There are excellent descriptions of assessment techniques in the literature. One of the most useful is the American Library Associations Guide to Evaluation of Library Collections , 1989. These measures are a combination of quantitative and qualitative techniques. The following provides an overview of each of these assessment techniques, giving their advantages, disadvantages and procedures for applying each assessment technique. This method yields quantitative information on the number of titles, percentage of total collection, median age, and language of the collection.
Shelf lists no longer exist in all libraries in card form.
Where possible, use an electronic equivalent to derive the same information. Using a ruler or other reliable measure, measure the total number of centimetres in the shelflist. Multiply the number of cards in one centimetre by the total number of centimetres in the shelflist to arrive at the approximate number of titles held. Count the total number of cards in the Division being assessed. To determine the median age of the group of titles, tally the copyright dates chronologically, either by decade or by five year period.