Building a High-Performing Collection: Where to Start

In our recent webinar with Library Journal, five top-performing libraries from the LibraryIQ Collection Benchmark Report each shared a practice that helps keep their collection strong.

The number one question after the webinar was: how do I get started?

The Collection Benchmark Report found one pattern across every collection size: high performers weed consistently, focus space and budget on what their community uses, and buy carefully. This guide breaks those into three phases, with real examples from libraries doing this work.

Keep in mind

  • Start small. Pick one collection or one area of the building.

  • Be curious. What if this shelf space held something else? What if we bought fewer copies here and more there?

  • Measure. After each change, check the numbers so you know what worked before you move to the next area.

Phase 1: Weed

What the benchmarks show: Compared to low performers, high performers often have half as many items sitting unused for three years or more.

Start where the need is greatest. Study your collection and ask one question: if an item hasn't been checked out in more than three years, why are we still giving it shelf space?

No circulation in three years is a key performance indicator in LibraryIQ, and you can adjust the time frame to fit your library. Collection management is part science, part art: the data shows what's circulating, and you know your community. It helps to agree on a standard as a team.

Today's patrons expect a relevant, easy experience. Their For You page is full of things they like. Let's give them that at the library too.

In practice: St. Louis County Library

A 20-branch system with 1.2 million items, St. Louis County weeds centrally every week. Before pulling a low-circulating item, staff ask three questions:

  1. Would it do better at another branch?

  2. Is it diverse or local enough to keep?

  3. If neither, weed it.

In practice: Glenview Public Library

Serving about 48,700 people, Glenview cut its total items by 23% to make room for seven new study rooms, more seating and a larger play area for families. Glenview recently recorded its highest combined circulation and building attendance in 10 years.

"Investing time and energy into weeding is as important as adding new items. A smaller, fresher collection outperforms a large one every time." (LibraryIQ Collection Benchmark Report)

Phase 2: Rebalance

What the benchmarks show: The challenge for most libraries is giving space and budget in proportion to use, and pulling back on collections that underperform their shelf space. High performers do this well.

Once your weeding is up to date, look at supply versus demand. For each collection, compare its share of your collection to its share of circulation. This comparison is called relative use, a key performance indicator in LibraryIQ. Are you giving space and budget to what your community actually uses? You can still provide a core collection of diverse materials while focusing spending on the collections that matter to your community.

In practice: Camas Public Library

A single-location library serving about 28,000 people, Camas found that children's drove 65% of physical circulation but had just 23% of the shelving. During a renovation, staff moved low-use books on CD off the floor and shifted DVDs, gaining 142 linear feet for children's without adding a single shelf.

In practice: Whitefish Bay Public Library

Serving about 14,750 people, Whitefish Bay used turnover and relative use to set a target size for every collection. In a memo to its board, the library recommended growing the youth collections people were using and shrinking the adult areas they weren't. Over the next 18 months, overall turnover rose from 2.83 to 3.45, and circulation went up too.

"Expand what's working and make room for more of what patrons actually want." (LibraryIQ Collection Benchmark Report)

Phase 3: Enhance

What the benchmarks show: Once an item leaves the new shelf, its chances of circulating drop significantly. High performers keep their DOA rate (new items that haven't circulated) low and review it at least once a quarter.

Once your collection is weeded and balanced, you get to build. Find the items in high demand and buy readalikes. Pay attention to what readers are talking about, on BookTok and at your own library. Learn more about who you serve, and build collections that create enthusiasm for the library and for reading. Then check whether new purchases are landing.

In practice: Schaumburg Township District Library

With 340,000 items across a central library and two branches, Schaumburg tracked its DOA rate, starting with one collection: adult fiction. Staff watched the trends for a year before making changes, and asked one question about each title that wasn't moving: is this a marketing problem or a purchasing problem?

What they changed:

  • Adjusted how many copies they buy of new adult fiction

  • Started watching which subjects and series keep showing up unread

  • Cut back on niche selections with a limited audience

Today, the share of new adult fiction that goes unread ranges from under 1% to about 2.5% across those collections.

"Paying attention to what moves and what doesn't in the first 12 months is one of the most valuable habits a collection team can build." (LibraryIQ Collection Benchmark Report)

Where LibraryIQ fits

All five libraries use LibraryIQ, the library intelligence and operations platform built by librarians for librarians. It pulls these numbers daily from your ILS and breaks them out by collection, so staff spend their time deciding what to weed, move and buy instead of building reports.