An analysis of DIRECT Reciprocal Borrowing among cr E puq libraries

1. An analysis of DIRECT Reciprocal Borrowing among crEpuqlibraries Joanna Duy, Associate Librarian, Concordia University Libraries Vincent Larivière, ProfesseurAdjoint, ÉBSI, Université de Montréal INTRODUCTION Libraries belonging to the Conférence des recteurs et principaux des universités du Québec (CREPUQ) are part of a Canada-wide agreement (Canadian University Reciprocal Borrowing Agreement) that allows users from any academic library in Canada to borrow materials in person from any other academic library in Canada. CREPUQ libraries keep detailed statistics on the amount of direct reciprocal borrowing and lending taking place between individual CREPUQ institutions. Analysing this data allows us to see patterns in direct reciprocal borrowing activity. It also allows us to see whether factors such as distance between libraries, institution size, and library collection size are related to the amount of borrowing and/or lending done between institutions. Social network analysis can be used to visualize and understand relationships between organizations in a system. Although little used by libraries, a recent review of social network analysis in information science noted that “the opportunities for social network analysis research in library specific contexts remain outstanding”1. • Figure 2: Direct Reciprocal Borrowing and Interlibrary Loan • An average of 7,160 items were borrowed and loaned per year by CREPUQ libraries through both direct reciprocal borrowing and ILL during the years 2007-08, 2008-09, and 2009-10. Of that, an average of 24.5% were ILL transactions and 75.5% were reciprocal borrowing transactions(it is important to note that the ILL transactions counted here are only those done for returnable materials within CREPUQ). When one compares institutions to see how much ILL versus direct reciprocal borrowing was done, an obvious pattern emerges: Montréal libraries do a much higher percentage of direct reciprocal borrowing compared to ILL, and non- Montréal libraries do more ILL compared to direct reciprocal borrowing. *TELUQ and INRS were not included in either category because of their multi-campus/primarily online nature METHODS Direct reciprocal borrowing data were obtained for 18 CREPUQ institutions using CREPUQ’s Statistiquesgénérales des bibliothèquesuniversitairesquébecoises. Specifically, Table 24 was used for the years 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09; Table 25 was used for 2009-10. The average amount of borrowing, lending or a total of the two (depending on the analysis), for the five year period, was used. The total amount of circulation (initial loans, renewals and reserves) was taken from the same document (Table 20 was used for 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09 and Table 21 was used for 2009-10). The number of FTE students was taken from this same statistics document (Table 4) as were library collection sizes (Table 14 was used for 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09 and Table 15 was used for 2009-10). Interlibrary Loan statistics were obtained for the years 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10 from the CREPUQ COLOMBO Statistiquesannuellesdocument. Specifically, the “Emprunts - Partenaires CREPUQ – Documents reçus - Prêts” tables were used, which indicate the number of returnables loaned (copies were not included) as opposed to the number of requests received; averages were used for the three years. Google Maps was used to determine the distance (in kilometers) between institutions. SPSS, Excel, UCInet and NetDraw were used to analyse the data (the centrality measurement that was used is betweenness). • Fig 4: Effect of Distance on the Amount of Direct Borrowing • Fig 3: Social Network Analysis of CREPUQ Direct Borrowing RESULTS AND DISCUSSION INRS • The average amount of direct reciprocal borrowing done by all 18 CREPUQ institutions from 2005-10 was 6,173 items per institution, per year; the average amount of ILL done between CREPUQ institutions from 2007-10 was 1,754 items. Because this is a closed system, the total number of items lent and borrowed for all institutions will always equal each other. • Significant positive Pearson correlations were seen between the average amount of direct reciprocal borrowing activity and the number of FTE students at an institution (0.797, p<0.01), as well as the institution’s library collection size (0.637, p<0.01). Similarly, positive correlations were seen for direct reciprocal lending activity and the institution’s number of FTE students (0.738, p<0.01) and library collection size (0.828, p<0.01). Figure 3 (above) helps visualize the patterns of direct reciprocal borrowing occurring within the network of CREPUQ libraries. The total amount of direct reciprocal borrowing and lending done between libraries is represented by the thickness of the line (edge) joining two institutions; thick lines indicate a higher amount of total borrowing and lending while thin lines indicate a lower amount. The size of the arrow is reflective of the amount of borrowing or lending done (for example, it can be seen that McGill lends much more to Concordia than Concordia does to McGill). The analysis shows the importance of distance in terms of the quantity of direct borrowing and lending done between institutions as we see that Montréal-area institutions have much thicker ties between them than do institutions outside of Montréal, even large ones such as Université Laval. The size of each institution’s square (node) reflects its importance in the network, as measured by its centrality (in this case, betweeness was used). We can see that the most important institutions in the network are U de M, UQAM, McGill, Sherbrooke and Laval. Francophone institutions are indicated with burgundy node colour and anglophoneinstitutions with a blue node colour; it can be seen that although McGill is an anglophoneinstitution, they are still central players in terms of supplying other institutions’ users with materials via reciprocal borrowing. The length of the lines connecting institutions is a reflection of the amount of activity they do with other institutions. • For each CREPUQ institution (excluding TELUQ because of its decentralized nature), the total amount of reciprocal borrowing and lending with each of the other CREPUQ institutions was averaged between 2005-2010, and this number was plotted with the distance in kilometers between the two institutions. The graph above shows the aggregate result for all institutions. Unsurprisingly, the intensity of direct borrowing between Montréal-area institutions influences the overall distribution, which shows a very predictable logarithmic relationship between distance and borrowing/lending activity. Institutions located within a few kilometers of each other will have much higher reciprocal borrowing activity compared to those that are more physically distant, and the intensity of borrowing/lending diminishes very rapidly with increased distance. Fig 1: Total CREPUQ Circulation and Reciprocal Borrowing Activity, 2005-10 Most institutions experienced a peak in direct reciprocal borrowing activity in 2006-07, and activity has decreased since then. Since 2005-06, total circulation activity (which includes initial loans, renewals and reserve circulation) has decreased by 20%; reciprocal borrowing has decreased by 27%. One factor that may have affected the amount of direct reciprocal borrowing may be the introduction of the automated VDX system for interlibrary loan (introduced to many CREPUQ libraries in 2007), which allows patrons to easily search other library catalogues and order the materials they need. It is worth noting that Montreal-area institutions account for an average of 91% of the reciprocal borrowing activity while they only account for 67% of total circulation activity. References 1. Schultz-Jones, Barbara. (2009). Examining information behavior through social networks. Journal of Documentation 65, 592-631.