Do Approval Plan Purchases Circulate More Than Firm Orders?

Friday November 8, 2013 2:15pm - 3:00pm Drayton Room, Francis Marion Hotel

33rd Annual Charleston ConferenceNovember 6 – 9, 2013

Issues in Book and Serial Acquisition“Too Much Is Not Enough!”

Kent State University

Definitions– Stark

• Firm orders are catalog orders or an order from any source other than slips produced by the approval profile

• Approval orders are all orders that result form slip notifications produced by the approval profile

– Kent (KSUL)• Approval books are books sent

automatically based on approval profile• Firms orders are any book ordered outside

of the approval book plan, i.e. approval profile slips, catalog orders, email requests…..

Acquisition Workflow Models

Stark• All order are through

YBP• Slips are distributed

via email to faculty and librarians

• Firm orders come from publisher catalogs, etc.

• All orders are logged in house database

• Added to the Catalog upon arrival

Kent• 60% are YBP orders

approval and slips• 30% of all orders are

Firm order via Amazon and other providers

• Slips are distributed via Gobi alerts

• Automated invoice and record loads from YBP

Data Collection

Stark• Item based • Includes internal use and checkouts and renewals • Exclude items in non-circulating collections• Cost per use based on the average cost per print

book

Kent• Bibliographic record based• Includes only checkouts and renewals • Cost per use based on average cost per print book

not on individual prices

Data Collection

Stark • Title • Location• Call Number• Usage

Kent • Title• Call Number • Usage • Fund Code• Vendor Code• Bib Number • Form

Usage Waiver …

It is dangerous to rely on usage as a measure of value, particularly for books.

Consider …

• Are all checkouts equal?

• Are renewals the result of not having enough time to read a book, or not getting around to reading it?

• Students get 6 week loans while faculty/staff get 17 week loans (still counted the same)

• What about in-house use?

Still … It’s all we got

KSUL Findings …

In General …• All Book purchasing is declining from year to year• Firm and Approval equal consistent use • Firm and Approval cost per use is the same• More than 60% of all print books purchased are used at

least once

Print books purchased by individual selectors circulate as well as those acquired via an approval plan

• With no statistical difference in usage, it seems to serve the needs of users as well as firm orders (both average 4.5 uses per book)

Should this influence acquisition behavior? • Have we struck a good balance or do we increase automated

approval purchases to streamline the process• Should we introduce purchase-on-demand models, which

typically have higher circulation compared with traditional acquisition models

• How will this impact how funds are allocated across disciplines.

KSUL Findings …Books Purchased …

• Average

Firm orders over five years = 4662 = 65%

Approval orders over five years = 2489 = 35%

• Overall books purchases declining over the past five years

• Firm purchases declining faster than Approval

• Shrinking budget, must compensate for

Annual journal cost increases

New demands on collection budget

New programs

Increased cost for state consortia resources

Books Purchased

  Firm Approval

FY08/09 5624 2813

FY09/10 5473 2954

FY10/11 3670 2882

FY11/12 3600 2760

FY12/13 3694 2289

KSUL Findings …

Overall books purchases declining

FY08/09 FY09/10 FY10/11 FY11/12 FY12/130

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

Books Purchased, KSUL

Books Purchased FirmBooks Purchased Approval

KSUL Findings …Average Usage … No statistical difference

• Tracks consistently

• Expected, average use increases with time

• Overall four year period, Average use is about 4.5 Circs per book

• 39% of Firm orders, 36% of Approval Plan orders never used

  Average Use

  Firm ApprovalFY08/09 6 6

FY09/10 5 5

FY10/11 4 4

FY11/12 3 3

FY12/13 1 3

  NO CIRC

  Firm Approval

FY08/09 1449 26% 524 19%

FY09/10 1755 32% 707 24%

FY10/11 1323 36% 850 29%

FY11/12 1601 44% 1095 40%

FY12/13 2276 62% 1418 62%

Average   35%   28%

KSUL Findings …

FY08/09 FY09/10 FY10/11 FY11/12 FY12/130

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Average Use, KSUL

Average Use FirmAverage Use Approval

Exception for FY12/13

Average Use - No statistical use difference between Firm and Approval Purchases

KSUL Findings …

• Average cost = $14.00 / per use – calculated at $59.00 per print book

  Cost per Use Firm

Cost per Use Approval

FY08/09 $

9.23 $

9.61

FY09/10 $

12.36 $

11.74

FY10/11 $

14.69 $

13.39

FY11/12 $

20.26 $

18.89

FY12/13 $

41.57 $

18.89

Average $

14.14 $

13.41

FY11/12 FY10/11 FY09/10 FY08/09 $-

$5.00

$10.00

$15.00

$20.00

$25.00

KSUL Cost per Use

Cost per Use FirmCost per Use Approval

EXCLUDED FROM AVERAGE

KSUL Findings …

80/20 Rule does not apply over the four year period…

Excluded from

average

 80/20 RULE - 80% of the

Collection total use for X % of the time

  Firm Approval

FY08/09 32% 38%

FY09/10 30% 36%

FY10/11 28% 32%

FY11/12 25% 28%

FY12/13 17% 24%

Average 29% 34%

KSUL Findings …

0500

10001500200025003000

LC DISTRIBUTION

APPROVALAPPROVAL

02468

101214161820

APPROVALFIRM

KSUL Findings …

USE DISTRIBUTION BY LC CLASSIFICATION

Stark Findings …

In General …

• Consistency (Firm = Approval)

• Approval is more predictable

• 2010/2011 Fiscal Year (July-June) an Anomaly

• Books are being used! (Still a good investment)

Stark Findings …Books Purchased …

• Nearly equal numbers

Firm = 1,274

Approval = 1,299

Difference = 25 (1%)• Approval purchasing is consistent

from year to year

• Firm purchasing, not so much

• Explanation:

Faculty firm orders can change from year to year (new

faculty)

New programs (Music Tech)

Accreditation

08/09 09/10 10/11 11/120

100

200

300

400

500

600

Books Purchased

FirmLinear (Firm)ApprovalLinear (Approval)

Stark Findings …Average Usage …

• Tracks consistently

• (Except for 2010/11)

• Expect average use to go downeach year

• (Less time in collection to circulate)

• No statistical difference

• Average use is about 4.5 per book

• 28% of Firm orders, 23% of Approval Plan orders never used

• 80/20 rule is not in effect:

08/09 09/10 10/11 11/120

1

2

3

4

5

6

Ave. Usage

FirmLinear (Firm)ApprovalLinear (Approval)

Firm ApprovalMean 4.68 4.57

SD 5.97 8.68SEM 0.17 0.24

N 1274 1299

80% of Use is by

Firm 33%

Approval 35%

Stark Findings …Average Cost/Book …

• Fairly consistent across years

• Based on average costs

Firm = $52.04

Approval = $34.82

• Firm Orders cost 50% morethan Approval Plan orders

• Explanation:

Approval Plan profile is mostlyrestricted to General Academictitles (which tend to cost less)

(Believe it or not) Stark facultytend to be more price conscious than librarian selectors (anecdotally speaking)

08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 $-

$10.00

$20.00

$30.00

$40.00

$50.00

$60.00

Ave. Cost/Book

FirmApproval

Stark Findings …Average Cost/Use …

• Average cost =

Firm = $12.40

Approval = $7.82

• Difference is a result of thedifference is the cost/book(approximately the same ratio;firm orders cost 150% of approvals,cost per use for firm orders is 158%of approvals)

• Goes up proportionally year-by-year as newer books had less time to circulate

• 2010/11 breaks the pattern (those books more heavily used)

• Average cost/use for print serials during same time period: $364.53

08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 $-

$5.00

$10.00

$15.00

$20.00

$25.00

Ave. Cost/Use

FirmLinear (Firm)ApprovalLinear (Approval)

Stark Findings …Subject Breakdown of Books Ordered …

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

FirmApproval

Stark Findings …Subject Breakdown of Books Used …

A -- G

ENERAL WORKS

B -- P

HIL. P

SYCH. RELIG

ION

C -- A

UXILIA

RY SCIE

NCES O

F HIS

TORY

D -- W

ORLD H

ISTO

RY AND H

ISTORY O

F EUROPE

E -- H

ISTORY O

F THE A

MERIC

AS

F -- H

ISTORY O

F THE A

MERIC

AS

G -- G

EOGRAPHY. ANTHROPOLO

GY. RECREATIO

N

H -- S

OCIAL S

CIENCES

J -- P

OLIT

ICAL S

CIENCE

K -- L

AW

L -- E

DUCATION

M --

MUSIC

AND B

OOKS O

N MUSIC

N -- F

INE A

RTS

P -- L

ANGUAGE A

ND L

ITERATURE

Q -- S

CIENCE

R -- M

EDICIN

E

S -- A

GRICULTU

RE

T -- T

ECHNOLOGY

U -- M

ILIT

ARY SCIE

NCE

V -- N

AVAL SCIE

NCE

Z -- B

IBLIO

GRAPHY. LIB

RARY SCIE

NCE

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

FirmApproval

Stark Findings …

Subject Breakdown Statistically Speaking…

Books ordered by subject:

No Statistical difference between Firm and Approval

Books used by subject:

No Statistical difference between Firm and Approval

  Firm ApprovalMean 60.67 61.86

SD 69.54 114.42SEM 15.18 24.97

N 21     21    

  Firm ApprovalMean 283.86 282.67

SD 381.79 544.7SEM 83.31 118.86

N 21     21    

Stark Conclusions …

Firm Orders:

Not very consistent in ordering from year-to-year (due to factors already discussed (new faculty encouraged to build collections in their discipline; new program development; accreditation)

Approval Plan

If this were a test of the effectiveness of the campus Approval Plan, it seems to be well profiled in that:

• It replicates firm orders in terms books ordered (no statistical differences)• Is cost effective (1/3 the cost of firm orders)• Subject coverage matches firm orders (again, no statistical difference)• With no statistical difference in usage, it seems to serve the needs of users

as well as firm orders (both average 4.5 uses per book)

Questions …

Presenters:

Kay Downey, Collection Management Librarian Kent State University, University Libraries

mdowney1@kent.edu

Rob Kairis, Library Director Kent State University at Stark

rkairis@kent.edu

Kent State University