2016 Charleston Library Conference

In the summer of 2016, the J. Murrey Atkins Library at UNC Charlotte had a graduate fellow conduct an assessment of the health sciences resources. It was a pilot project with the secondary goal of establishing a procedure for subject assessment that could later be applied to other areas of the collection. There ended up being several elements to the project. The first involved choosing physical titles for deselection, as the collection had not previously been extensively weeded and health sciences materials become outdated quickly. Another task was the recommendation of new items. This emphasized electronic resources for a number of reasons (they are popular in the health sciences, and the school has an increasing number of long-distance students). An informal survey was created and sent to health sciences librarians at peer institutions to see what databases and other electronic tools their users preferred. Throughout the eleven-week project, the fellow conducted a literature analysis of materials relating to general collection development as well as the health sciences in particular. The most relevant resources were compiled into an annotated bibliography for future participants in similar projects. This was organized into specific subject areas (Nursing Resources, Ebook Deselection, Open Access, etc.) for easy reference. The poster will present the audience with collection assessment methods for a large academic library; these can then be adapted to other subjects and institutions. The emphasis on electronic resources makes it particularly relevant to current issues in collection development.