CURL partners with OCLC in collection analysis pilot project

Citation

(2002), "CURL partners with OCLC in collection analysis pilot project", Program: electronic library and information systems, Vol. 36 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/prog.2002.28036aab.005

CURL partners with OCLC in collection analysis pilot project

CURL partners with OCLC in collection analysis pilot project

The Consortium of University Research Libraries (CURL) in the UK has begun a collection analysis pilot project with the OCLC Lacey Product Center in Washington, USA, to improve information about the scope and depth of holdings of research libraries.

An estimated 3.2 million bibliographic records will be provided from the local systems of the six libraries involved in the project: Edinburgh University Library; University of Hull Library; Imperial College of Science, Technology & Medicine; Central Library, the University of Liverpool Sydney Jones Library; Natural History Museum and the School of Oriental and African Studies. The OCLC Interactive Collection Analysis System (iCAS), one component of Automated Collection Assessment and Analysis Services (ACAAS), will analyse the age, subject content and overlap of holdings for the libraries, matching standard classification numbers to a copyrighted subject structure and reporting the subject areas included in the collections.

According to Sally Loken, senior ACAS product consultant, OCLC Lacey Product Center, many libraries in the UK do not have classification numbers in all of their bibliographic records.

"Using OCLC's WorldCat and perhaps other international databases, we hope to supply classification numbers, for analysis purposes only, for bibliographic records that lack them, so that the resulting analyses will be as complete as possible", said Ms Loken.

Each institution will receive a CD-ROM that contains the analysis of its own holdings, and CURL will receive an analysis of the holdings of all six institutions, with overlap and uniqueness measures.

The Research Support Libraries Programme (RSLP) (http://www.rslp.ac.uk/) is co-funding the project. "RSLP is delighted to be co-funding this evaluation of iCAS", said Ronald Milne, programme director, RSLP. "The software and methodology appear to have considerable potential for assisting in collection assessment activities, in helping provide an independent analysis of collections' strengths, and in contributing towards the creation of a map of the distributed national collection of printed research resources." The year-long project is scheduled to be completed at the end of April 2002.

The Interactive Collection Analysis System (iCAS), produced by the OCLC Lacey Product Center, is OCLC's newest tool for distributing collection analyses for library directors and collection managers. Libraries receive a CD-ROM with a Visual Basic front-end that queries Microsoft Access or SQL databases on their analysis results. For the basic age and content analysis, data are shown in a grid with the library's choice of publication date ranges across the top and WLN Conspectus divisions, categories and subjects down the side. Each cell contains the number of titles held for that subject area and publication date/date range, as well as its percentage of the division, category or subject relative to the entire collection. The CD-ROM includes graphing, printing and export options. The software runs on Pentium PCs and networks.

For further information please contact: Kathy Fryer, OCLC, 6565 Frantz Road, Dublin, Ohio 43017 3395, USA. E-mail: kathy_fryer@oclc.org ; URL: www.oclc.org/western/wlnprods/aca/icas.htm