Music Library Association Conference 2019

This poster presents findings about relative past circulation and interlibrary loan (ILL) requesting that can be used to address future collecting decision for books and scores in Emory’s music collection. Circulation data was used to determine how LC subsections have circulated in the past relative to all music books and scores, and ILL data consulted to determine what subsections have had the most requests, using the assessment tools Percentage of Expected Use (PEU) and Ratio of Borrowing to Holdings (RBH). Other circulation assessments were made regarding books’ and scores’ size and year of purchase. The results show that some LC subsections receive relative high use and low ILL requests (suggesting we collect well in those areas), while others receive relative high use and high ILL requests (suggesting these sections could use more collection attention, despite being popular). One subsection has relatively average circulation but high ILL requesting, suggesting it needs more collection attention. Additional findings include: books need around 5–6 years on the shelf to reach average circulation (which has implications for offsite storage) and scores circulation statistics were artificially inflated during certain acquisition years because of faulty workflows.