IASL Research Abstracts: 135

Findings: High usage resources disappear from library collections have monetary value and topics related to pop culture.

Abstract: Research and practitioner publications offer indications of the importance of nonfiction materials to young adult information needs. The present study attempts to discern patterns of adolescent information seeking by analyzing reports of unused and underused materials in the young adult collections of an individual library system. Such an approach contributes to a fuller picture of adolescent information-seeking behaviors by complementing existing survey or interview-based research. The analysis shows high use of materials in areas which are nonetheless flagged by computer analysis as non-circulating. Collection analysis indicates there is evidence that high-use items disappear from the collection at significant rates, that these items have monetary value, and cover topics ranging from sex and drugs to rock stars. See:

Pierce, J.B. (2003). Picking the flowers in the 'fair garden': The circulation, non-circulation and disappearance of young adult nonfiction materials. School Libraries Worldwide, 9 (2), 62-72.

Subject Categories: 2