Alma has canned reports that show physical item circulation, they can be found by logging in to Alma, going to Design Analytics, and clicking: Shared folders > Alma > Fulfillment > Reports
There are several different reports available and when you click on them they will run against your library's data so you can see if they are what you need. When you find a report you like, you can click More > Copy and then go to your section of Design Analytics and Paste the report. From there it can also be modified to fit your exact needs.
Two reports that might be of interest are:
Circulation data can also be generated by hour and day of week in order to assist in making staffing decisions. Depending on the size of your library, reports run by Circulation Desk can give some indication of how students are using the space once they enter. There is a sample report in the shared folder in Alma Analytics for our consortium titled Loans by Day and Time Slot FY22 Hours, which would need slight modification to fit each library's needs, but can be accessed by going to Shared folders > Reports > Consortia > CSCU > Alma Analytics Workshops 2022 > Workshop 1: Physical Inventory and Fulfillment.
Qualitative Assessment:
The easiest way to track the usage of physical course reserves is through Alma Analytics. ExLibris provides suggestions on how to manage course reserves from the start, to screenshots of how course resources will appear in Primo VE. The Consortium of Academic Research Libraries in Illinois has created an extensive How To: Course Reserve in Alma guide.
There are several options for accessing your course reserve data in Alma. If you would like to create your own report the Alma training center provides training videos and detailed breakdowns of the Field Descriptions used to create course reserve reports.
If you prefer to use a report that has already been created there are several places to look. Several out of the box reports can be found in Alma Analytics > Shared Folders > Alma > Course Reserves. There are also course reserve reports that have been created and shared by other CSCU Libraries:
Lots of institutions outside of CSCU have shared their Course Reserve Alma Analytics files that also may suit your needs (Alma Analytics > Shared Folders > Community > Reports).
Qualitative Assessment:
Qualitative assessment techniques are also useful in evaluating course reserves. Libraries use surveys, focus groups or more informal conversations with students, faculty, and library staff to assess aspects of our course reserves.
From our students we might want to find out: Did the course reserve meet your needs? How easy were the reserves to find? How easy were the reserves to use? How did you find out about the course reserves?
We might ask our faculty members: Did the course reserves meet the needs of your course? How easy was it to put items on or adjust the items already on reserve?
Conversations with library staff might address: How easy is it to find and circulate physical reserves? How often do students request a reserve that is currently checked out to another student? Are there any specific course reserves that are frequently overdue or lost?
Additional resources
2020/21: Digital Reserves Assessment – Swarthmore College Libraries
ResDesk: An automated solution for course reserves request tracking and process management
Where do we go from here? : Charleston conference proceedings
Assessing Course Reserves: Creating a Library-Wide Annual Report
For collections held in e-format, your most useful tool will be COUNTER reports, which provide usage data in standard formats that allow for 'apple-to-apple' comparisons of usage on different platforms for e-resource access. Learn more about COUNTER reports here.
Most (but not all) e-resource access platforms will provide COUNTER data. To obtain this data, you can request it from the platform's vendor (or download COUNTER reports from administrative modules on the platform), or you can use the SUSHI standard to harvest COUNTER reports into your library's Alma instance.
In the fall of 2022, our consortium's Systems Librarian, Travis Feder, led a series of workshops focused on how to use Alma Analytics, and the second workshop in this series has a special focus on on how to use Alma Analytics to assess usage of e-collections. See here for links to a recording of the workshop and supporting documentation.
For collection held in print, this workshop series also has some valuable guidance. Specifically, see here for links to a recording of and supporting documentation from the first workshop in the series, which focused on physical inventory and fulfillment.
To assess what the future holds for collection usage, it is important to stay abreast of changes in your institution's academic programs. To do so, it can be helpful to periodically skim the minutes of the Board of Regents Academic and Student Affairs Committee. Additionally, it's important to develop and maintain relationships with faculty at your institution - information from faculty can often be great intel into what collections will be used in the future.
While there are a variety of ways to make deaccession decisions, the following approach is a place to start.
For assessing the physical collection, consider using Alma reports to run a cost per use analysis. To do this you will need to have access to legacy data of two kinds: circulation data and purchasing data. If purchasing data is not easily available, the MARC record field 020 subfield c can be used to generate a generic item price. If this field is also not available, standard replacement fees can be used. Once both sets of data have been collected, the numbers can be used to create a cost per use analysis and resources can be ranked to flag the most "expensive" shelf sitters. A similar approach can be taken to assess database subscriptions, using unique sessions and subscription rates.
Other criteria that might be worth considering are: the age of the information and the pace of discovery in the subject area, the number of CSCU holdings at other institutions, and/or the number of holdings at CT or MA libraries that participate in InterLibrary Loan. Older physical items should always be assessed for rarity and antiquarian value. Older items of potentially high value should be removed from the regular circulating collection and assessed for preservation or addition to special collections. If neither preservation or special collections are an option, items should be considered for alternative ways they could add value to the library before they are donated or disposed of.
Whenever a deaccessioning project is undertaken, it is highly recommended to make note of the subject areas of the weeded items to inform collection development thereafter.
CT State Libraries may develop shared collection and deaccession policies and procedures. Any documentation about this initiative will be shared here once they are available.
The working group for the Usage Collection Best Practices project is currently developing standards for answering this question. We will share their work here when it becomes available.
There are a number of ways that a library can assess what materials are being assigned by faculty, including:
Examples of this work:
Assessing library support of equity in student access can be done in a number of ways. Some examples of services that might be included in an equity audit include textbook loaning, laptop and hotspot circulation, study aids, and provision of basic office tools and supplies.
ACRL Project Outcome has surveys that help capture the impact of these services. Qualitative data can be collected from students who borrowed specific materials by sending a follow up survey. Quantitative data from surveys or focus groups could also be used to assess points of inequity that aren't yet currently being addressed by library services and/or programs.
“Diversity audits reveal the extent to which library collections incorporate the topics, perspectives, authors, characters, and narratives associated with underrepresented or marginalized groups.” 1 These collection audits often involve careful planning, detailed record keeping, extensive research, and significant investments of time and talent. While such projects are worthwhile and important, many libraries do not have the staff or capacity to review entire collections. The EDISJ committee recommends, as an alternative to a full audit, starting small and using the process of building mini-collections as the first step towards engaging your community and diversifying your collections.
What are mini collections?
Following a fantastic presentation by Yoli Bergstrom-Lynch, a librarian at CT State Manchester, we are defining mini-collections as curated collections of books and other resources focused on specific topics. These collections might be created to drive community engagement, support specific courses, complement campus events, or accompany an exhibit or celebrate a regional or national month (such as Black History Month or Women’s History Month). Creating such curated lists or exhibits is often a normal library practice, so using them to analyze the diversity or inclusiveness of a library’s collection can take them one step further.
How to create a mini collection for auditing purposes
Choose your topic and begin selecting materials from your library. Expand by using selection tools and lists outside your library that reflect diverse voices and opinions. Additionally, try to find ways to engage your library’s community in the process. For example, are there relevant faculty or student groups that might be willing to partner with you? This kind of collaboration can help ensure that your community buys-in to the process and the resulting mini-collection meets the community’s needs.
As you carry out the project, note where your library holdings are weakest and use that information to make specific purchase suggestions from a variety of viewpoints and marginalized communities. Also, keep in mind materials that other members of the CSCU Library Consortium can provide as well as the e-collections that are accessible through the consortium and the Connecticut State Library’s ResearchIT CT and Palace Project collection.
Want to do more?
The EDISJ Operations and Collections Task Force have also compiled recommended resources for conducting extensive diversity audits. Please visit the EDISJ LibGuide [forthcoming] for additional information.
The Connecticut State Library’s Division of Library Development has an excellent LibGuide page about Inclusive Collections. Although primarily geared to children’s and YA collections in public libraries, the page includes many useful resources for diversity audits in academic libraries.
1 https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/opis-2022-0148/html?lang=en>