Mitch Turitz wrote:

> We are looking for some way better than taking an item count from our
> integrated library system and multiplying it by the average replacement
> cost of a book.  What are the rest of you doing?

Here are three ideas:

(A) The intrinsic cost-effectivness of appropriate information, saving
needless expenditure of scarce resources, was suggested by economist Fritz
Machlup and applied by researchers including Donald W. King and John
Martyn. Information controls what is done and how, saving duplication of
laboratory and field work and avoiding fruitless lines of inquiry. The
cost of good information resources is balanced by better quality research
and education. The estimation of value must be supported by a survey of
the users.

(B) There are plenty of good libraries in the Bay Area. In evaluating your
collection you would also want to use questionnaires to determine how
often users of various classes use other collections and why. As far as I
know, the L&IS literature ignores using union lists to send patrons away.

(C) Relative usefulness might be judged by changing rates of performance
failure. Divide the number of interlibrary borrowings by the number of
volumes in the collection for as many years as you have statistics. The
average quotient for 36 large universities nearly doubled for an 18-year
period ending 1992; individual rates varied considerably; and some
universities showed no change in performance.

It would also be interesting to survey the extent to which research and
teaching faculty use document delivery and correspondents for articles --
sources which did not exist prior to the 1960s and the commercialization
of the Xerox copier.

Albert Henderson, Editor, PUBLISHING RESEARCH QUARTERLY
70244.1532@compuserve.com

References:

Henderson, Albert. 1994-95. The Bottleneck in research communications, in
Publishing Research Quarterly. 10,4:5-21. covers collection failure
quotient

King, Donald W., et al. 1982 Value of the Energy Data Base. Oak Ridge TN,
Technical Information Center. DE82014250

Machlup, Fritz. 1962. Production and Distribution of Knowledge in the
United States.  Princeton University Press.

Martyn, John. 1963. Unintentional duplication of research, in New Scientist.
377:388.