An Assessment of the Andrew Gonzalez Hall (AGH) Law Library Book CollectionA Tool for Collection Development

2/17/2014WILLIAN S.A. FRIASDLSU Libraries

An Assessment of the Andrew Gonzalez Hall (AGH) Law Library BookCollection:

A tool for collection development

I. Introduction

The Andrew Gonzalez Hall (AGH) Law Library of the De La Salle

University (DLSU) will become four years old when AY 2013-2014 is

completed. Initially, it had a total of about 5,000 volumes of law

books, including a complete set of Supreme Court Reports Annotated

(SCRA) and American Jurisprudence. Year after year, notable

donations were added to the collection, such as the J.W. Diokno

Collection and the Katrina Legarda Collection, on top of the regular

acquisition activity of the University.

Starting AY 2013-2014, a new set of library staff was assigned

to AGH Law Library. This set of library staff was given opportunity

to have a 10-day training at UP College of Law Library before

assuming their new posts. Said training gave them the idea on the

real needs of an academic law library. Also from the said

training, the staff learned that a law library’s collection is one

of its primary sources of strength in providing good service to its

clientele.

AGH Law Library is still in its early years of operation. Its

collection’s strengths and weaknesses are still undetermined, and

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its collection development program is not yet drawn. To be assured

that this law library provides better service in the future, it has

to work towards strengthening the primary factors that lead to

better service, and as mentioned earlier, having a quality

collection is one of these factors. It is therefore imperative for

the new law librarian to come up with a concrete plan to develop the

present collection as soon as possible.

To carefully plan for the development of a quality law

collection, the librarian of AGH Law Library needs to assess the

present collection. She must conduct a collection-centered

assessment that will present the collection’s strengths and

weaknesses that would direct her where and how to start. It will

greatly help if during the assessment, the librarian would also be

able to come up with a list of needed titles that the Library can

acquire, as part of the collection development program that she will

formulate as a result of the study.

Checklisting method is one of the most common ways to assess

the quality of a collection. It is a process of choosing a

benchmark and checking if titles available in the chosen benchmark

are also available in the collection being assessed. It could also

provide a list of titles that librarians may acquire as part of the

program that they will formulate. The main concern of checklisting

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is the selection of a benchmark. The librarian has to be very

careful and very objective in choosing benchmarks because the

success of having a quality collection relies on the benchmark of

the study.

Objective of the study

This study was carried out to assess the extent of the

collection of the AGH Law Library to serve as basis in building a

quality law collection. Specifically, this study aimed to:

1. Provide a profile of the AGH Law Library’s book holdings and

identify its strengths and weaknesses;

2. Compare AGH Law Library collection with UP College of Law

book collection and find out how AGH Law Library fare with

the benchmarks’ collection;

3. Determine the growth rate of the AGH Law Library collection

to be able to:

a. Calculate how long it will take to be at par with the

chosen benchmark;

b. determine the gap the Law Library has to fill in to be

at part with its benchmark; and,

4. Recommend strategies to strengthen AGH Law Library’s

collection as a whole, and be at par with its benchmark.

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Significance of the Study

Results of the study provided concrete information on the value

of the AGH Law Library book collection that would help in developing

a quality law collection and be at par with established academic law

libraries in the country.

Moreover, this study is an addition to limited literature on

collection assessment studies focusing on academic law collections.

This will help other law librarians in assessing their own

collections.

Scope and Limitations of the Study

This study focused on the assessment of the book collection of

the AGH Law Library. UP College of Law Library was unanimously

chosen as the benchmark of this study as a result of the random

informal interviews the researcher conducted with DLSU law faculty

members who frequently visited the Library during T1, AY 2013-2014.

No other academic law library was included due to time constraints

as well as slower internet connectivity on the part of other

potential benchmarks during the benchmark selection period.

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Only titles available in UP College of Law Library that were

downloadable from the University of the Philippines webOPAC

accessible at http://ilib.upd.edu.ph/ as of October 31, 2013 were

included on the list of titles that were checked against the DLSU

Libraries collections. Checklisting was done from November 04 to

December 20, 2013. Moreover, the cut-off date for the profile of

AGH Law Library collection was December 02, 2013.

II. Methodology

The main methodology used in this study, as mentioned earlier,

was the checklisting method. Said methodology started with the

careful selection of the benchmark. The benchmark was selected on

T1, AY 2013-2014. First considered was UP College of law Library for

it has been considered as the “National Law Library” of the country

(UP Library Bulletin Online, 2013). Furthermore, informal interviews

with DLSU law faculty members who were frequent visitors of the

Library were conducted. Each law faculty member was asked the

following questions:

1.Do you get all your instructional references from the AGH Law

Library?

2.How satisfied are you with the present collection of the

Library?

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3.If we assess the present library collection, which among the

academic law libraries in Metro Manila would you recommend us

to benchmark our collection?

4.Do you have other suggestions to improve our collection?

The informal survey was able to elicit 6 responses, where majority

was not satisfied in the current collection. Moreover, all 6

respondents, namely: Atty. Vyva Aquirre, Atty. Arno Sanidad, Atty.

Domingo Aňonuevo, Ms. Shelley Saracin, Atty. Pura Calleja, and Vice

Dean Atty. Jocelyn Cruz, selected the collection of UP College of

Law Library as the most apt collection for benchmarking, thus this

study’s unanimous selection of said library as this study’s

benchmark.

Meanwhile, checklisting process was done by performing the

following:

1. Downloading of UPCOL book holdings. Using the Internet as tool, the

researcher accessed the online public access catalog of the

UPCOL Library at http://ilib.upd.edu.ph/ and downloaded the

whole book collection using call numbers from A1 to Z999.

Downloaded entries were saved in excel format for easy

organization of data.

2. Cleaning of downloaded entries. After saving the downloaded entries to

Excel Format, the researcher cleaned the entries by eliminating

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duplicate entries (since checkilisting process is a per-title

process), incomplete entries, and entries with discrepancies

(i.e. encoded under title column was date, etc.)

3. Matching of titles: UPCOL book collection vs. AGH Law Library book collection. With

the complete and clean list of UPCOL book collection, the

researcher matched each entry against the AGH Law Library and

other DLSU libraries using the DLSU WebOPAC at

http://lib1000.dlsu.edu.ph/. The coded availability entries

were prepared for easier consolidation (see Table 1):

Table 1. Checklisting Availability Codes

ConditionRemarksNotation

Exact match available in AGH Law Library leave blankNo exact match, has other edition/s available atAGH Law Library

otheredition/s

Exact match, available at other libraries Archives 1 Cataloging 2 Circulation 3 Filipiniana 4 Periodicals 5 Reference 6 Special Collections 7 Systems Services 8 Satellite Libraries (except AGH Law

Library) 9 in more than 1 locations (except AGH Law

Library) 10 No location 0

No exact match, has other edition/s available inother DLSU libraries

Archives a

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ConditionRemarksNotation

Cataloging b Circulation c Filipiniana d Periodicals e Reference f Special Collections g Systems Services h Satellite Libraries (except AGH Law

Library) i in more than 1 location (except AGH Law

Library) j No location k

4. Consolidation of results. Consolidation of results was done by sorting

all entries according to categories enumerated above to come

up with the exact number of entries per category.

5. Application of mathematical measures. Measurement of central tendencies,

specifically mean and averages were applied for easier

analysis.

Meanwhile, profiling of AGH Law Library book collection was

done by the Create List functionality of the Millennium Integrated Library

System. Making use of said functionality allowed the researcher to

extract the number of titles and volumes on particular subjects

for AGH Law Library book collection. Also using this facility

allowed the researcher to truncate all purchases made for the AGH

Law Library per academic year.

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III. Presentation of Salient findings

A. Profile of the Collection

The AGH Law Library book collection has a total of 6,608

titles, equivalent to 12,663 volumes. Among the total titles, Law -–

United States (KF) posted the highest percentage of the total Law

collection, which was equivalent to 31.45%, followed by Law – Philippines

(KPM), which comprised 18.37 % of the collection. Far third on the

list was Political Science (J-JV), which garnered 13.98%, followed by

International Law and Relations (JX-JZ), which gathered 10.05% and the fifth

was Law (General) (K-KA) , with a total percentage of 6.98% of the

total collection (see Table 2).

Table 2. Profile of AGH Law Library Book Collection

Class

Letter

Subject Area Title %age Volum

e

%age

A General Works 2 0.03 2 0.02B-BD Philosophy 15 0.23 20 0.16BF Psychology 5 0.08 6 0.05BH-BX Ethics and Religion 59 0.89 71 0.56C Auxiliary Sciences of

History0 0.00 0 0.00

D History 27 0.41 42 0.33E-F History of Americas 3 0.05 3 0.02G Geography. Anthropology.

Recreation3 0.05 4 0.03

HB-HJ Business and Economics 336 5.08 381 3.01HM-HX Sociology 181 2.74 335 2.65

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Class

Letter

Subject Area Title %age Volum

e

%age

J-JV Political Science 924 13.98 1145 9.04JX-JZ International Law and

Relations664 10.05 755 5.96

K-KA Law (General) 461 6.98 531 4.19KB Religious Law 19 0.29 20 0.16KD Law -- United Kingdom and

Ireland146 2.21 229 1.81

KE Law -- Canada 6 0.09 7 0.06KF Law - United States 2078 31.45 5340 42.17KH Law -- South America (KGF) 1 0.02 2 0.02KJ-KK Law -- Europe 41 0.62 45 0.36KL-KPW (except KPM)

Law -- Asia (KM-KPK)

89 1.35 91 0.72

KPM Law -- Philippines 1214 18.37 3275 25.86KQ-KT Law -- Africa

(KG,KQC ) 15 0.23 17 0.13

KU Law -- Australia. New Zealand (KH, KU-KV)

8 0.12 8 0.06

KV-KW Law -- Pacific Area. Antarctica

4 0.06 4 0.03

KZ Law of Nations 135 2.04 150 1.18L Education 74 1.12 75 0.59M Music 0 0.00 0 0.00N Fine Arts 3 0.05 3 0.02P Language and Literature 69 1.04 72 0.57Q Science 11 0.17 11 0.09R Medicine 4 0.06 4 0.03S Agriculture 1 0.02 1 0.01T Technology 5 0.08 5 0.04U Military Science 3 0.05 3 0.02V Naval Science 1 0.02 1 0.01Z Bibliography. Library

Science. Information Resources

1 0.02 5 0.04

  Total 6608 100.00

12663 100.00

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On the other hand, AGH Law Library collection did not post any

title on Music (M) and Auxiliary Sciences of History (C), and only one title a

piece for Bibliography. Library Science. Information Resources (Z), Naval Science

(V), Agriculture (S), and, Law—South America (KH). Special notice should

be given to (1) Auxiliary Sciences of History, (2) Naval Science,

and (KH) Law—South America, since all these three subject areas

could be of use in establishing premises, proofs and even evidences

during court trials. Moreover, the Library needs to concentrate on

developing allied law subjects such as (1) Law—Australia. New

Zealand; (2) Law—Canada; (3) Law—Pacific Area. Antarctica; (4)

Military Science; and (5) History of Americas, among others.

B. AGH Law Library Book Collection versus UP Law Library Holdings

The AGH Law Library collection, as mentioned earlier, has a

total of 6,608 titles equivalent to only 33.82% of UP Law Library

holdings’ total titles, which is equivalent to 19,537. Focusing on

the ratio of each subject area with each collection’s totals, both

collections posted more than 5% ratio on five subject areas, namely:

(1) Law—United State; (2) Law (General); (3) International Law and

Relations; (4) Political Science; and, (5) Law—Philippines.

Moreover, both collections posted less than 1% ratio on 18 subject

areas, and differed in ratios in 13 subject areas (see Table 3).

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Table 3. Comparative Profile of Collection, UP College of Law versus AGHLaw Library

Class Letter Subject Area UPCOL %age AGHLL %age

A General Works 15 0.08 2 0.03B-BD Philosophy 165 0.84 15 0.23BF Psychology 70 0.36 5 0.08BH-BX Ethics and Religion 206 1.05 59 0.89

CAuxiliary Sciences of History 45 0.23 0 0

D History 1002 5.13 27 0.41E-F History of Americas 248 1.27 3 0.05

GGeography. Anthropology. Recreation 215 1.1 3 0.05

HB-HJ Business and Economics 5 0.03 336 5.08HM-HX Sociology 4 0.02 181 2.74J-JV Political Science 1349 6.9 924 13.98

JX-JZInternational Law and Relations 1564 8.01 664 10.05

KB Religious Law 3355 17.17 19 0.29

KDLaw -- United Kingdom and Ireland 1474 7.54 146 2.21

KE Law -- Canada 8 0.04 6 0.09KF Law - United States 4235 21.68 2078 31.45

KHLaw -- South America (KGF) 3 0.02 1 0.02

KJ-KK Law -- Europe 436 2.23 41 0.62K-KA Law (General) 2440 12.49 461 6.98KL-KPW (except KPM)

Law -- Asia (KM-KPK) 113 0.58 89 1.35

KPM Law -- Philippines 1178 6.03 1214 18.37

KQ-KTLaw -- Africa (KG,KQC ) 43 0.22 15 0.23

KULaw -- Australia. New Zealand (KH, KU-KV) 71 0.36 8 0.12

KV-KW Law -- Pacific Area. 1 0.01 4 0.06

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Class Letter Subject Area UPCOL %age AGHLL %age

AntarcticaKZ Law of Nations 154 0.79 135 2.04L Education 147 0.75 74 1.12M Music 3 0.02 0 0N Fine Arts 16 0.08 3 0.05P Language and Literature 321 1.64 69 1.04Q Science 107 0.55 11 0.17R Medicine 80 0.41 4 0.06S Agriculture 65 0.33 1 0.02T Technology 97 0.5 5 0.08U Military Science 128 0.66 3 0.05V Naval Science 4 0.02 1 0.02

Z

Bibliography. Library Science. Information Resources 170 0.87 1 0.02

  Total 19537100.0

0 6608100.0

0Olive Green - titles compose more than 5% of the whole collectionRed, accent2 - titles compose less than 1% of the whole collection

Ranking-wise, 3 out of five subject areas landed at the top in

both collections. These subject areas were (1) Law—United States;

(2) International Law and Relations; and (3) Law (General). On the

other hand, 5 subject areas, namely, 1) Fine Arts, 2) General Works,

3) Naval Science, 4) Law—South America, and, 5) Music, were found

to be at the last five ranks in both collections.

In terms of average annual growth of both collections, AGH Law

Library posted a very high 1,652 title growth per year, having a

total of 6,608 titles all acquired in a period of 4 years. UP Law

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Library, which was established in 1911, had been building its

collection for 102 years already. This made its collection growth

rate only 191.54 titles per year. If both collections continue to

grow within their average annual growth, AGH Law Library will have

higher book collection than UP Law Library after 9 years.

It came as a surprise that Law—Philippines subject area, which

posted 1,178 titles, comprised only 6.03% of the UP Law Library

collection. This is surprising, considering that said library is the

depository of the UP Law Center publications and other government

publications pertaining to law. Through an informal telephone

interview with Ms. Olga Bondal, head cataloger of UP Law Library,

the researcher learned that UP Law Library had not re-catalogued

their Filipiniana law books yet. It was in the year 2000 when they

started using said class letters for Filipiniana law books. At the

DLSU Libraries, on the other hand, re-cataloging of Filipiniana law

books started in the mid-2000’s. This accounted for the law

library’s higher number of titles in the said class letter compared

to its benchmark, despite having lower number of collection.

Further comparison between two collections was be done by

comparing the quantity of titles each has per subject area.

Choosing AGH Law Library as the base in comparison, it could easily

be generalized that said collection was inferior with the UP Law

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Library collection. Percentage of difference for the total

collection was -195.66%, practically telling that the law library’s

collection was at most only one-third of the UP Law Library

collection (see Table 4).

Table 4. Percentage of Difference between AGH Law Library and UP Law

Library

Class Letter Subject Area UPCOL AGHLL %age of

Differe

nce*

A General Works 15 2 -650.00B-BD Philosophy 165 15 -

1000.00BF Psychology 70 5 -

1300.00BH-BX Ethics and Religion 206 59 -249.15C Auxiliary Sciences of

History45 0 ∞

D History 1002 27 -3611.11

E-F History of Americas 248 3 -8166.67

G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation

215 3 -7066.67

HB-HJ Business and Economics

5 336 98.51

HM-HX Sociology 4 181 97.79J-JV Political Science 1349 924 -46.00JX-JZ International Law and

Relations1564 664 -135.54

K-KA Law (General) 2440 461 -429.28KB Religious Law 3355 19 -

17557.89

KD Law -- United Kingdom 1474 146 -909.59

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Class Letter Subject Area UPCOL AGHLL %age of

Differe

nce*

and IrelandKE Law -- Canada 8 6 -33.33KF Law - United States 4235 2078 -103.80KH Law -- South America

(KGF)3 1 -200.00

KJ-KK Law -- Europe 436 41 -963.41KL-KPW (exceptKPM)

Law -- Asia (KM-KPK)

113 89 -26.97

KPM Law -- Philippines 1178 1214 2.97KQ-KT Law -- Africa

(KG,KQC ) 43 15 -186.67

KU Law -- Australia. NewZealand (KH, KU-KV)

71 8 -787.50

KV-KW Law -- Pacific Area. Antarctica

1 4 75.00

KZ Law of Nations 154 135 -14.07L Education 147 74 -98.65M Music 3 0 ∞N Fine Arts 16 3 -433.33P Language and

Literature321 69 -365.22

Q Science 107 11 -872.73R Medicine 80 4 -

1900.00S Agriculture 65 1 -

6400.00T Technology 97 5 -

1840.00U Military Science 128 3 -

4166.67V Naval Science 4 1 -300.00Z Bibliography. Library

Science. Information Resources

170 1 -16900.0

0  Total 19537 6608 -195.66*AGH Law Library Collection as base

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Quantitatively, out of the 36 subject areas, AGH Law Library

only topped UP Law Library in 4 areas, namely: (1) Business and

Economics, (2) Sociology, (3) Law—Pacific Area. Antarctica, and, (4)

Law—Philippines. However, the percentage of difference between the

two libraries under Law—Philippine subject area was very low at

2.97%, while titles involved in Law—Pacific Area. Antarctica were

very few to present highly significant effects.

More on quantitative comparison, AGH Library posted the lowest

percentage of difference in Religious Law subject area, where the

percentage of difference reached as low as -17,557.89%. This means

the Library’s collection in the said subject area was more than 17

times inferior to UP Law Library’s collection on the same subject

area. Other subject areas where the Library was very inferior were

just minor areas, such as (1) Bibliography. Library Science.

Information Resources, (2) History of Americas, (3) Geography.

Anthropology, Recreation, and, (4) Agriculture. All these minor

areas could be supplemented by the collection of other DLSU

Libraries.

Areas of concern, however, included (1) Law—Europe, (2) Law—

United Kingdom and Ireland, and, (3) Law (General).

C. The Checklisting Results

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As the result of the selection process stated earlier, this

study selected the UP Law Library as the benchmark. Aside from

unanimously chosen by the DLSU law faculty members, said institution

is the repository of documents produced by several government

offices such as: 1) Institute of Government and Law Reform, 2)

Institute of Human Rights, 3) Institute of International Legal

Studies, 4) Institute for the Judicial Administration, 5) Institute

of Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, 6) Office of the national

Administrative Register, 7) UP College of Law Development

Foundation, and most importantly, 8) UP Law Center, which is one of

the most active publishers of research-based law books in the

country. Said library also has the private collections of high-

profile alumni and professors, such as 2009 Ramon Magsaysay award

recipient Atty. Antonio Oposa, Jr., UP political science professor

Dr. Remigio E. Agpalo, and several prominent political figures,

including former president Ferninand E. Marcos. Comparing AGH Law

Library collection with this institution gives the researcher a

glimpse of the quality of collection the Library has at present.

Out of a total of 19,537 titles available in UP Law Library,

1,710 titles were available in AGH Law Library in exact match, while

506 titles were available in other edition/s. Supporting said

figures are the books available in the different collections of DLSU

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Libraries. From these different collections, 1,912 titles were

available in exact match, and 155 titles were available in different

edition/s. These statistics brought exact match availability in

DLSU Libraries to 3,622 titles and 661 titles in other edition/s,

for a total of 4,283 titles availability, equivalent to 21.92% of

the total collection of UP Law Library, a good start for a law

library that is only on its 4th year of existence (see Table 5).

Table 5. UP Law Library Titles Available in AGH Law Library and

other DLSU Libraries

Location in DLSU Libraries Exact

Match

In other

edition

Total

AGH Law Library 1710 506 2216Archives 13 0 13Cataloging 3 0 3Circulation 485 49 534Filipiniana 524 25 549Special Collections 454 0 454Reference 49 61 110Systems Services 4 0 4Satellite Libraries (BBLRC, MEC Library, OEC Library, STCLibrary)

48 0 48

In more than 1 collection (other than AGHLL)

306 11 317

No Location 26 9 35Total 3622 661 4283

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Moreover, it is encouraging to note that 33.54% (2,216T out of

6,608T) of the AGH Law Library holdings is available in UP Law

Library. This high percentage of availability compared to the whole

collection meant that selection process had been well-done for the

AGH Law Library collection, and that its collection development

activity was in the right track. However, the low 11.34% (2,216T out

of 19,537T) availability of books in AGH Law Library should be a

matter of concern. Users of these available titles may become

frustrated if most of the books that they will need are found in not

in AGH Law Library but in other collections outside the said

Library. Transfer of available titles found outside AGH Law Library

was therefore recommended, to provide better research experience.

Meanwhile, out of 4,283 total available titles, the subject

area where availability was observed to be at the highest was in Law

—United States (KF), here, DLSU Libraries as a whole scored a total

of 1,078 available titles. This was followed by Law—Philippines

(KPM) with 652 titles, History (D) with 496 titles and Political

Science (J-JV) with 393 titles. However, there were also subject

areas where AGH Law Library failed to provide even a single

availability. These subject areas were 1. Law—Canada (KE), 2. Law—

Africa (KQ-KT), 3. Law—Australia. New Zealand (KU), 4. Law—Pacific

Area. Antarctica, and, 5. Naval Science (V). Considering that all

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five subject areas were focused on law, it was therefore necessary

for the AGH Law Library to acquire titles under said subject areas

(see Table 6).

Table 6. Title availability in DLSU Libraries by

Subject Area

Class

Letter

Subject Area Availabl

e Titles

A General Works 11B-BD Philosophy 79BF Psychology 30BH-BX Ethics and Religion 85C Auxiliary Sciences of History 21D History 496E-F History of Americas 98G Geography. Anthropology.

Recreation86

HB-HJ Business and Economics 1HM-HX Sociology 1J-JV Political Science 393JX-JZ International Law and Relations 145K-KA Law (General) 297KB Religious Law 276KD Law -- United Kingdom and

Ireland80

KE Law -- Canada 0KF Law - United States 1078KH Law -- South America (KGF) 2KJ-KK Law -- Europe 70KL-KPW (except KPM)

Law -- Asia (KM-KPK) 6

KPM Law -- Philippines 652KQ-KT Law -- Africa (KG,KQC ) 0KU Law -- Australia. New Zealand 0

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Class

Letter

Subject Area Availabl

e Titles

(KH, KU-KV)KV-KW Law -- Pacific Area. Antarctica 0KZ Law of Nations 32L Education 44M Music 1N Fine Arts 7P Language and Literature 114Q Science 31R Medicine 16S Agriculture 16T Technology 21U Military Science 52V Naval Science 0Z Bibliography. Library Science.

Information Resources42

  Total 4283

Incidentally, Military Science (U) subject area posted 52

titles of availability. This might raise confusion since AGH Law

Library only displayed 3 titles under the said subject area. It is

therefore necessary to clear that 50 out of 52 available titles

under Military Science subject area were found in the different

libraries of the De La Salle University.

Fig. 1. Available Filipiniana Titles in DLSU Libraries

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Furthermore, out of 4,283 titles available in AGH Law Library

and other collections, 2,547 titles, equivalent to almost 60% of the

available titles, were published locally. 1,516 titles of these

locally available books were found in AGH Law Library alone, 549

were in the Filipiniana collection alone, and 245 were found in the

Special Collections only. There were also 202 local titles that

were found in more than 1 location (see Figure 1).

The almost equal percentage of local and foreign available

titles in DLSU Libraries only showed that collection development for

law collection was done equally, as far as publication origin is

concerned.

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D. Growth of Purchased books

Earlier in this paper, an average growth of the whole AGH Law

Library collection was presented, where AGH Law Library posted an

average growth of 1,652 title growth per year. This figure was a

combined growth for purchased and donated books. Since it was

difficult to predict how many gifts/donations a library receives

every year, this study focused instead on the growth of purchased

books in this particular part of discussion.

By means of culling out all the purchased book acquisition per

academic year from Millennium, the integrated library system of the

DLSU Libraries, the researcher was able to get the profile of

purchased books found in AGH Law Library.

The acquisition activity in AY 2010-2011 had been the best

acquisition performance for the College of Law. A total of 624

volumes of books were acquired through purchase. On the next

academic year, a 71.47% decrease was experienced in the acquisition

performance. Only 178 volumes of books were purchased then for COL.

Decrease in performance persisted on the 3rd year when only 62

volumes of books were acquired, equivalent to 65.17% rate of

decrease (see Figure 2).

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Fig. 2. Books Purchased for AGH Law Library from Different Budget

Allocations

Fortunately, during the past 3 academic years, several book

purchases under different budget (Filipiniana, Circulation,

Commercial Law, Political Science, etc.) were placed in the AGH Law

Library. These books also boosted the collection of the said law

library. In AY2010-2011, a total of 324 volumes of books purchased

under different budget allocations were placed in the AGH Law

Library. 221 volumes were again placed in the Law Library on the

next academic year, while 51 volumes were placed in the same library

in AY 2012-2013. A total of 596 volumes of purchased books were

placed in AGH Law Library in a period of 3 academic years. This is

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a welcome action to supplement the acquisition of books in the said

library using its very own budget allocation.

Combining the acquisitions under COL and other budget

allocations, a total of 1,460 volumes were purchased for three

years, equivalent to an annual average growth of 486.67 volumes for

the AGH Law Library. This is way low compared to the average annual

growth of law books if gifts/donations were incorporated. As

mentioned earlier, the average growth of the book collection for the

past four years was 1,652 volumes. If the law library wanted to

overtake its benchmark library in ten years, it has to be creative

enough to supplement its average annual purchases with donations not

less than 1,165.33 volumes per year. Otherwise, a substantial

endowment fund must be generated to purchase as much number of

volumes to sustain the target growth of collection.

Meanwhile, it was notable to mention that the current

acquisition rate of purchased books was not proportion to AGH Law

Library users. On T1, AY 2013-2014, the total number of enrolment

for COL was 312. The FTE for COL faculty was 25. This information

presents a 337:487 user-book ratio, equivalent to only 1.45 new

books per user per year.

IV. Summary of Findings, Conclusion, Recommendation

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Summary of Findings

Based on the results, the following were found out:

1. The AGH Law Library has a total of 6,608 titles, equivalent to

12,663 volumes. The strongest among the subject areas under its

collection are (1) Law—United States (KF) with 2,078 titles, (2)

Law—Philippines (KPM) with 1,214 titles, and, (3) Political

Science (J-V) with 924 titles. However, the law library failed to

come up even with a single title in subject areas Music (M) and

Auxiliary Sciences of History (C), and was able to come up with

only 1 title a piece in Bibliography. Library Science. Information

Resources (Z), Naval Science (V), Agriculture (S), and, Law—South

America (KH).

2. Compared to UP Law Library collection, AGH Law Library holdings

was only equal to 33.89% of the former’s collection. The

following were some notable observations in comparing the two

collections:

a. Both libraries have more collections on subject areas Law—

United States, Law (General), International Law and Relations,

Political Science, and, Law—Philippines.

b. Both libraries have very low collections on 18 subject areas,

namely:

1. General Works

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2. Philosophy

3. Psychology

4. Auxiliary Sciences of History

5. Law – Canada

6. Law – south America

7. Law – Africa

8. Law -- Australia. New Zealand

9. Law – Pacific Area. Antarctica

10. Music

11. Fine Arts

12. Science

13. Medicine

14. Agriculture

15. Technology

16. Military Science

17. Naval Science

18. Bibliography. Library Science. Information Resources

c. Ranking-wise, both libraries had Law – United States,

International Law and Relations, and Law (General) at the top

five highest subject areas in their collections. Fine Arts,

General Works, Naval Science, Law—South America, and Music

are the subject areas at the bottom five of their collections.

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3. The average annual growth of book collection for AGH Law Library

was 1,652 titles while UP Law Library’s annual growth was 191.54

titles. If the same growth rates were steadily observed by both

libraries, the AGH Law Library collection will surpass UP Law

Library’s collection after 9 years.

4. Quantitatively, UP Law Library posted more titles per subject

area, except in (1) Business & Economics, (2) Sociology, (3) Law—

Pacific Area. Antarctica, and (4) Law – Philippines, where AGH Law

Library posted greater numbers than its benchmark library. AGH

Law Library posted more titles under Law—Philippines subject area

because UP Law Library had not re-catalogued their Filipiniana law

books yet.

5. Notable percentages of differences in quantity were posted by AGH

Law Library in subject areas:

a. Bibliography. Library Science. Information Resources, 17

times lower than UP Law Library’s collection for the same

subject area;

b. History of Americas, 8 times lower than the benchmark

library in the same subject area;

c. Geography. Anthropology. Recreation, 7 times lower than the

benchmark in the same subject area; and,

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d. Agriculture, 6 times lower than the benchmark in the same

subject area.

6. A total of 4,283 titles in the different collections of DLSU

Libraries match the collection of UP Law Library. Specifically:

a. AGH Law Library posted 2,216 available titles, where 1710

titles were in exact match and 506 titles were published in

different editions.

b. Other collections within the DLSU Libraries posted 2,067

available titles, where 1,912 titles were in exact match and

155 titles were published in different editions.

7. Still on titles that matched the benchmark library’s collection,

2,547 titles, equivalent to almost 60%, was published locally, and

1,736 titles were published abroad. Moreover, out of 2,547 local

titles, 1,516 were found in AGH Law Library and 1,031 were found

in the different collections of DLSU Libraries.

8. The growth of purchased collection of books found in AGH Law

Library was 486.67 titles per year, equivalent to 1.45 new books

per student per year. To surpass its benchmark’s collection after

9 years, the law library has to supplement its purchases with

gift/donations of not less than 1,165.33 volumes per year.

Conclusion

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The AGH Law Library, on its first 3 full years of operation as

an academic law library, had been in sync with the UP Law Library,

an established academic library in the country, as far as collection

path is concerned. As a proof, the profiles of collections of both

libraries presented almost the same rankings and percentages, as

well as strengths and weaknesses on each collection’s subject areas.

However, AGH Law Library needed the additional acquisitions

coming from the different collections of the DLSU Libraries to

supplement and boost its collections and come up with a more decent

percentage of titles that matched its benchmark’s collection.

Moreover, the AGH Law Library collection was increased by the

acquisition of law books by the different colleges and departments

in the University. This support enabled AGH Law Library to produce

a ratio of more than 1 new book per user every year.

Lastly, although inferior in quantity as a whole and

specifically in majority of the subject areas, with steady

acquisition performance and growth rate, it is possible for AGH Law

Library’s collection to surpass its benchmark in less than a decade.

Recommendation

This study recommends for the improvement of the AGH Law

Library collection to be at par, qualitatively and quantitatively,

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with its benchmark, the UP Law Library. Specifically, this study

recommends the following:

1. Relocate to AGH Law Library all possible titles coming from the

different collections of DLSU Libraries that matched UP Law

Library’s collections.

2. Maintain the average growth rate of acquisition per year for the

AGH Law Library collection.

3. Strengthen weak subject areas, especially those with 0 quantity

and make sure that steady rate of acquisition be observed on

strong subject areas.

4. Continue assigning law-related books to AGH Law Library regardless

where budget allocation originates.

5. Conduct another study, preferably user-centered collection

assessment that can validate/negate/supplement the findings of

this study.

6. Come up with a five-year collection development program, focusing

on the following factors:

a. annual budget allocations

b. user-collection ratio

c. usage-collection ratio

d. curricular offerings-collection ratio

e. gaps in the collection

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R E F E R E N C E S

Danielson, R. (2012). A dual approach to assessing collectiondevelopment and acquisitions for academic libraries [Electronicversion]. Library Collections, Acquisitions, and Technical Services, 36(3-4), 84-96.

Garcia, Perla T. (2005). Matching “Best Books for Academic Libraries” with DLSU Collection on Education.

Fresnido, A. M.B. & Frias, W.S.A. (2006). Assessment of the DLSU Library’sBook Collection on Science, Technology and Agriculture.

History. (n.d.). In University of the Philippines College of Law Library. RetrievedFebruary 3, 2014, from http://lawlib.upd.edu.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&id=5&Itemid=54

Hubbard, D. e., & Neville, B. D. (2012). Benchmarking mechanicalengineering collections using the WorldCat collection analysistool [Electronic version]. Library Collections, Acquisitions, and TechnicalServices, 36(3-4), 59-68.

Larson, J. (2008). Evaluating your collection: best practices forNorth Texas libraries. In Not Typical Library Partners. Retrieved February3, 2014, fromhttp://www.ntrls.org/ConsultantReports/NTRLS_EvaluatingYourCollection.pdf

Levin, H. S., & Passonneau, S. M. (2012). An analysis of academicresearch libraries assessment data: a look at professional modelsand benchmarking data [Electronic version]. The Journal of AcademicLibrarianship, 38(2), 85-93.

Orientation for new library personnel conducted. (2013) In U.P. LibraryBulletin Online. Retrieved February 3, 2014, fromhttps://uplibrarybulletin.wordpress.com/2013/03/15/orientation-for-new-library-personnel-conducted/

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