Print Item Usage Analysis

393,062 unique items were included in the analysis representing items from the collections of the main D.H. Hill Library and the four branch libraries at the time: Design, Natural Resources, Textiles, and Veterinary Medicine.

This project differed from many studies of library circulation by examining the categorical status (i.e. 'used at least once' or 'never used') of items as opposed to the overall circulation of a collection. Overall circulation counts are heavily right skewed. Using total circulation as the base metric underestimates the use and value of a collection.

The proportion of items that have been used increases steadily the longer the item is available in the collection. The NCSU Libraries data indicate that up to 72% of items have been used after twelve years in the collection.

Circulation status can also be coded to allow for a more detailed view of the use of the collection.

Calculating the Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient between years in the collection and circulation status (measured on a scale of 'Never', 'Once', '2-5 circs', '6-10 circs', 'More than 10') indicates a relationship between the two variables. The Spearman correlation (rs) for this 12 year sample is 0.26. While the correlation is significant at p < .0001 it can still be considered relatively weak. More investigation is needed into other variables such as publisher, content level, required reading, and discipline that may be related to whether or not an item is used.

These findings are in contrast to the impression that most items never circulate. This has implications as libraries begin to use patron driven purchasing strategies as the data would argue against removing ebook records from the catalog after a two year period of non-use.

Additional Info:

Total circulation counts are heavily right skewed.