Can in-house use data of print collections shed new light on library practices? Statistical evidence from a five-year longitudinal study in China

Abstract

Libraries worldwide are encountering limited budgets, rising e-collection prices and declining check-out use of print books. It is necessary for administrators to demonstrate physical library value to stakeholders and make empirically based collection development decisions. This five-year longitudinal study of the Southern Medical University Library in China was conducted based on the in-house use and the check-out use data of the whole collection from 2012 to 2016. We found that the in-house use of print materials was positively correlated with the check-out use. In-house use represented 26.78% of the total circulation, on average. Academic bound periodicals and reference books were rarely used in-house. The in-house use ratio differed greatly among subjects, and subjects with frequent check-out use approximated the average ratio. Collections with high check-out use also had a high in-house use ratio. Of the books, 46.1% of the titles were used only in-house, and titles of in-house use were 1.5 times that of check-out use, although the average frequency of in-house use was lower than check-out use. Check-out use data could not comprehensively represent in-house use. In-house use data provided important information for the physical library’s value estimation and collection weeding. We provide practical suggestions on in-house use data collection, collection development and weeding work.