Using the OCLC/AMIGOS Collection Analysis Compact Disk to Evaluate Art and Art History Collections.

The Collection Development department at Loyola Marymount University uses the OCLCIAMIGOS Collection Analysis Compact Disk (CACD), as one of several collection centered techniques to evaluate subject collections sup rling the curriculum. P" The disk is also used as a source of titles or collection building. Statistical reports illustrate how the holdings of one library can be compared to other groups of libraries in numbers of titles, by comparative size, by distribution of libraries, by titles that are lacking. and by those that are unique; these reports can be configured into bibliographies. The database covers a ten year span of books published from 1979 to 1989. LMU has a strong art and art history collectioncovering the time before 1979. As in any library, however, it is generally those books published within the last five to ten years that provide the dynamic collection most used by patrons. AMIGOS prov~des a representative source of titles published over a specific period of time. It is consequently possible to gain perspectives on the direction and emphasis of art publishing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]