Monograph Users, 2008-09(n=16,609)

0100020003000400050006000

Agriculture And LifeSciences

Engineering Liberal Arts AndSciences (CLAS)

Colleges

Pop

ulat

ion

# Faculty

Graduate

Undergraduate

Potential Audiences

Potential users in CLAS, 2008-09(n=3,291)

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

Ast

rono

my

Bio

/Bot

/Zoo

Che

mst

iry

Geo

logi

cal

Sci

ence

s

Mat

hem

atic

s

Phy

sics

Sta

tistic

s

Departments

Faculty

Graduate

Undergraduate

CirculationCirculated monographs dated from 1817 to 2009, approximately 192 years. When all user populations are totaled, 10,300 items in the Q class circulated, 1,300 in the S class circulated, and 4,000 items in the T class circulated.

2008-09 Circulation by User Group and Publication Date 2009 to 1990

0

100

200

300

400

500

Publication Year

Cir

cula

tion

coun

t

Faculty

Grad

Staff

Undergraduate

Circulation by User Group for subclasses of Q (Science)

Q Class 2008-09 Circulation by User Group and Subclass(n=10,335)

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

2000

Q subclasses

Item

s c

ircula

ted Faculty

Graduate

Staff

Undergraduate

Circulation by User Group for subclasses of S (Agriculture)

S Class 2008-09 Circulation by User Group and Subclass (n=1,331)

050

100150200250300350

S subclasses

Item

s ci

rcu

late

d

Faculty

Graduate

Staff

Undergraduate

Circulation by User Group for subclasses of T (Technology)

T Class 2008-09 Circulation by User Group and Subclass(n=3,948)

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

T subclasses

Item

s c

ircu

late

d Faculty

Graduate

Staff

Undergraduate

Findings from circulation

1. Graduate student borrowing far exceeds borrowing of either faculty or undergraduates, except in fisheries, zoology, and chemical engineering.

2. Borrowing average is less than 1 book per user per year.

3. LC subclasses with the highest circulation activity were identified.

Visualizing circulation metrics using TagCrowd, [http://tagcrowd.com]

Steps in process:

1. Excel spreadsheets containing circulation data by LC class were sorted by Patron status and call numbers.

Example: Plant Culture (SB) monographs borrowed by graduate students (n=311)

SB123 .C43 2002

graduate 31262078241493

Principles and procedures of plant breeding : biotechnological and conventional approaches / G.S. Ch

Boca Raton, Fla. : CRC Press, c2002.

2002

SB123 .D5613 2003

graduate 31262076899243

Genetic diversity of cultivated tropical plants / scientific editors, Perla Hamon ... [et al.].

Enfield, NH : Science Publishers ; France : CIRAD, c2003.

2003

SB123 .E92 2000

graduate 31262084073690

Quantitative genetics and breeding methods : the way ahead : proceedings of the eleventh Meeting of

Paris : Institut national de la recherche agronomique, c2001.

2001

2. Call numbers for circulated items were converted into text files and then parsed to top level subclass

SB106SB106SB107SB108SB110 SB112SB112SB112SB112SB112SB112SB112SB117

SB106.E25 S73 2001SB106.I47 D48 2009SB107.5 .A5SB108.A35 P581 1998SB110 .A37SB112.5 .A321 1992SB112.5 .H35 2002SB112.5 .N55 1997SB112.5 .O94 2002SB112.5 .O95 2006SB112.5 .O965 2007SB112.5 .U53 1998SB117 .K47 2006

The text file of subclasses was uploaded into TagCrowd http://tagcrowd.com and filters chosen.

LC subclass analysis using TagCrowd

1. The TagCrowd is extremely effective in helping to analyze data through visually clustering.

2. Finer granularity can be obtained by extending the call number extensions; however, decimal points must be converted to other characters.

Example QA274.2 must be converted to QA274d2, where d=decimal

QA274.7 (11) = QA273-280 Probabilities. Mathematical statistics Markov processesQA274.5 (7) = QA273-280 Probabilities. Mathematical statistics Martingales (Mathematics)QA274.23 (6 )= QA273-280 Probabilities. Mathematical statistics  Stochastic differential equations.

Subject headings vs LC call numbers

QA274.23   [B L D C]         Stochastic differential equations. (61)   [L D S]         Stochastic differential equations--Congresses. (9)   [L D S]         Stochastic differential equations--Numerical solutions.

(6)   [L D S]         Langevin equations. (3)   [L D S]         Stochastic differential equations--Numerical solutions--

Data processing. (2)   [L D S]         Stochastic difference equations. (1)   [L D S]

Source: Classification Web by Library of Congress (online subscription)

Science Monographs Purchased$127,141

Monograph Purchases by Fund, 2008-09n=1,287

050

100150200250300

Purchased monograph circulation

Science monographs purchased and their circulation by LC class, 2008-09

Purchases=1200; Circulations=1281

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

Q

QA

QB

QC

QD

QE

QH

QK

QL

QM QP

QR S

SB

SD SF

SH T

TA

TC TD

TG TJ

TK

TL

TN

TP

TS

Purchased Circulation of purchases

Print vs e-use for titles[40 titles circulated 43 times;

online usage was 431, or a 100% increase. ]

Print vs e-uses for 40 titles, 2008-2009

050

100

150200250

Q(1)

QA(7)

QC(2)

QD(3)

QE(1)

QH(7)

QK(3)

QL(1)

QP(3)

QR(1)

SB(1)

SD(1)

SH(1)

TA(2)

TJ(4)

TK(2)

LC Classification (# books)

Use

s Print uses

E-uses

Study conclusions concerning monographic use

• Monographic use by patron status has now been verified with graduate students accounting for 58% of the circulations.

• LC classes of greatest interest have been identified: QA, QH, QC, QD, TK, TA, TP, S, SB

• Current purchasing decisions accurately reflect usage

• 41 print titles were also available in electronic copy and online usage was 100% greater. This finding has major implications for futurecollection development decisions.

Theoretically, library functions supported by computers and databases should be quantifiable; however, meaningful data sets require multiple extraction runs, data striping, and recombination.

Extracted data that can assist in collection development strategies is limited to LC classes and/or subject headings. Specificity of LC class appears stronger than subject headings, but future text analysis programs may provide even more accurate subject extraction.

E-book use data is non-standard, frequently not available, and current metadata is incomplete. Libraries need to require that e-book services provide usable title based metrics.

Study conclusions concerning data mining