Emilie Hardman Houghton Library, Harvard University Susan Pyzynski

On Aesthetics, Zacatecas and Everything In-between:

Utilizing Subject Headings from Special Collections Circulation Data to Assess and Inform

Emilie Hardman Houghton Library, Harvard University

Susan Pyzynski Houghton Library, Harvard University

HOUGHTON LIBRARY• Houghton Library is Harvard University’s principal special

collections library• 600,000 books• 10 million manuscripts• Millions of prints, photographs, ephemera• Collection strengths in American, English, and Continental history

• Reading Room Statistics (FY 2011-2012)• 2,077 individual registered users• 6,037 visits

• Strong Seminar Program (FY 2012-2013)• 229 seminars hosted

IMPLEMENTATION OF AEON• September 2010 Houghton implemented Atlas System’s

archives/special collections circulation system• Allowed for collection and analysis of standardized data at a scale

and with ease not previously available to us

• Almost three years worth of data• Selected a piece to begin exploring

• What could the now easily-examined subject headings of our circulated materials tell us about collection usage and the research interests of our patrons?

• What could we do to respond to what we might learn?

PREVIOUS EFFORTS

Houghton Library Reading Room during a “bone feast” (holiday party), 1980s. Houghton Bridge may be seen in back right corner.

PURSUING POSSIBILITIES• Data, not anecdotes!

• Increased understanding

• Predictive powers?

• Illumination of collection strengths

• Inform practices? Policies? More?

COLLECTION SURVEYS

• Significant collection surveys in special collections• Manuscript Survey Project (Bancroft, Berkeley)• Mellon Special Collections Materials Survey (Columbia)• Unprocessed Collections Survey Project (U. Michigan)• MASC Surveys and the Collection Survey of 2013 (Harvard)

• Offer perspectives on the collections, but not necessarily their usage

OUR GOALSAn agile, exploratory project• Less effort and planning required• See where the data take us

Utilizing work we have already done• Cataloging• Data already collected and maintained

Focused on use • Highlights subject headings as significant and illustrative of

patron interests

SUBJECT HEADINGS• Number of projects through the 1980s in circulating

collections• Used to weed • Used to identify areas for collection development

• Recent OSLC OhioLINK Collection and Circulation Analysis • Provides a broad picture of collections, could perhaps offer

insights into subject usage by patrons

• Critiques of bias and application we must be aware of• Headings may have cultural biases • Headings may be incompletely applied

OUR APPROACH• Ran report in Aeon to collect all patron requests from

September 2010-December 2012• Cleaned data (missing and incorrectly entered) • Left with 21,017 unique bibliographic records

• Ran against Cognos in increments of 1,000• Exported to Excel and cleaned again• Resulted in 46,067 subject headings

• Developed codebook• 35 master categories with definitions, sample LCSH headings and

parameters for application• Coding all subject headings

SOME DISCOVERIES• Subject access seems to be significant to circulation• Our circulated sample: 14, 447 bibliographic records with subject

headings and 6,540 without • approximately 70% with headings

• Our collection broadly: 244,260 records out of 473,086 without subject access • approximately 50%

• Items cataloged within the past 10 years are much more likely to provide subject access

• Prevalent subjects of circulated materials confirm both anecdotal evidence and offer surprises

FUTURE PROSPECTSMany interesting and potentially useful applications

• Better understand patron needs in various academic areas• Better serve our seminar program• Better serve remote users• Inform collecting policies• Inform cataloging and accessioning practices• Inform digitization and delivery

Concluding ThoughtsStill very exploratory, but some key considerations have emerged from the work already.• How might we use a project like this to foster a culture of agile

assessment?• Archives and Special Collections may have a different angle on

using subject analysis to develop their collections.• Adding subject headings at the point of accession is an

opportunity to provide greater access and encourage circulation.

• Investment of cataloger time and effort in applying robust subject access seems to be a verifiably valuable service.

THANK YOU

Emilie Hardman ehardman@fas.harvard.edu

Susan Pyzynski pyzynski@fas.harvard.edu