What are Our Customers Reading. An Analysis of the Most Frequently Used Subjects of the NIST Research Library Book Collection Based on Circulation

摘要

This report analyzes circulation data for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Research Library book collection to determine the most used subjects. Books are grouped into subjects using their call numbers, and subjects are ranked by usage at the broad class, subclass, and specific topic level. The most circulated individual titles are also given. Tables showing rankings are given in Appendix A. Research for this report was initiated in fiscal year 2003 as part of an Information Services Division (ISD) review of the book acquisitions processes of the NIST Research Library. The review showed that the Library received via its book approval plan almost twice as many books as it purchased. To tighten the approval plan profile to more closely match actual purchasing and reduce returns, Library staff determined to report on usage patterns in the book collection based on circulation statistics. It was hoped that the resulting report could be used to tighten the profile controlling automatic book delivery, and to serve as a general aid to the book selection process by giving Library staff one tool with which to predict the value of a purchase in terms of actual customer usage.