Circulation indicators of the community library collection of the Universidade Federal de São Carlos

In order to contribute to the study of use and users of electronic library resources and to support higher rational and sustainable decisions regarding the maintenance of the library collection, the aim of this study was to develop a set of indicators on the use of the library collection by means of bibliometric and social network analyses. The research method was a case study and the single unit assessed was the Community Library of the Universidade Federal de São Carlos, located in São Carlos, São Paulo. The data sample consisted of 119,720 records of book circulation (loan, renewal and booking) from 2011. The indicators of the community use of the library collection were developed and the VantagePoint(r) software was used to evaluate them. Based on the results obtained, it can be stated that the use of bibliometrics and network analysis for conducting studies of uses, as predicted in the studies of uses and users, were effective to automatically establish indicators for the user profile and use of the collection without direct contact with users.

Social network analysis; Bibliometrics; Collection development; Users studies