PhD Thesis Citation Analysis to Evaluate the Success of Collection Development Policy Implementation: An Institutional Case Study

This institutional case study analyses 1723 sources referenced in five PhD theses awarded at Alphacrucis University College between 2017 and 2021. The purpose was to demonstrate that the library's collection development policy is successfully guiding purchasing decisions in order to provide students with the resources they need to complete their research at high levels. Sources were extracted from each thesis and grouped according to type. Library holdings were then checked, revealing that, overall, 70.2% of all cited sources were available from the AC library collection. This research-in-practice paper shows that AC library's shift in focus for its collection development policy is adequately providing required resources to research students.