This website uses cookies to store information on your computer. Some of these cookies are used for visitor analysis, others are essential to making our site function properly and improve the user experience. By using this site, you consent to the placement of these cookies. Click Accept to consent and dismiss this message or Deny to leave this website. Read our Privacy Statement for more.
About Us | Contact Us | Print Page | Sign In | Join now
Health Libraries Group
Group HomeGroup Home Blog Home Group Blogs
Search all posts for:   

 

View all (9) posts »

Book selection

Posted By Manon Gray, 05 March 2025
Hi everyone. I’m the Senior Library Assistant at the Exeter Health Library. I’m trying to increase the relevance of the books that I purchase for our users. Has anyone done a project lately to solicit user feedback or evaluate collection data? I’d love to hear about your experiences. Thank you!

This post has not been tagged.

Permalink | Comments (1)
 

Comments on this post...

Trupti Brahmbhatt says...
Posted 05 June 2025
Hi Manon, great question — I’ve worked on a similar project in the past to improve the relevance of a library’s collection, and two approaches really stood out:1. Usage Data Analysis: We reviewed borrowing statistics and e-resource usage over the course of a year. This helped identify subjects with low circulation that could be retired or replaced, and also highlighted high-demand areas like data science and health topics where the collection was lacking. Making data-driven decisions led to noticeably improved user engagement with the updated collection.2. User Surveys & Feedback Forms: We ran a brief online survey asking users which resources they found most useful and what they felt was missing. Including just a few open-ended questions gave us some insightful responses — one surprising result was the request for more general reading materials to support mental health and well-being. Promoting the survey during inductions and via email helped improve participation. These methods gave us both quantitative and qualitative data to guide purchasing, and the response from users was really positive. Happy to chat more if it’s helpful — I’d love to hear how others are approaching this too!
Permalink to this Comment }