Collection Benchmarks: What High Performing Libraries Do Differently

Overview

Most libraries have a sense of how their collection is performing. What's been much harder to know is whether that performance is strong, average, or falling behind compared to libraries like theirs.

The benchmark report at the center of this webinar changes that.

LibraryIQ analyzed data from thousands of public libraries to build the first collection benchmark report of its kind. The findings are clear: libraries with nearly identical collection sizes can produce wildly different results. The difference isn't budget or square footage. It's how they manage what they own.

This recording walks through what the data reveals across high, average, and low performing libraries, including which collection categories circulate far more than their share of the collection, which ones quietly affect overall metrics, and what the best-performing libraries do differently.

What You'll Learn

  • What separates high, average, and low performing libraries

  • Which metrics matter most for evaluating collection health and how to start tracking them

  • Targets for weeding, relative use, and turnover at the collection code level

  • Which collection categories are performing higher or lower than you might expect

  • What high performers consistently do to maintain strong collections over time

Who This Is For

Anyone who touches collections — from collections and acquisitions staff to branch managers, department heads, directors, and anyone involved in collection planning, budgeting, or evaluation.