College and Research Libraries GEORGE M. JENKS Circulation and Its Relationship to the Book Collection and Academic Departments The computer-produced circulation statistics in the Bucknell Univer- sity Library for the academic year 1973 I 7 4 are analyzed by Library of Congress classification and academic department. Circulation is com- pared to the number of volumes related to each department in order to determine how much the department is using the subfect-related book collection. Circulation is also compared with the number of stu- dents in the department. These two comparisons identify areas of the collection· that arc underutilized or heavily used. Those areas can be studied to determine why this is so and where additional resources should be placed or where the collection should be weeded. How IS THE BOOK COLLECTION BEING usED? Which departments make use of it? Are we adding books to the collec- tion that are useful? Are books impor- tant to certain disciplines? In an at- tempt to provide some insight into these questions, the circulation figures of the Ellen Clarke Bertrand Library of Buck- nell University for 1973174 were ana- lyzed. William E. McGrath, in one study, in- dicated the correlation between books charged out and books used within an open-stack library.1 We have considered only those books actually charged out. In another study McGrath assigned clas- sification numbers to courses and found that book numbers matching course pro- files were more likely to be charged out than not. 2 The Bucknell case study focuses on individual departments and George M. ] enks is university librarian, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsyl- vania. indicates which departments are well served. Bucknell University is primarily an undergraduate university of about 3,000 students in a rural area of central Penn- sylvania with an open-stack library. It has thirty-three departments or pro- grams. Programs have a somewhat dif- ferent status than departments, but for our purposes the distinction is irrele- vant. The Library of Congress Classifi- cation is used by the library, and each depa1tment or program was assigned a class or classes corresponding to the sub- ject matter. This is routinely done in or- der to produce a list of new books on a departmental basis. Statistics are col- lected by the computer through an on- line circulation system. There are a few problems due to the LC classification system and program- ming of the computer. For instance, the computer science and mathematics clas- sification cannot be separated, since the computer programming does not break I 145 146 I College & Research Libraries • March 1976 down class QA into subclassifications. The economics books and the manage- ment books are not separable because it is difficult to divide class H into eco- nomics and management classifications. There are four engineering · depart- ments in the College of Engineering- chemical, civil, electrical, and mechan- ical-but we have not subdivided class T. Japanese studies include many books in history, but we have not subdivided history, so we have a figure for history and a figure for Japanese studies and history, which includes the language ma- terial, but no separate figure fpr J ap- anese studies alone. The miscellaneous figure includes the unmodified H' s and K's due to a programming error, so that the sociology and political science fig- ures will be a little off. Also noted are the classifications that do not fall into any of Bucknell's dis- ciplines. These are: A, General; Q, Gen- eral Science; V, Naval Science; Z, Bibli- ography and Information Science; Ju- venile, classified in Dewey; New Book Shelf, which are unclassified until LC copy is received, and Paperbacks. In order to determine the number of books in each classification, the shelflist was measured, and the figure of 120 vol- umes to each inch of cards was used to calculate the number of volumes. This figure may possibly be inaccurate be- cause some areas will have more multi- volume sets or additional copies than other areas. It may also be inaccurate be- cause the 120-volume figure is an esti- mate. However, for our purposes the actual figure is not so important, since it is the relationship of one area to an- other that concerns us. The circulation figures were comput- ed to show the percentage of total circu- lation by department as compared with the number of books by department. The figures do not include reserve books, periodicals, or government docu- ments. Calculations were also made to oomoo~t­ ~ ...... o:>OM ~ 'ex:),....;,....; Q:l\C)r;\l,......\0 t- ....... \0 ....... ~ ~ ·o;,....;,....; OOlCMOO C'IMt-M c:OC':ic-:i~ ,....... MOOo:>C\1 t-lC a> \0 c:OC':ic-:ioci ,....... Geography: G-GF, QE 4,440 631 1.68 .94 55.95 .88 Geography: G-GF 2,040 252 .. 77 .37 48.05 .35 Geology: QE 2,400 379 .91 .56 61.54 .53 History: C-F . 46,800 9,522 17.7 14.15 79.94 13.21 Japanese Studies and History: C- F, PJ- PM 48,480 9,914 18.33 14.73 80.36 13.75 Management and Economics: HA- HJ 24,360 4,5.29 9.21 6.73 73.07 6.28 Mathematics and Computer Science: QA 7,320 1,172 2.77 1.74 62.82 1.63 Military Science: U 1,320 322 .5 . .48 96.0 .45 Modern Languages Literatures, and Linguistics: P, PB- PH, PA,PT 22,080 4,088 8.35 6.07 72.69 5.67 French: PQ1-PQ3999 7,680 1,598 2.9 2.37 81.72 2.22 German: PT 5,160 987 1.95 1.47 75.38 1.37 Linguistics: P 1,320 415 .5 .62 124.0 .58 Russian: PG 2,520 454 .95 .67 70.53 .63 Spanish: PQ6001- PQ9999 1,680 583 .64 .87 135.94 .81 Music: M 5,040 1,462 1.91 2.17 113.61 2.03 Philosophy: B-BD, BH- BJ 7,320 1,767 2.77 2.63 94.95 2.45 Physical Education: GV 1,080 503 .41 .75 182.93 .7 Physics: QC 3,840 700 1.45 1.04 71.72 .97 Political Science: HX- K 13,800 2,784 5.22 4.14 79.31 . 3.86 Psychology: BF 4,200 2,694 1.59 3.95 248.43 3.74 Religion: BL-BX 14,760 2,656 5.58 3.95 70.79 3.68 Sociology: GN- GT, HM- HV 11,640 4,910 4.4 7.29 165.68 6.81 (Total = 72,078) 93.38 (Total Collection) (7 to 4) General: A 1,080 48 .41 17.5 . . 07 (') General Science: Q 2,040 199 .75 37.33 .28 ~· Naval Science: V 360 37 .13 38.46 .05 0 ~ Bibliography and S' Information Science: Z 2,040 161 .75 29.33 .22 ~ ~. c Juvenile 2,160 534 .79 93.67 .74 ~ New Book Shelf 1,199 1.66 -Paperbacks 1,872 2.6 1-' ~ . Miscellaneous 721 1.0 -l o Excluding A, Q, V, Z, Juvenile, New Book Shelf, Paperbacks t Excluding A, Q, V, Z, Juvenile, New Book Shelf, Paperbacks, Miscellaneous 148 I College & Research Libraries • March 1976 show the percentage of the total circu- lation in order to make a comparison with the percentage of nondepartmen- tal circulation. Since the circulation figures are by class number, there is not the distortion which might come about if one used as a basis the amount spent on books or the number of volumes requested by a department regardless of where they might be classified. However, these fac- tors are of some significance and deserve study. ACADEMIC DEPARTMENTS AND LmRARY CIRCULATION Table 1 lists the departments and LC class related numbers. Some depart- ments are listed twice because of com- bined figures that cannot be separated, e.g., economics and management. Geol- ogy and geography are combined into one department administratively, but this is historical accident. The five pro- grams under modem languages, litera- tures, and linguistics are all programs within one department. The second column gives the number of volumes (estimated) in the class numbers related to the department. The third column gives the circulation of books in those class numbers. The fourth column lists the percentage of books in those class numbers as a por- tion of the total book collection, exclud- ing books not related to any depart- ment. The fifth column lists the per- centage of circulation of those books in relationship to the total circulation, excluding books not related to any de- partment. The sixth column shows the relationship between books circulated and books in the collection. The last column lists the percentage of circula- tion of books in relationship to the to- tal circulation. (The percentage figures are rounded off to the nearest hun- dredth.) The sixth column in Table 1 contains significant figures as they indicate whether the collection is being used and which disciplines are making the most use of the collection. Any figure above 100 means that the percentage of circu- lation is higher than the percentage of books in that class. Therefore, the high- er the number the greater the use com- pared to other classes. The nondepart- mental :figures given in this column show the relationship to the total circu- lation. NuMBER OF STUDENTS AND LmRARY CIRCULATION Table 2 again lists departments and LC class numbers and percentage of circulation. The second column gives the total number of students who re- ceived grades in the departments' courses for the two semesters and sum- mer school. The last column shows the relationship of circulation to grades as a percentage figure. The :figure has no meaning by itself but serves to compare departments on the basis of number of students and circulation of books. -RANKING OF DEPARTMENTS Table 3 :first ranks the departments in order of highest circulation com- pared to the department's portion of the collection in order to show which de- partments make the most use of that part of the collection relating to their disciplines. The figures simply indicate that those departments at the top of the list use their parts of the collection more than do the departments at the bottom. Missing factors include num- ber of faculty, number of charges for the same title, reserve book use, use of the periodicals collection, graduate work offered, need for a wide range of titles, and use of books outside one's discipline. We hope that much of the latter is occurring. The last column in Table 3 compares circulation with the number of students taking a department's courses. By using both these relationships we learn some- thing of the use of the collection and where our strengths and weaknesses lie. There are eleven departments that ranked below 100 compared to both number of volumes and number of stu- dents. If a department is low in both columns, we should look more closely at the collection to see why we are buy- ing and keeping books that are not being used. We should look at those collections Circulation I 149 which are used more heavily and see why2 and if the higher circulation is for a few titles or for many. We can pro- gram our computer to retrieve other sta- tistics that would be useful; for in- stance, a breakdown of circulation by student class and major. Let us look at two cases. The physical education department accounts for a heavy proportion of grades given, and the collection is used heavily in relation TABLE 2 AcADEMIC DEPARTMENTS AND STUDENTS AS RELATED TO LIBRARY CmCULATION, BuCKNELL UNIVERsiTY, 1973-74 1 2 3 4 Department and Number of Percent of Percent of Class Numbers Grades Total Grades Circulation• (Total = 25,325) Art:N 1,012 4.0 4.79 Astronomy: QB 79 .31 .16 Biology: QH-S 1,510 5.96 9.62 Chemistry: QD 1,176 4~64 1.11 Classics: P A 139 .55 1.46 Computer Science Economics and Management: HA-HJ 3,075 12.14 6.73 Education: L 1,418 5.6 3.58 Engineering: T 1,768 6.98 3.99 English: PN, PR-PS, PZ 2,491 9.84 18.62 Geology and Geography: G-GF,QE 500 1.97 .94 Geography: G-GF 259 1.02 .37 Geology: QE 241 .95 .56 History: C-F 775 3.06 14.15. Japanese Studies and History: C-F, PJ-PM 1,052 4.15 14.73 Management and Economics: HA-HJ 3,075 12.14 6.73 Mathematics: QA 2,230 8.81 1.74 Military Science: U 74 .29 .48 Modern Languages, Literatures and Linguistics: P, PB-PH, PQ,PT 995 3.93 6.07 French: PQ1-PQ3999 371 1.46 2.37 German: PT 259 1.02 1.47 Linguistics: P 73 .29 .62 Russian: PG 68 .27 .67 Spanish: PQ6001-PQ999f} 207 .82 .87 Music: M 787 3.11 2.17 Philosophy: B-BD, BH-BJ 677 2.67 2.63 Physical Education: GV 1,600 6.32 .75 Physics: QC 715 2.82 1.04 Political Science: HX-K 923 3.64 4.14 Psychology: BF 1,480 5.84 3.95 Religion: BL-BX 350 1.38 3.95 Sociology: GN-GT, HM-HV 1,274 5.03 7.29 • Excluding A, Q, V, Z, Juvenile, New Book Shelf, Paperbacks, Miscellaneous 5 Ratio of 4 to 3 119.75 51.61 161.41 23.92 265.45 55.44 63.93 57.16 189.23 47.72 37.27 58.95 462.42 354.94 55.44 19.75 165.52 154.45 162.33 144.12 213.79 248.15 106.1 69.77 98.5 11.87 36.88 113.74 67.64 286.23 144.93 150 /College & Research Libraries • March 1976 TABLE 3 R.Amo:NG OF DEPARTMENTs, RELATING CoLLECTION UsAGE TO NUMBER OF BooKS AND NUMBER OF STUDENTS, BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY, 1973-74 Usage of Collection Department and Class Numbers Compared to Number of Books Compared to Number of Students Psychology: BF Physical Education: GV Sociology: GN-GT, HM-HV Biology: QH-S Art:N Spanish: PQ6001-PQ9999 Classics: P A Linguistics: P English: PN, PR-PS, PZ Music: M Chemistry: QD Military Science: U Education: L Philosophy: B-BD, BH-BJ Engineering: T French: PQ1-PQ3999 Japanese Studies and History: C-F, PJ-PM History: C-F Political Science: HX-K German: PT Economics and Management: HA-HJ Management and Economics: HA-HJ Modern Languages, Literatures and Linguistics: P, PB-PH, PQ, PT Physics: QC Religion: BL-BX Russian: PC Computer Science and Mathematics: QA Mathematics and Computer Science: QA Geology: QE Geology and Geography: G-GF, QE Geography: G-GF Astronomy: QB Juvenile Naval Science: V General Science: Q Bibliography and Information Science: Z General: A to its size but not in relation to the number of students. Probably the col- lection is too small, and the low usage compared to grades given would rise if the collection were larger. We also need to know who is using these books: our students or local high school students. The geography collection is used very · 248.43 67.64 182.93 11.87 165.68 144.93 149.38 161.41 137.25 119.75 135.94 106.1 129.2 265.45 124.0 213.79 122.9 189.23 113.61 69.77 111.0 23.92 96.0 165.52 94.96 63.93 94.95 98.5 88.86 57.16 81.72 162.33 80.36 354.94 79.94 462.42 79.31 113.74 75.38 144.12 73.07 55.44 73.07 55.44 72.69 154.45 71.72 36.88 70.79 286.23 70.53 248.15 62.82 62.82 19.75 61.54 58.95 55.95 47.72 48.05 36.27 44.44 51.61 93.67 38.46 37.33 29.33 17.5 little; only about 12 percent of the books circulate. It also ranks low in comparison with the number of stu- dents. The students may be using other books, such as those in history, since ge- ography draws on many other disci- plines. But in any case, most books in G-GF are not being read by anyone. CoLLEGE AND DIVISION AND LIBRARY CIRCULATION The College of Arts and Sciences is organized along the divisional lines shown in Tables 4 and 5. These tables, showing data similar to those reported · by department in Tables 1 and 2, reveal what we had thought: students in the Circulation I 151 humanities and fine arts read more and read more widely than do those in the social and natural sciences. No formulas, magic or otherwise, re- sult from this study. The figures repre- sent no absolutes. We cannot say that a portion of the collection which has only a 72.69 percent ratio of usage is under- TABLE 4 CoLLEGE AND DIVISION AS RELATED TO LmRARY CmcULATION, BucKNELL UNIVERSITY, 1973-74 1 2 3 4 5 6 Percent of Percent of Ratio of Category Volumes Circulation Collection• Circulationt 5 to 4 College of Arts and Sciences 252,600 64,619 95.51 96.01 100.52 College of Engineering 11,880 2,688 4.49 3.99 88.86 College of Arts and Sciences Division of Humanities and Fine Arts (Art; Classics; English; History; Music; Modem Lan- guages, Literatures, and Lin- (Percent of (Percent of guistics; Philosophy; Religion; A&S) A&S) Japanese Studies) 150,000 36,628 59.38 56.68 95.45 Division of Social Sciences (Economics, Education, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Management) 63,960 17,329 25.32 26.82 105.92 Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (Biology, Chemis- try, Geology and Geography, Mathematics, Physics) 35,280 9,726 13.97 15.05 107.73 Division of Special Programs ( Military Science, Physical Education) 2,400 825 .95 1.28 134.74 0 Excluding A Q, V, Z, Juvenile, New Book SheH, Paperbacks t Excluding A, Q, V, Z, Juvenile, New Book SheH, Paperbacks, Miscellaneous TABLE 5 CoLLEGE AND DIVISION AND STUDENTS As RELATED TO LmRARY CmcULATION, BuCKNELL UNIVERSITY, 1973-74 1 2 3 4 5 Number of Percent of Percent of Ratio of Category Grades Total Grades Circulation• 4 to 3 College of Arts and Sciences 23,557 93.02 96.01 103.21 College of Engineering 1,768 6.98 3.99 57.16 College of Arts and Sciences Division of Humanities and Fine Arts (Art; Classics; English; History; Music; Modem Languages, Literatures, (Percent of (Percent of and Linguistics; Philosophy; Religion; A&S) A&S) Japanese Studies ) 7,503 31.85 56.68 177.96 Division of Social Sciences (Economics, Education, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Management) 8,170 34.68 26.82 77.34 152 I College & Research Libraries • March 1976 TABLE 5 (continued) 1 Category 2 Number of Grades 3 Percent of Total Grades 4 Percent of Circulation• 5 Ratio of 4 to 3 Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (Biology, Chemistry, Geology and Geography, Mathematics, Physics) Division of Special Programs ( Military Science, Physical Education) 6,210 1,674 26.36 7.11 15.05 1.28 57.09 18.0 0 Excluding A, Q, V, Z, Juvenile, New Book Shelf, Paperbacks, Miscellaneous used and those above this figure are ade- quately used. The ratios indicate rela- tionships. We need to· examine those areas that are heavily used to see why this is so. A low usage may mean that our collection does not have the titles needed. Perhaps we should check certain classifications against bibliographies. Perhaps some areas rely more on peri- odicals than books and we should adjust our purchases accordingly. Certain areas of the collection must be examined as to selection, usage, and funding in or- der to make a more efficient use of the collection. All of this should be done anyway, but we now know where to start. REFERENCES 1. William E. McGrath, "Correlating the Sub- jects of Books Taken Out Of and Books Used Within an Open-Stack Library," Col- ege & Research Libraries 32:280-85 (July 1971). 2. William E. McGrath, "The Signiflcance of Books Used According to a Classified Pro- file of Academic Departments," College & Re- search Libraries 33:212--19 (May 1972).