Abstract

The aim of this study was to identify the major topics that can inform collection development and curation practices in university libraries. To achieve this, it applied co-occurrence and network analysis to examine books borrowed together with introductory course textbooks, using two analytical units—title keywords and KDC classification. The title keyword analysis revealed that Introduction to Psychology emphasized themes such as self-development, society, and history beyond its disciplinary scope, indicating that students’ interests extend beyond their majors. Introduction to Education encompassed various education-related subfields, while Introduction to Childcare and Introduction to Social Welfare showed strong thematic connections. In contrast, Introduction to History exhibited a consistent focus on history-related topics, suggesting limited topic diversity. The KDC-based analysis identified ‘Education,’ ‘Sociology,’ ‘Psychology,’ ‘History,’ ‘Geography,’ and ‘Home Economics’ as central nodes, highlighting common intellectual structures across courses. In the subject analysis based on title keywords, specialized topics related to each course were identified, whereas in the subject analysis based on classification numbers, topics common across courses appeared. Therefore, title keyword analysis is more suitable for course-linked curation, while KDC-based analysis provides a sound basis for general collection development.