Collection Development part 4: The Data

I like data. I have built a lot of my own reports and data sources over the years, which I use to track and build collections. This will vary based on your time, interest, and what other sources you're using. However, here is some of the data and spreadsheets I use to build and maintain the collection.

Order lists and misc. spreadsheets

• Because I was a cataloger in my earlier life and our cataloger lets me play around with things and for other reasons, I have very specific order lists, including processing, call numbers, and other information. I usually update them each year. This year's list is here and you can see that it includes cataloging information like replacement costs, spine labels, as well as tracking the financial side of orders. I have these spreadsheets going back to 2016.
• Lists in Baker and Taylor - I keep carts of backlist items, specific subject areas I need to build, carts of titles ordered or donated so I don't buy them twice, future purchases, and more. I have approximately 30 carts I play around with, moving things and organizing them until I get to the point of transferring them to my spreadsheets and actually ordering them.
• I also have guides to processing and cataloging, a complicated list of lost/missing materials and cataloging bugs to fix, and weeding lists that I am playing around with. I like to download them into Google spreadsheets so I can organize them as I please. My other major resource is big lists of series and authors that I check for new titles. I do this methodically once a year or so. All of these are included in my misc. resource spreadsheets and documents.

Category spreadsheets

• These are primarily for cataloging purposes, since they include the custom call numbers I've created for my picture book neighborhoods, simplified Dewey, and series designations for juvenile beginning chapters and juvenile fiction, but they also include data on things like diversity and genre.

Pinterest

• This is a resource for staff as well as patrons, as I've built extensive lists of read-alikes (I've been redoing them recently, hence the emptiness of some areas) to assist in reader's advisory, but it also helps me to look at an overall picture of what I've purchased in the last year or so, which areas might need more materials, etc.