Short Communications

The Value of Faculty Book Donations: A Case Study of Botany Books at Marx Science and Social Science Library, Yale University

Lori Bronars
Librarian for Life Sciences (Retired)
Marx Science and Social Science Library
Yale University
New Haven, CT
lori.bronars@gmail.com

Abstract

Keywords: Gift books, Use statistics, Botany

Recommended Citation:

Bronars, L. (2024). The value of faculty book donations: A case study of botany books at Marx Science and Social Science Library, Yale University. Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, 107. https://doi.org/10.29173/istl2793

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to present evidence of the value to library collections of books donated by faculty. Data are shown for the list of 85 books (1 title had been recorded incompletely) with the 22 titles that had circulation or in-library browsing activity between 2008 and 2022. 18 donated books showed more than 1 circulation charge or in-library browse during this time. In some cases, the gift books became additional copies within Yale library collections and in other cases, the gift books were the only copies in Yale library collections. The Marx Library staff member who retrieved the circulation/browse statistics was able to identify those numbers relative to each copy held in the collections. A total of 85 books were added to library collections with 22 showing circulation or in-library browsing activity since then through June 2022. The author is former Librarian for Life Sciences at Marx Science and Social Science Library | Yale University.

Research Question

This paper examines the question of whether reviewing gift books from a faculty member is a worthwhile use of a librarian’s time and could be applicable to reviewing gift books in general.

Discussion, Findings, and Analysis

In 2008, long-time Professor Art Galston, who began his full professorship at Yale in 1955, passed away and I was invited to review his massive office book collection for any materials of interest for Yale University library collections. Professor Galston had long been one of those favorite patrons a public service librarian may have, frequently coming to, then, Kline Science Library, inviting me to lunches and social events, and, in later years, to his bioethics seminar. In his many years serving as professor at Yale, he had been Chair of the, then, Department of Botany and of Biology and Director of the Division of Biological Sciences. He had mentored 24 PhD students and 67 postdoctoral fellows from 16 countries (Office of Public Affairs & Communications, 2008). He had been one of the first two American scientists allowed to visit China in 1972 and had visited Vietnam in conjunction with his position against the use of the herbicide Agent Orange in warfare. In 1994, Professor Galston received the William Clyde DeVane Medal for lifelong teaching and scholarship, with more than 320 refereed journal papers (Troher, 2022).

See the Appendix for a complete list of Professor Galston’s donated office books that were used, along with the statistics for those with activity. The donated books included monographs in botany, membership directories, dissertations, dictionaries, textbooks, and other science books.

The book which showed the most activity was Plant Physiology by L. Taiz and E. Zeiger (Sinauer Associates, Inc., Publishers, 2006, 4th ed.) with 19 circulations and 30 in-library browses. This gift book was the only copy of this edition at the time in the Yale library collections although there were also older and more recent editions. The second most active title was Biochemistry & Molecular Biology of Plants by B. B. Buchanan, W. Gruissem, and R. L. Jones (American Society of Plant Physiologists, 2000) with 13 circulations and 30 in-library browses. This gift book was 1 of 4 print copies held in the Yale libraries in addition to an online edition. Only one of the donated books showing activity was a PhD thesis although there were several among the accepted donations. One of the donated books, Human Embryonic Stem Cell Debate, edited by S. Holland, K. Lebacqz, and L. Zoloth (MIT, 2001) was 1 of 6 copies held in the Yale libraries, and Yale’s Sterling Memorial Library’s copy activity for this title was 48 circulation charges and 65 browses during 2008-2022, showing value in holding multiple copies at times and that this proved to be a useful duplication in the collection’s monographs.

Overall, circulation and browsing statistics in 2008-2022 for the accepted donated books was 26 for books classed in QH or .0266% of QH activity in my library for this time period, 116 for books classed in QK or 1.22% of QK activity in the author’s library for this time period, and 9 for books classed in QM or .987% of QM activity in my library for this time period. That accounts for the donated books in the most used LC classes; there were also several other books (usually 1 in each of the following LC classes (K, PG, QA, QL, QP, SB, and TL) with uses of 7 or less times; these were not analyzed.) In the library, which in this period of time changed its name twice (Kline Science Library, Center for Science and Social Science Information, Marx Science and Social Science Library | Yale University Library), the total circulation and browsing figures for books classed in QH was 97,859, in QK was 9,524, and in QM was 912. QH, QK, and QM were the most active classes within the donated books. Total circulation charge and browse activity for the highest use classes in the donated books was 151 over 2008-2022 or 1.22% of the total circulation and browsing for those classes at my library. It may not sound like an impressive percentage of the total activity, but the 151 times that these books proved to be the right book in the right place and at the right time seems significant.

In Marx Science and Social Science Library, Yale University Library, in-library use statistics have been gathered by staff for a long time. Rose-Wiles (2016) advocates for using these figures, as mentioned, and the current Director of Collection Management, Access and Technical Services, and Technology offered when asked by the author, that these figures are viewed as “an important metric of collection impact” (K. Merriman, personal communication, 2022).

Much has changed in collection development practices at Yale in the past 14 years but, at the time of the author’s review of this office collection of books, as mentioned, there were no collection development statements by selectors in the Yale libraries. These practices began in 2014 (A. Serrano, personal communication, 2022) and there were no collection development policies library-wide. At the time, Yale University Library belonged to the RLG (Research Libraries Group) consortium and there was a conspectus in practice, but it was not being used (D. Dollar, personal communication, 2022). The author based her selection decisions on whether the book was within the teaching and research mission of the university and published by a reputable publisher and if it was already held by the libraries, whether another copy was warranted. (Yale University Library current selector’s collection development statements may be viewed at https://web.library.yale.edu/policy/collection-development-statements.)

Korolev (2002) examines positive and negative impacts of accepting gift books. Since all of the possible gift books of Professor Galton’s were reviewed by the author in advance of accepting for library collections, other than the librarian time spent in review and the staff time in processing the donated books, this was a very positive experience and outcome for our library users, judging by the subsequent activity found. Furthermore, the librarian time spent in reviewing all of the possible book donations was productive as a way of gaining more knowledge of the faculty member’s interests and activities in an illustrious career spanning decades.

Besides the resulting benefit to the library collections, this author also values the relationships that can develop between liaison librarians and their faculty’s administrative assistants, and even at times, with the faculty member’s family members that may lead to librarians being invited to review books for possible donations after a faculty member has passed away. For librarians, in addition to insights about the faculty member’s interests and activities, it also offers an interesting experience to see the titles that were chosen to occupy limited shelf space in the professor’s office and/or lab collection, with some acquired in their professional travels and activities.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to acknowledge the assistance of Rebecca Ridley at Marx Science and Social Science Library | Yale University Library in searching the catalog system for circulation and in-library browse use statistics for each donated book and Marybeth Bean, who assigned this task accurately and speedily and who drew out the total library circulation and browse figures for the LC classes these books were part of. Lauren Brown and Amauri Serrano, directed by Julie Linden, compiled a database of circulation and browse statistics along with title information for my library 2008-2022 for books classed in QH, QK, and QM LC classes. Jeremy Garritano, Director of Research Support and Outreach Programs, suggested the direction to pursue in writing this paper. In addition, Daniel Dollar, the current Director of Collection Development for the Yale libraries, provided details on the history of collection development practices before he began in this position in 2011.

References

Korolev, S. (2002). Gifts to a science academic librarian. The Acquisitions Librarian, 14(27), 87-94. https://doi.org/10.1300/J101v14n27_11

Office of Public Affairs & Communications, Yale University. (2008, July 18). In memoriam: Arthur Galston, plant biologist, fought use of Agent Orange. YaleNews. https://news.yale.edu/2008/07/18/memoriam-arthur-galston-plant-biologist-fought-use-agent-orange

Rose-Wiles, L. M., & Irwin, J. P. (2016). An old horse revived? In-house use of print books at Seton Hall University. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 42(3), 207-214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2016.02.012

Selth, J., Koller, N., & Briscoe, P. (1992). The use of books within the library. College & Research Libraries, 53(3):197-205 https://doi.org/10.5860/crl_53_03_197

Troher, M. (2022, August 10). In retrospect: Arthur Galston and the fight against Agent Orange. The Daily Illini. https://dailyillini.com/news-stories/longform/2022/08/10/agent-orange/

Appendix

This is a selected list of Professor Galston’s office books donated to the Yale libraries, following the author’s review. These are the titles that circulated or were browsed in the 14 years following the donation.

Plant Physiology, L. Taiz and E. Zeiger, Sinauer Associates, Inc., Publishers, 4th ed., 2006.
19 circulations and 30 in-library browses

Biochemistry & Molecular Biology of Plants, BB Buchanan, W. Gruissem, RL Jones, American Society of Plant Physiologists, 2000.
13 circulations and 30 in-library browses

English-Russian Dictionary, VK Muller, Blakiston Company, new 1944 ed.
1 circulation and 0 in-library browses

Power of Movement in Plants, C. Darwin, D. Appleton and Company, 1896.
1 circulation and 2 in-library browses

Kindly Fruits of the Earth, GE Hutchinson, Yale University Press, 1979. 2 gift copies
1 circulation and 0 browses for 1 copy and 1 circulation and 1 in-library browse for the other gift copy

Botany: a human concern, with Instructor’s Manual, D. Rayle and L. Wedberg, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1975.
1 circulation and 1 in-library browse

Grasses in Kansas, FC Gates, Kansas State Printing Plant, 1937.
1 circulation and 1 in-library browse

Heredity, Race and Society, LC Dunn and TH Dobzhansky, Penguin Books, Inc., 1946.
2 circulations and 6 in-library browses

Lumiere et Vegetation, J. Terrien and G. Truffaut, Presses Universitaires de France, 1951.
1 circulation and 1 in-library browse

Pocket Guide to Bio-Organic Structures, D. Racusen, BJ and FW Taylor, 1977.
1 circulation and 1 in-library browse

Principles of Gene Manipulation an Introduction to Genetic Engineering, RW Old and SB
1 circulation and 1 in-library browse

Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants Five Years On, Churchill College, University of Cambridge, 12-13 December 1983.
1 circulation and 1 in-library browse

Principles of Human Genetics, C. Stern, WH Freeman and Company, 1949.
1 circulation and 3 in-library browses

Recombinant DNA Methodology, (eds.) R. Wu, L. Grossman, K. Moldave, Academic Press, Inc., 1989.
1 circulation and 0 in-library browses

Basic Ethical Principles in European Bioethics and Biolaw, vol. I, autonomy, dignity, integrity and vulnerability, JD Rendtorff and P. Kemp, Centre for Ethics and Law, Denmark and Institut Borja de Bioetica, Spain, 2000.
1 circulation and 1 in-library browse

Basic Ethical Principles in European Bioethics and Biolaw, vol. II, partners’ research, JD Rendtorff and P. Kemp, Centre for Ethics and Law, Denmark and Institut Borja de Bioetica, Spain, 2000.
1 circulation and 1 in-library browse

Regulation of Plant Integrity, (eds.) S. Prochazka and J. Hradilik, Czechoslovakia, 1985.
1 circulation and 1 in-library browse

Destruction of Indole-3-Acetic Acid by Plant Tissues, PL Goldacre, California Institute of Technology, 1953.
1 circulation and 1 in-library browse

Human Embryonic Stem Cell Debate, (eds.) S. Holland, K. Lebacqz, L. Zoloth, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2001.
3 circulations and 6 in-library browses

Animals and Plants Under Domestication, vol 1, C. Darwin, D. Appleton and Company, 1899.
0 circulations and 5 in-library browses

Formation of Vegetable Mould, C. Darwin, D. Appleton and Company, 1899.
0 circulations and 2 in-library browses

Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, C. Darwin, D. Appleton and Company, 1899.
3 circulations and 4 in-library browses

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