History of Collection Assessment at NU
1986: ICAM - Illinois Collection Assessment Matrix. Participated in this project which used LCS shelflist tapes. Results were delivered as printouts.
1997: CACD - Collection Analysis CD. In conjunction with other IL libraries, purchased this OCLC/Amigos product on a shared CD rom.
1999: iCAS - Interactive Collection Analysis System. With eighty libraries and the Illinois Cooperative Collection Management Program (ICCMP), joined the Illinois Statewide Assessment Project.
2000: ACAS - Automated Collection Assessment and Analysis Services. Before the data using iCAS was systematically analyzed, iCAS was re-configured as a Web product. Along with eighty-two others, NUL engaged in this follow-up study, which contained bibliographic records for monographs published up to early 2001. After the statewide study, NUL continued to use ACAS for internal projects until the end of 2008.
2007: ERaCA - Electronic Resources & Collection Analysis Department. In late 2007, collection assessment moved from being the primary responsibility of one individual working on special projects to become a departmental unit with a mission to support data-based decision making, in all matters related to collections.
2009: NUL Data & Methods Bank. This site was built to gather collections data together and to make assessment tools and methodologies accessible and understandable. The former transformed NUL's system of separate data silos into a single convenient portal. The latter encouraged and supported, at NUL and within the broader library community, the practice of assessment by providing training modules on bibliometrics, qualitative methods and other tools of analysis.
2010: Collection Assessment at NUL Honored by CARLI. The work of ERaCA was honored when the Collection Analysis office was nominated as Keynote Speaker at the Spring conference of the Collections Working Group, of the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI). The title of the conference was "Spring into Assessment: Using Tools Creatively for Collection Analysis."
2011: Comprehensive Collection Analysis (CCA). ERaCA completed the multi-year task of designing and building an assessment methodology that can more fully represent contemporary collections and interests, which are marked by interdisciplinarity, multidisciplinarity, electronic resources, and outdated but in-use classification systems. The new methodology included mapping collections to academic departments (see Map of NU and How to Map).
