Book Selection by Librarians and Faculty Through Collection Evaluation Methods: A Case Study of Keio University Library in Japan.

Purpose: This paper illustrates quantitatively the different methods of selecting books and the results between librarians and faculty of universities. The three main research issues are: 1) the impact of book selection on the level of book circulation and the quality of the library collection, 2) the characteristics of book selections, and 3) the possibility of applying collection evaluation methods to research issues in studies on book selection. Methods: The quality and characteristics of economic books held in Keio University Library were quantitatively measured by two collection evaluation methods based on book circulation statistics and list-checking, and the differences between books selected by librarians and faculty were analyzed. Book circulation statistics were examined from seven perspectives: 1) total number of Japanese and foreign language books, 2) collection turnover rate, 3) percentage of non-loaned books, 4) percentage of books loaned more than five times per year, 5) percentage of loaned books by user type, 6) collection turnover rate by user type, and 7) obsolescence. For list-checking, this study used four check-lists: 1) other library catalogs, 2) economics book reviews, 3) selective bibliography (Senteitosho-Soumokuroku) and 4) books cited in masters' and doctoral theses. Results: According to book circulation statistics, librarians tend to select more Japanese books than those writ- ten in foreign languages, and conversely, faculty prefer to select foreign language books. Most of the Japanese books selected by librarians were loaned, but most of the books selected by faculty were not loaned. Books selected by librarians were frequently loaned by every user, and became obsolete more slowly that those selected by faculty. List-checking showed that books selected by librarians largely overlapped the check-lists. As these results show, the collection evaluation method is a useful tool for book selection studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]