Abstract

Archival repositories must be strategic and selective in deciding what collections they will acquire and steward. Careful collection stewards balance many factors, including ongoing resource needs and future research use. They ensure new acquisitions build upon existing topical strengths in the repository’s holdings and reassess these existing strengths regularly through multiple lenses. In this study, we examine the suitability of text analysis as a method for analyzing collection scope strengths across a repository’s physical archival holdings. We apply a tool for text analysis called Leximancer to analyze a corpus of archival finding aids to explore topical coverage. Leximancer results were highly aligned with the baseline subject heading analysis that we performed, but the concepts, themes, and co-occurring topic pairs surfaced by Leximancer suggest areas of collection strength and potential focus for new acquisitions. We discuss the potential applications of text analysis for internal library use including collection development, as well as potential implications for wider description, discovery, and access. Text analysis can accurately surface topical strengths and directly lead to insights that can inform future acquisition decisions and archival collection development policies.

Full Text

Published Version

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.