Restructuring a Popular Magazine Collection: Using Microassessment Strategies to Keep Rolling with the Times

Abstract

As with many undergraduate libraries at large academic research institutions, the collections of the Shapiro Undergraduate Library (UGL) at the University of Michigan support the curricular, leisure, and lifelong learning interests of first and second year undergraduate students. It is not an archival collection; it can "roll with the times!" During the 2013-2014 academic year, the UGL restructured its periodical collection. Subscriptions to academic and scholarly journals were cancelled, but students still have access to those journals through the research collections of the university library. Simultaneously the UGL's periodical collection refocused its scope to an emphasis on current and popular magazines.

To determine the efficacy of this change, we posed the following questions: How has this collection been used in the last two years since this change? Are undergraduate students aware of the magazine collection? Who uses this collection? For what purpose? With these questions in mind, we conducted a series of microassessments using surveys and mobile polls, as well as circulation data. This was done in collaboration between the library's collection analyst, the UGL's collection coordinator, and a library science graduate student as part of her collection development-focused internship.

The poster includes our methodology, particularly the microassessment tools we used, the results of our assessments, and how we used them to inform changes to the collection.