Measuring and Sustaining the Impact of Area Studies Collections in a Research Library: Balancing the Eco-system to Manage Scarce Resources

Learning Outcomes Define the impact of collections to include measures beyond local use in order to better understand the value of low-use, difficult to acquire materials. Evaluate how services impact access and use of collections in order to evaluate the feasibility of aggregating or concentrating collections. Critically examine collections assessment techniques in order to evaluate them for application in your local setting. 2

History of Collecting at Illinois 3 From the Million Volume Library…. …to the 14-million volume Library.

Phase I: ILL of LCTL Materials 4

LCTL Lending by Area of Study 5

LCTL Lending by Institution Type 6

The SRS Effect Does the historically strong service component impact usage of the collection? 7

CTLs and Area Studies 8 "Anglospeak" by User:Shardz - Based on Image:Anglospeak.png, which was Coloured by en:User:Iamvered from public domain Wikimedia Commons source.. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - If you exclude Commonly Taught Language materials from area studies collections, how does that impact usage statistics?

CTLs and Area Studies Part II 9

Country of Imprint Vs. Language 10

Africa Vs. East Asia Lending of English Language Materials by Region AFRICA1.36%1.30%1.15%0.96%0.87%1.14% AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND1.49%1.41%1.16%1.32%1.21%1.32% CANADA1.75%1.59% 1.67%1.43%1.61% EAST ASIA/OCEANIA2.36%1.75%1.72%1.54%1.66%1.82% LATIN AMERICA/CARIBBEAN0.39%0.38%0.23%0.30% 0.32% MIDDLE EAST0.43%0.42%0.34%0.39%0.45%0.40% SLAVIC/EAST EUROPE/EURASIA2.04%1.83%1.76%1.66%1.41%1.75% SOUTH ASIA3.02%2.82%2.70%2.66%2.46%2.74% UNITED KINGDOM19.78%20.13%20.03%20.68%20.64%20.23% UNITED STATES55.16%56.60%58.12%58.22%59.23%57.38% WESTERN/NORTHERN EUROPE12.24%11.78%11.21%10.62%10.35%11.28% Grand Total100.00% 11

Africa Vs. East Asia Lending of Non-English Materials AFRICA0.70%0.91%0.85%0.92%0.71%0.82% AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND0.03% 0.02%0.04%0.05%0.03% CANADA0.67%0.75%0.46%0.60%0.65%0.63% EAST ASIA/OCEANIA10.44%10.32%9.86%9.70%11.09%10.27% LATIN AMERICA/CARIBBEAN14.37%15.34%16.02%14.87%15.10%15.12% MIDDLE EAST1.66%1.89%2.00%1.90%2.19%1.91% SLAVIC/EAST EUROPE/EURASIA19.07%17.79%17.62%19.20%17.88%18.33% SOUTH ASIA0.92%0.90%0.79%0.61%0.96%0.84% UNITED KINGDOM0.71%0.70%0.77%0.78%0.61%0.72% UNITED STATES3.12%3.30%3.07%2.91%2.70%3.04% WESTERN/NORTHERN EUROPE48.32%48.05%48.54%48.45%48.07%48.29% Grand Total100.00% 12

Concluding Thoughts Services can conceivably increase usage of an area collection The prevalence of English as a spoken language in a country does not necessarily correlate with the size of the English-language publishing industry Excluding Commonly Taught Language materials from analysis minimizes the impact of some area collections Analyzing ILL data using country of imprint as well as language is a good way to assess impact of area studies collections 13

Get in Touch! Presenters Thomas Teper, Associate University Librarian for Collections– Mara Thacker, South Asian Studies Librarian– Co-Investigators Joseph Lenkart– International Reference Services Librarian– Steven Witt– Head of International and Area Studies Library, Japanese Studies Librarian– 14 Special thanks to Esra Coskun and Joe Torchedlo for helping with data analysis.