Claremont Library Collection Evaluation

INFO 665 June 6, 2010 Mari Bettineski, Stefanie Hollmichel, Ann Moorehead

 

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Table of Contents Mission Statement for the Claremont Colleges Library ................................................... 3 

Demographics-Library and Service Community ................................................................ 3 

Subject Areas for Mapping Analysis ...................................................................................... 4 

Internal Analysis of the Mapped Subject Areas ............................................................. 5 

English Literature ............................................................................................................................... 5 

Natural History – Biology ................................................................................................................. 7 

Botany ..................................................................................................................................................... 7 

External Analysis of the Mapped Subject Areas ............................................................. 8 

English Literature – By Period ....................................................................................................... 8 

Natural History – Biology ................................................................................................................. 9 

Botany .................................................................................................................................................. 10 

Group Strategies and Responsibilities ................................................................................ 10 

Appendix A – Claremont Colleges ....................................................................................... 12 

Appendix B – Humboldt State University ......................................................................... 13 

Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 14 

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Mission Statement for the Claremont Colleges Library

“The Library is partners with The Claremont Colleges in learning, teaching, and

research. We are committed to fostering intellectual discovery, critical thinking, and life-

long learning. Accordingly, the Library ties our academic community to varied cultural

and scholarly traditions by offering user-centered services, building collections,

developing innovative technologies, and providing an inviting environment for study,

collaboration, and reflection”.

http://libraries.claremont.edu/

Demographics-Library and Service Community

There are several libraries in the Claremont Colleges system. The two large

libraries are the Honnold/Mudd Library, holding collections in the arts, humanities,

sciences and social sciences, and the Dennison Library, holding collections in humanities

and fine arts. There are also 3 affiliated libraries; The George C. Stone Center for

Children’s Books, the Botanical and Horticulture Library at the Rancho Santa Ana

Botanical Gardens, and the Claremont School of Theology Library. There is also the

CUC Records Center which houses paper journals and some books from the collection.

These libraries’ resources include over 2 million volumes of monographs,

extensive holdings of journals (70,000), databases, and United States government and

other international publications. They serve the following colleges: Pomona College,

Claremont Graduate University, Scripps College, Claremont McKenna College, Harvey

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Mudd College, Pitzer College, Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences and the

Claremont University Consortium.

The service community for these libraries consists of the five undergraduate

colleges and two graduate institutions, serving over 6000 students, 3300 faculty and staff,

and the community.

Subject Areas for Mapping Analysis

One area of the Claremont Library that will be mapped for this assignment is

Natural History - Biology (Library of Congress Call Number QH 1-705.5), which include

the following subclasses: Natural History (General), General Biology, Microscopy,

Evolution, Genetics, Reproduction, Life, Ecology, Cytology, and Economic Biology.

Another area of the Claremont Library that will be mapped is English Literature

by period (Library of Congress Call Number PR 161-488), which includes the following

periods: Period Unknown, Anglo-Saxton (beginnings through 1066), Medieval-Middle

English (1066-1500), and Modern (period unknown, Elizabethan, 17th century, 18th

century, 19th century, 20th century and 21st century).

The special emphasis area is Botany (Library of Congress Call Number QK 1-

989). Botany includes subsections general, spermatophyta and phanerogams,

gymnosperms, angiosperms, cryptogams, and plant anatomy, physiology and ecology.

Because we enjoyed our collection development assignment on the chaparral

biome, we wanted to look at the overall collection for botany at the Claremont Colleges.

In addition we wanted to choose a related science subject for comparison because we

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suspected that botany was a special emphasis collection at the colleges. Our third

selection of English literature we chose as a counterpoint to the sciences and to see how

well a humanities topic might be represented in the library.

These same subject areas for mapping will be compared to the collections at

Humboldt State University. We chose Humboldt on the basis of student body size and its

environmental science programs.

Internal Analysis of the Mapped Subject Areas 

To determine the strength of Claremont’s overall collection, we utilized the

mapping method outlined by David V. Loerscher, where the total number items in a

Library of Congress classification grouping were assessed against the total number of

students in the Claremont consortium (roughly 6,000). Using the collection mapping

scale, the ratio could determine whether the holdings were weak (.30 items per student

being “fair”) or strong (1.20 per student being “superior”) (Loerscher, p.13).

English Literature 

The Libraries of Claremont Colleges serve over 6,000 students by providing over

2,500 courses. Five of these institutions offer majors in Literature or English, so the

collection must provide a variety of materials in large numbers to support the curriculum

of these various institutions. Under LC Classification, English Literature is organized in

subclass PR. This subclass divides English Literature by eras, type of literature (poetry,

drama, diaries, etc.) and year. If looking for a specific era of writing, such as 19th century

literature, items could be located in PR 451-469 (English Literature by Period) or PR

3991-5990 (19th Century, 1770/1800-1890/1900). Or items could fall under PR 1119-

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1151 (Collection of English Literature – by Period) or any of the other subcategories in

PR classification. For the complete picture of a library’s strengths and weakness, an

assessment of the entire PR collection would be required. The Libraries of Claremont

Colleges have well over 50,000 English Literature items in their collection, so this

assessment will focus specifically on English Literature - by Period (PR 161-488). This

specific collection surveys English literature from the Anglo-Saxon period through the

21st century.

The entire collection of English Literature – by Period earned a “Fair” grade on

Loercher’s scale, with a ratio of .30 items per student, but some subcategories within the

PR 161-488 grouping would receive “less than fair” grades (please see Appendix A for

Claremont’s collection map). On the plus side, the holdings in this section are somewhat

evenly dispersed. With the exception of 21st century literature, each period is represented

in the collection with a ratio of .02:1 or better. While the ratio grades may be low, it still

demonstrates an even collection development plan.

Pomona College offers a Classical Studies major and some of the courses include

Modern British Literature, Arthurian Literature and Medieval and Renaissance Literature.

Because many of these courses are era specific, it would be wise to have a more

developed collection that surveys literature by period. Scripps College, Claremont

McKenna College and Pitzer College also have period specific courses all competing for

the same materials, so having less than .50 items per student would not be sufficient.

Based on the findings from the collection map, it is recommended that the Claremont

Libraries strengthen this area of their collection and set a short-term goal of achieving a

“Good” ratio of .60:1.

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Natural History – Biology 

The strength of the collection’s Natural History - Biology section was likewise

assessed with the Loerscher method. Many of the consortium colleges offer similar

coursework in the sciences and would be utilizing the same library system, so the science

collection would face the same challenge as the English literature collection: students

from various institutions, enrolled in similar classes, would be competing for the same

materials.

The overall ratio of Natural History – Biology (QH 1-705.5) was impressive: 1.22

items for every Claremont student. This would earn the QH subclass a “Superior” rating

on Loercher’s scale. The Natural History section (QH 1-278.5) hovers around .82:1 and

Biology (QH 301-705.5) is .81:1, as individual sections they still merit an above “Good”

score. This demonstrates an even distribution of collection development throughout the

subclass QH grouping. However, within the biology subcategories, specific subjects

could be improved. Between the several Claremont institutions there are eight separate

degrees that require studies in biology, including graduate and doctorate level

coursework. It would be ideal to develop specific topics to at least a “Fair” grade.

Microscopy, Reproduction, Cytology and Economic biology ranked lowest among all the

subjects in this group with ratios of .00:1. It would be wise of the library to survey the

Science Departments to see if these areas require additional supplemental materials to

support the curriculum.

Botany 

Claremont Graduate University’s Botany Department is located at the Rancho

Santa Ana Botanic Garden, where students can earn their Master of Science or Doctorate

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of Philosophy. Because of the program’s intensive coursework, a comprehensive and in

depth Botany collection is required. The Santa Ana Botanic Garden has its own library

but is cataloged with the Claremont Libraries, so not only does this collection serve the

CGU students but it benefits the students of the consortium as well.

To assess the special collection we utilized a modified version of David V.

Loercher’s method, where the Claremont catalog was searched by LC subject headings.

The ratio grading scale was also adjusted for the special collection: .10:1 being a “Fair”

grade to 2.0:1 as “Exemplary”.

The Botany collection at Claremont had a 2.08:1 item to student ratio, and as a

special collection, this ranks above an “Exemplary” rating. This demonstrates tremendous

strength in the collection and superior support of the curriculum. The strongest areas

within this classification group were: General information, Spermatophyta and

Phanerogams. These sections alone earned better than “Superior” grades with ratios

above .25:1. The collection’s weakest areas were in Gymnosperms and Plant Anatomy

where the ratios fell before .10:1. Overall, Claremont’s special collection is strong and is

a tremendous asset to the Botany Department at Claremont Graduate University.

External Analysis of the Mapped Subject Areas 

English Literature – By Period 

The English Literature (PR 161-488) section for the Claremont Colleges Libraries

had a .3:1 ratio, or 1,800 items for 6,000 students, and earned the collection a “Fair”

score. When compared to Humboldt State University, Claremont’s collection appears

more adequate; Humboldt offered a .14:1 ratio, 1,060 items for 7,698 students, a rank far

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below “Fair” (See Appendix B for Humboldt’s collection map). Where Claremont had a

somewhat even distribution of items throughout the different periods (Medieval,

Elizabethan, 20th Century, etc.), Humboldt’s holdings were a little more inconsistent. The

collection had a very limited amount of items on Anglo-Saxon and 17th century literature.

This is surprising, considering that Humboldt offers a BA in English and a MA in

Literature.

This comparison demonstrates Claremont’s ability to collect evenly throughout a

subject, but the ratio could still be improved. To develop the English Literature – By

Period section for the consortium, cooperative collection development is highly

recommended for the Claremont Colleges. English professors from the various

institutions could assess the weak areas in the collection and each library could commit to

developing specific sections based on their recommendations (Evans and Saponaro, p.

340).

Natural History – Biology 

The Natural History – Biology (QH 1-278.5) collection at Claremont had a 1.22

to 1 ratio, or 7,303 items for 6,000 students, and merited the collection a “Superior”

rating. When compared to Humboldt State University (who offers undergrad and

graduate programs in Biology) the findings are very similar. Humboldt likewise offered a

“Superior” ratio of 1.22:1, offering 9,549 items for 7,698 students. The spread of the

collection was also similar: greater holdings in Evolution, Genetics and Ecology, fewer

holdings in Microscopy, Reproduction and Life. The following subclasses had identical

ratios: Microscopy (.02:1), Reproduction (.01:1), Cytology (.07:1) and Economic biology

(.00:1). This comparison suggests that these areas may not need to be highly developed to

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satisfy the needs of biology coursework. Perhaps these collections merit a “Superior”

rating for knowing which subclasses best support the curriculum.

Botany  

The Botany special collection (QK 1-989) at Claremont had a 2.08:1 ratio, 12,504

items for 6,000 students, earning the collection an above “Exemplary” rating. Humboldt

State also offers a Botany major and their special collection had a .61:1 ratio, 4,699 items

for 7,698 students, with an above “Superior” rating. Both collections received impressive

scores and had somewhat even development throughout the various subclass areas

(Gymnosperms and Plant Anatomy were the weakest areas for both libraries). While both

collections are strong, this comparison indicates that Claremont does indeed have an

exemplary Botany special collection.

Group Strategies and Responsibilities

Two weeks before the assignment due date the group agreed on evaluating the Claremont

Colleges libraries. We then each proposed different subject areas for evaluation after

doing some catalog searching. Choosing the subjects for evaluation turned out to be an

iterative process as we dug further into the collections. Everyone contributed to this

process.

Choosing the comparison library also was an iterative process. After brief discussion we

decided to compare Claremont to the Five Colleges in Massachusetts. However it turned

out their OPAC was not conducive to completing the evaluation. More discussion

followed and as a group we decided on Humboldt State University.

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Ann did research on Claremont and its users and wrote the sections on information about

the libraries and information about the subjects being mapped. Mari counted items by LC

number in both the Claremont and Humboldt catalogs, compared the data and wrote the

internal and external analysis of the subject areas. Stefanie created the worksheets and the

maps, wrote the group strategies section, created the bibliography and turned everyone’s

sections into a single document. The entire group participated in proofreading, revising

and contributing additional information where it seemed needed.

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Appendix A – Claremont Colleges

Collection Map

School Name: Claremont Colleges

Number of Students: 6,000

Total Collection: 2 million volumes

Number of total collection items per student: 333.33

Number of Items Number of Items Per Student

General Emphasis Areas: Natural History – Biology - QH

7,303 1.22

English Literature by Period –PR 161 – 488

1,800 .3

Special Emphasis Area: Botany - QK 12,504 2.08

Total: 21,607

Appendix B – Humboldt State University    Collection Map

School Name: Humboldt State University

Number of Students: 7,698

Total Collection: 600,000 volumes

Number of total collection items per student: 77.94

Number of Items Number of Items Per Student

General Emphasis Areas: Natural History – Biology - QH 9,549 1.24 English Literature by Period –PR 161 – 488

1,060 .14

Special Emphasis Area: Botany - QK 4,699 .61

Total: 15,308

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Bibliography

Claremont Colleges Library. (n.d.). . Retrieved June 5, 2010, from http://libraries.claremont.edu/

Evans, G. E., & Saponaro, M. Z. (2005). Developing Library and Information Center

Collections (5th ed.). Libraries Unlimited.

Humboldt State University Library. (n.d.). . Retrieved June 5, 2010, from

http://library.humboldt.edu/

IES National Center for Education Statistics. (n.d.). Library Statistics Program. Retrieved June

5, 2010, from http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/libraries/

Loerscher, D. V. (1985). Collection Mapping: An Evaluation Strategy for Collection

Development. Drexel Library Quarterly, 21(2), 9 - 39.