Collection Analysis

Scope: Description of programmatic collection analysis efforts

Contact:@Sarah Holsapple

Unit: Collection Strategy & Development Department

Date last reviewed:7/18/2025

Date of next review: 7/18/2027

About Duke Libraries Collection Analysis

Collection Analysis Librarian Mission

The mission of a collection analysis librarian is to evaluate the library collection to see that the materials in the library support the needs of the library users (students, faculty, university) and coordinate with the institutional goals of the library and the university.

Data is a useful tool, but has limitations

Library collection curation is a complicated process. Librarians take into account more than data like cost and usage to decide how to build the collection. But still, data is a useful tool to help guide this work, especially when collections are so large and librarian time stretched so thin. 

Data is one tool that we have to make decisions about what materials to provide. Data can give us a wide view of the collection – how many things and what kind, and can zoom in on specific questions – how many materials in one specific call number range. We can compare two groups like usage vs cost-per-use. But data doesn’t know how to choose the most relevant materials, or how to decide what materials will meet user needs in the future.

This data isn’t neutral. Answers are based on the questions we think to ask, and the way that we ask them – those questions carry our biases with them. The data that we collect is influenced by the biases of the people who designed the systems in the first place (decisions about what metadata to collect reverberate today and limit us). Once we collect this data, we view it and analyze it through our own lens, from our own standpoint.

Duke Library Collection Analysis Projects

Collection Diversity Projects

We conduct a number of collection analysis projects in support of our goal to meet the research and teaching needs of the university by building and maintaining a diverse collection representing the greatest possible array of cultures and perspectives across all disciplines. Details can be found on the Collection Diversity Analysis Projects wiki page.

Collection Analysis Projects

Collection Analysis works on large and small data projects about our collection to inform our work. Links to some of these can be found on the Collection Analysis Data wiki page.

Data Sources