Annual Report 1996/97

2. Collections Management

Chart: Materials Expenditures Distribution

The Library's acquisition expenditures for 1996/97 was $5,036,608:

Books (monographs)	$1,550,452
Serials	2,997,535
Services	222,178
Leased databases, document delivery	266,443

Cost reduction measures over the past several years have enabled the library to set aside an amount of $286,943 as a "serials retention fund" to be carried forward into 1997/98.
Considerable time was spent reviewing serials, resulting in cancellation of 381 titles for a cost avoidance of $294,000. This was the third major cancellation program since 1990. Librarians also reviewed standing orders for monographic series, resul ting in cancellation of orders no longer considered optimal.

Much work went into developing recommendations for the harmonization of circulation policies among Wilfrid Laurier, Guelph and Waterloo.
During the last year, total circulation activity has declined by 13%.

Circulation Activity	1995/96	1996/97	% change
Total Circulation - Porter	339,108	308,718	-9.0%
Total Circulation - Davis	366,869	292,828	-20.2%
Total Circulation - UMDL	28,836	31,388	8.9%
Total Circulation - Optometry	12,210	14,832	25.7%
Total Circulation - Spec. Coll.	3,452	3,130	-9.3%
Total Circulation - UW	750,475	651,413	-13.2%

Since 1991/92, when UW reached the circulation peak (998,223) the overall decline has been 34.7%. Possible reasons for the decline in general circulation activities:
- Difficulty of finding local materials on the GEAC online catalogue
- Increased use of the WWW and finding more electronic resources
- Changes in the curriculum or assignments
- Decline in the number of new monographs acquired
Renewals decreased by 9.3 during the last year.

Renewals	1995/96	1996/97	% change
Renewals - Porter	30,039	27,570	-8.2%
Renewals - Davis	98,159	87,747	-10.6%
Renewals - Total - UMD	6,213	6,441	3.7%
Renewals - Total - Optometry	340	517	52.1%
Renewals - Total	134,751	122,275	-9.3%

Since 1990/91 total Reserve Reading Circulation has dropped by 23%, 4% during the last year.

Reserve Circulation	1995/96	1996/97	% change
Reserve - Porter - Charges	34,303	28,269	-17.6%
Reserve - Davis - Charges	91,431	89,771	-1.8%
Reserve - Optometry	9,819	11,858	20.8%
Reserve - Total	135,553	129,898	-4.2%

The rate of decline, almost 18%, is significant in the Dana Porter Library Reserve Reading area. The Reserve Reading circulation in Davis is 90,000, three times the amount circulated from Porter Reserve. The number of items in the Reserve Reading collection seems to stay steady.

Although overall binding activities are down from 1990/91 by 29%, during the last year there was an increase. Expenditures have increased slightly.

Library Binding	1995/96	1996/97	% change
Library Binding - Porter	5,653	5,762	1.9%
Library Binding - Davis	4,436	4,698	5.9%
Binding - Total	10,089	11,026	9.3%
Binding Expenditures	$85,146	$95,596	12.3%
Approx. Unit Price	$8.44	$9.14	8.3%

Special Collections materials are used in-house and not charged out of the department. In 1996/97 there were 3,130 items used. This figure includes archive boxes, rather than individual files, and manuscripts. Although the use is relatively low (0.5% of all uses) there has been a 95% increase in use since 1990/91.

Secretary to the University Librarian
Last Updated: June 6, 2005