Analyzing course descriptions and student learning outcomes for digital primary source collection development

Abstract

To identify potential needs for primary source collections, this study examines course descriptions and student learning outcomes from the University General Course Catalog of the University of Nevada, Reno. Primary source collection development analysis has not been a focus for librarianship literature. This study uses OpenRefine to analyze words and phrases related to philosophy, history, and primary source resources. Specific locations, time periods, and topics were identified as potential collections for future acquisitions. The findings presented here are specific to one university, but the development of this analysis process can help other academic libraries identify potential topics and resources for their collection development.

Keywords:

• Primary sources
• text analysis
• collections assessment
• library acquisitions
• academic libraries

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Rosalind Bucy for her help in the early stages of this research. Lastly, we would like to recognize Nathan Gerth, who provided the spaCy scripts used during the initial data analysis phase. Those scripts were adapted and reworked from code in an article by Charlie Harper and R. Benjamin Gorham.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).