Identification of Storage Candidates Among Monographs

Abstract

This study investigates the possibility of constructing an algorithm for allocating monographs from the shelves of the Washington State Library to storage, minimizing the probability of the materials' being recalled by user demand. Current circulation was analyzed to determine the distribution of the lengths of time since the previous circulation, with implied cut-off points for various levels of user satisfaction. Then a random sample of the shelflist was utilized to estimate the portion of the collection which could be stored at any given level of satisfaction. The method can provide management information for a decision as to desired user satisfaction and can indicate the consequent size of the core collection and of the stored collection.