Johnson (2018) identifies a number of quantitative and qualitative methods that are useful for collection analysis, some of which I have undertaken my own primary school context. Others I have considered but have not had the opportunity to incorporate yet and a few more suggested would be useful to add to my repertoire.
Simple resource cataloguing data is most useful in my current context. This would be aligned with Johnson’s collection-based quantitative method of analysing collection size and growth and also collection size standards and formulas. My library is at a brand-new school which opened in October 2021. The collection is relatively small compared to our student population, but is experiencing steady growth; which can easily be tracked (and used for budget allocation discussions). Our current collection size is approximately 4,000 physical items strong. The Australian Library and Information Association (2017), recommends for a student population size of approximately 1,000 that 17,250 is the recommended number of physical resources for a foundation collection (p.55) (ours has a growing enrolment of 820).
I have also explored the use and user-based quantitative analysis method of circulation statistics, which has considered borrowing data. This has included evaluating the number of physical and digital items borrowed and also the most popular titles. In particular, I used these statistics as an end of year celebration for our 8 weeks of borrowing for the 2021 year!
On the more quantitative side on analysis, I have engaged in user-observation and also feedback. I consistently engaged students in discussion about titles in the collection to gauge their reading interests and understand their needs. I also am heavily engaged in direct collection checking and ‘informal’ collection mapping in order to identify resource gaps, to better support curriculum aligned teaching and learning programs.
References
Australian Library and Information Association Schools & Victorian Catholic Teacher Librarians. (2017). A manual for developing policy and procedures in Australian school library resource centres. https://asla.org.au/resources/Documents/Website%20Documents/Policies/policies-procedures-manual_ed2.pdf
Johnson, P. (2018). Fundamentals of collection development and management. American Library Association.