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This project explores the use of library data to improve services, gain insights into user behavior, and measure the impact of the library on student attainment. It examines correlations between library activity data and student achievements across multiple universities.
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“Looking? Found someone you have, eh?” Practical implications from the Library Impact Data Project Graham Stone Information Resources Manager/ Senior Research Fellow #lidp http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/17677 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
Using Usage Data since 2005… …to improve existing services …to gain insights into user behaviour …to measure the impact of the library
To support the hypothesis that… Not a cause and effect relationship “There is a statistically significant correlation across a number of universities between library activity data and student attainment”
Library Impact Data Project IOriginal data requirements • For each student who graduated in a given year, the following data was required: • Final grade achieved • Number of books borrowed • Number of times e-resources were accessed • Number of times each student entered the library, e.g. via a turnstile system that requires identity card access • School/Faculty
Library Impact Data ProjectPhase II (Jan-Oct 2012) Phase I looked at over 33,000 students across 8 universities Phase II looks at around 2,000 FT undergraduate students at Huddersfield
Library Impact Data Project IIAdditional data • We had some new library usage metrics which weren’t available during Phase I • Demographics • Overnight usage • Off campus usage • The number of e-resources accessed • as distinct from the hours spent logged into e-resources • the number of e-resources accessed 5 or more times • the number of e-resources accessed 25 or more times.
Library usageCountry of domicile • This gives us some insight into user behaviour • New EU and old EU students use more e-resources • Chinese students are low users of all resources • Is this a training issue or a resource issue?
Library usageAggregated subject groups • Differences in user behaviour across disciplines • Computing and Engineering students are poor users of print and e-resources • Is print the wrong type of resource? They don’t visit the library either? • Are we buying appropriate e-resources? • Art and Design are also poor e-resources users • Is this because A&D e-resources in general are not adequate/relevant?
Library usageSocial Science group • Law are very low users of print and e-resources • Is this because they buy their own books? • Business are poor users of prints books • But we get ‘there are not enough books’ complaints from these students • Have they given up? Are we buying the right books? • They do use e-resources – should we move to predominately e-books?
Top 15 e-book titlesviews per month (previous 2 years) • average views per month • Exploring corporate strategy 114.4 • Stadia 29.7 • Research methods for business students 28.1 • Financial accounting and reporting 26.7 • Teaching in lifelong learning 25.7 • Management & organisational behaviour 20.9 • Events management 19.9 • Learning styles and inclusion 18.7 • The business of sport management 17.3 • A companion to early twentieth-century Britain 16.8 • Community profiling : a practical guide 15.3 • Event marketing 13.1 • The A-Z of social research 12.3 • Innovative marketing communications 11.3 • Theoretical approaches in psychology 11.2 PDA selected titles in red 25 out of the top 100 are PDA
Time of day of usage and outcomesaverage hourly use as percentage
Number of e-resources accessedDepth and breadth • There is evidence to show that using a number of e-resources might be a particularly important factor in degree success • We can infer that investing in the depth and breath of a collection is a positive thing • This leads to all kinds of questions about how the library might support students in reading widely • What would be the implications of large budget cuts and a reduction in the depth and breadth of the e-collection? • Do students who read across the reading lists get better results?
Other factorsNumber of e-resources accessed Both borrowing books and logging onto electronic resources does not guarantee the item has been read, understood and referenced Heavy usage does not equate to high information seeking or academic skills Additionally, students on particular courses may be using more primary materials only available outside of library resources: non-use of library resources does not mean students are using poor quality information
Is the library collection value for money?Value added • Rank UCAS points on entry and final grade as percentage • Does the difference correlate with measures of usage? • WARNING! This needs further testing! • Methods are untried • Missing data • Initial results are very encouraging
Computing Case studyTalking to non users • The students were asked to rank types of resources left to right • Google, Websites and YouTube were rated as ‘use lots’ • Resources at the ‘never use’ end of the scale included Journals, Library Subject Enquiry Desk, Total Training, ACM Digital Library and Unitube (ERA material)
Computing Case studyTalking to non users “Using magazines is going out of your way to use it when instead you can just Google it.” “We don’t see the point (in using x) because we’re not told to use them” Lots of reasoning was to do with how ‘easy’ a resource was to use rather than a recognition of quality – students stick to what they know No recognition that the university-subscribed resources were providing superior content to the free online resources
Going forward@Huddersfield • Look at specific subjects in order to work towards: • A best practice toolkit for information skills sessions • Further understanding by holding focus groups with target areas • Create an action plan to engage with academic colleagues • Showing value for money and the impact of the service on the student experience
Library Analytics Survey With thanks to Joy Palmer and the team at MIMAS for the initial survey analysis We asked: How important will analytics be to academic libraries now and in the future, and what is the potential for a service in this area?
In principle, would your institution be willing to contribute data that could be linked to anonymised individuals? • Significant appetite for analytics services among this sample • But more hesitation over sharing UCAS and student data than other forms of usage data • Strong willingness to share a broad range of data • preference to be identified by JISC band (91% in favour) • as opposed to named institution (47%)
Going forward@a national level An analytics service providing libraries with actionabledata to transform the services and support institutions provide to students and researchers
JiscLAMPLibrary Analytics and Metrics Project Running January 2013 – December 2013 Project Director: Ben Showers, Jisc The LAMP project is a partnership between Jisc, Mimas (University of Manchester) and the University of Huddersfield, and will involve members from the UK library community as part of the Community Advisory and Planning Group
JiscLAMPLibrary Analytics and Metrics Project • The project will develop a prototype shared library analytics service for UK academic libraries • Envisioned as a data dashboard • To enable libraries to capitalise on the many types of data they capture in day-to-day activities • To support the improvement and development of new services and demonstrate value and impact in new ways across the institution • The likely audience will range from librarians to library directors to external users as well
JiscLAMPLibrary Analytics and Metrics Project • Discussions over intuitive design and visualisations • Developing a clear understanding of what users might want to do will be critical • Potential for internal and external benchmarking
JiscLAMPLibrary Analytics and Metrics Project • We hope up to 6 Universities will provide us with LIDPII style data by the end of June 2013 • 2 sets of data already received • Sketch out a roadmap • Continue to develop the prototype as a way to get solid feedback on the potential use-cases and functionality • Use Testing
Thank you This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License • Library Impact Data Project blog • http://library.hud.ac.uk/blogs/projects/lidp/ • JiscLAMP • http://jisclamp.mimas.ac.uk/about-lamp/ • Stone, Graham and Ramsden, Bryony (2013) Library Impact Data Project: looking for the link between library usage and student attainment. College and Research Libraries. Available as pre-print • Stone, Graham and Collins, Ellen (2013) Library usage and demographic characteristics of undergraduate students in a UK university. Performance Measurement and Metrics, 14 (1) pp. 25-35
