MANAGING THE COLLECTING EFFORT Available to Purchase

With improved analytic methods, electronic tools are becoming practical to help library managers assess investments and improve their collecting programs within a given budget. Collection managers can use them to set goals, estimate costs, and review progress. One such tool is under development at OCLC. The Office of Research at OCLC, under the direction of Martin Dillon, has developed a prototype that draws on OCLC's bibliographic and holdings database and uses a compact disk. My description of this experimental analysis tool is pro tem as OCLC's design is still evolving. It deals with patterns in library collections and should prove useful to libraries employing the Conspectus or participating in the National Collections Inventory Program. Indeed, the OCLC prototype will involve significantly less effort and yield significantly more subtle reports than former methods.