Measuring Success of Cooperative Collection Development

Abstract

ABSTRACT This report of the Working Group for Quantitative Evaluation of Cooperative Collection Development identifies ways of evaluating through quantitative measures the success of cooperative collection development activities. Following a literature review, the group developed four basic groups of performance measures including: resources or input data (numerical data like FTE, staff, items purchased, items in collections, etc.); financial data (library/group expenditures, unit costs, etc.); use data (use of electronic, print, or near print, documents delivered, etc.); and user satisfaction data. On the basis of a modified balanced scorecard approach, specific performance measures and underlying data points are identified that could be effective in measuring cooperative collection development efforts and determining if a cooperative collection development project reduced unit costs, increased access to information resources, and resulted in increased use and user satisfaction.