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Electronic Resource Usage Measures: Theory and Practice

Explore the development of cost-per-use data for electronic collections and how libraries use unit cost information for management decisions. Discuss the effectiveness of print and electronic journals and the cost per use for different types of electronic resources.

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Electronic Resource Usage Measures: Theory and Practice

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  1. Use Measures for Electronic Resources: Theory and PracticeA Librarian’s PerspectiveALA / ALCTSJune 27, 2005Chicago, Illinois Brinley Franklin Vice Provost for University Libraries University of Connecticut

  2. Objectives Review some of the early efforts to develop cost per use data for electronic collections Discuss some of the ways libraries and consortia currently use unit cost information to make management decisions Briefly describe how MINES for Libraries™ identifies the extent to which electronic resources support research, instruction, and other activities at U.S. and Canadian research libraries.

  3. I. Unit Costs of Electronic vs. Print Journals • Drexel University Library • D-Lib Magazine (2002) • Medical Branch Library • of the University Library • Muenster, Germany • Health Information andLibraries Journal(2003) • Nonsubscription Periodicals Costs • CLIR Study (June 2004)

  4. Drexel University Nonsubscription Costs Electronic Journals $ 5,000 $ 10,000 ($2,000) $ 125,000 Current Journals $ 40,000 $ 2,500 $ 600 $ 46,000 Bound Journals $ 205,000 $ 2,400 $ 8,000 $ 42,000 Space Systems Supplies & Services Staff Total Operational Costs $138,000 $90,000 $258,000 Adapted from: C.H. Montgomery and D.W. King, “Comparing Library and User Related Costs of Print and Electronic Journal Collections: A First Step Towards a Comprehensive Analysis,” D-Lib Magazine, October 2002.

  5. Drexel University Subscription Costs Total Cost $38,000 $115,000 $334,000 $29,000 $59,000 $537,000 Titles 370 266 2,500 480 10,200 8,600 Cost per Title $100 $432 $134 $60 $6 $62 • Print Journals • Electronic Journals • Individual Subscriptions • Publisher’s Packages • Aggregator Journals • Full-Text Databases (non-unique)Unique Electronic Journals Adapted from: C.H. Montgomery and D.W. King, “Comparing Library and User Related Costs of Print and Electronic Journal Collections: A First Step Towards a Comprehensive Analysis,” D-Lib Magazine, October 2002.

  6. Drexel University Total Unit Cost per Use • Print Journals • Current Journals • Bound Journals • Total Print Journals • Electronic Journals • Individual Subscriptions • Publisher’s Packages • Aggregator Journals • Full-Text Database Journals • Total Electronic Journals Recorded Use 15,000 9,000 24,000 23,000 134,000 20,000 158,000 335,000 Subscription Cost per Use $2.50 NA $2.50 $3.20 $2.25 $1.35 $0.40 $1.40 Operational Cost per Use $6.00 $30.00 $15.00 $0.45 $0.45 $0.45 $0.45 $0.45 Unit Cost per Use $8.50 $30.00 $17.50 $3.65 $2.70 $1.80 $0.85 $1.85 Adapted from: C.H. Montgomery and D.W. King, “Comparing Library and User Related Costs of Print and Electronic Journal Collections: A First Step Towards a Comprehensive Analysis,” D-Lib Magazine, October 2002.

  7. Drexel University Conclusions • Operational cost per use for print journals ($15) was much greater than for electronic journals ($0.45); • The highest cost per use ($30) was associated with bound journals, given the cost to house them and their relatively low use; • Full-text database journals were used heavily and were cost effective (at less than $1 per use); • Unit costs for publisher’s packages and aggregator journals were more cost-effective than individual subscriptions. Adapted from: C.H. Montgomery and D.W. King, “Comparing Library and User Related Costs of Print and Electronic Journal Collections: A First Step Towards a Comprehensive Analysis,” D-Lib Magazine, October 2002.

  8. Medical Branch Library, University Library Muenster, Germany Unit Costs of Print and Online Journals (in Euros) Print Subscription Cost Print Usage Print Unit Cost Online Subscription Cost Online Usage Online Unit Cost Academic Blackwell Elsevier High Wire Springer Total 67,533 € 35,742 € 60,143 € 8,984 € 85,353 € 257,737 € 3,350 1,531 4.012 3,223 1,679 13,795 20.16 € 23.35 € 14.99 € 2.79 € 50.82 € 18.68 € 54,241 € 30,380 € 54,139 € 8,086 € 76,081 € 223,647 € 3,593 6,329 8,248 25,975 20,346 64,491 15.10 € 4.80 € 6.56 € 0.31 € 3.77 € 3.47 € Adapted from: Oliver Obst, “Patterns and Cost of Printed and Online Journal Usage,” Health Information andLibraries Journal 2003.

  9. Medical Branch Library Muenster, Germany Conclusions • For titles included in the study, users accessed the online version significantly more than the print version. • The unit cost of an online usage was 5.38 times (18.68 € /3.47 €) less expensive than the unit cost of print journal usage. Adapted from: Oliver Obst, “Patterns and Cost of Printed and Online Journal Usage,” Health Information andLibraries Journal 2003.

  10. Annual Nonsubscription Costs for Print and Electronic Journals Current Print Journals Cost Per Title ($US) Print Journal BackfilesCost Per Title ($US) E-Journals Cost Per Title ($US) Bryn Mawr Franklin and Marshall Suffolk Williams Drexel George Mason Western Carolina Cornell NYU Pitt Yale $ 10.95 $ 10.67 $ 35.19 $ 10.63 $ 7.28 $ 16.84 $ 12.83 $ 26.29 $ 16.01 $ 47.04 $ 33.53 $ 105.65 $ 63.77 $ 313.89 $ 92.38 $ 101.37 $ 74.06 $ 50.33 $ 49.82 $ 41.77 $ 59.21 $ 29.37 $ 0.88 $ 1.10 $ 0.32 $ 0.63 $ 0.39 $ 1.80 $ 0.98 $ 0.18 $ 1.63 $ 1.15 $ 1.15 Schonfeld, King, Okerson, and Fenton, The Nonsubscription Side of Periodicals: Changes in Library Operations and Costs between Print and Electronic Formats, Council on Library and Information Resources, June 2004.

  11. Using Unit Cost Data for Management Decisions • University of Virginia • University of Connecticut • Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries (CARL)

  12. UVA Summary • Electronic journals provided by 26 publishers and aggregators cost about $2.3 million in fiscal year 2003, and there were 1.4 million recorded, yielding an average cost per article downloaded of roughly $1.64. • Cost per article used ranged from $.07 to $17.92; the median publisher/aggregator cost per article use was slightly more than $1.00. • Forty-nine major electronic reference databases cost approximately $550,000 annually. These 49 databases were searched about 1.05 million times last year, yielding a $0.52 per search cost. • The most heavily used database was searched more than 270,000 times, at a per search cost of $0.08. An infrequently searched database had the highest per search cost ($16.68). Special thanks to: Jim Self (UVa)

  13. University of Connecticut Libraries Database Unit Costs FY 2002Cost FY 2002Cost per Search FY 2003Cost per Search FY 2002Searches FY 2003Searches FY 2003Cost WorldCat JSTOR FirstSearch Web of Science Total 35,762 31,485 14,736 72,040 154,023 $9,766 $23,100 $9,380 $135,270 $177,516 $ 0.27 $ 0.73 $ 0.64 $ 1.88 $1.15 30,131 49,439 13,700 66,420 159,690 $11,160 $ 30,650 $ 6,375 $ 144,039 $192,224 $0.37 $0.62 $0.47 $2.17 $1.20 Special thanks to: Deborah Sanford (UConn).

  14. CARL Summary • Subscribing to 13 databases costs CARL about $600,000 a year. The databases are then offered to more than 100 libraries, 10 of which are Alliance members. Based on annual usage, each library in the state is assessed a share of the cost, with a $350 minimum. • Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries’ 10 members used the 13 databases approximately 1.3 million times in a recent fiscal year, or 56% of the total state-wide use. • Consequently, each CARL member paid about $0.25 for each use of these databases. Special thanks to: George Machovec (CARL)

  15. Conclusions • Different libraries can expect to have different nonsubscription and unit costs per use for their electronic collections, even if licensing costs are similar. • Electronic journal use data will become more reliable and is probably already more reliable than use data for print journals, allowing better unit cost comparisons among journal titles. • Operating costs in the print environment typically exceeded subscription costs; in the pioneering Drexel study, nonsubscription costs ($0.45) represented only about 25% the total cost per use ($1.85) of electronic journals. • Libraries still typically compute subscription cost per use, not total cost (i.e., subscription plus nonsubscription) cost per use.

  16. Conclusions • We can expect significantly lower operating costs in the electronic journal environment than we experienced in the print environment AND significantly more use, resulting in much lower unit costs per use. • The data we now have available may raise some questions about our previous selection policies: • Some journals whose prices seemed preposterous in the absence of cost per use data may seem (at least slightly) more reasonable in the context of cost per use. • Conversely, some reasonably priced journals now seem expendable given their low-recorded use and unit cost per use.

  17. III. MINES for Libraries™ • U.S. Medical Libraries • U.S. Main Libraries • Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL)

  18. What is MINES? • MINES is a research methodology consisting of a web-based survey form and a sampling plan. • MINES measures who is using electronic resources, where users are located at the time of use, and their purpose of use. • MINES was adopted by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) as part of the “New Measures” toolkit in May, 2003. • MINES is different from other electronic resource usage measures that quantify total usage (e.g., COUNTER, EQUINOX, E-Metrics, ICOLC Guidelines, ISO and NISO standards) or measure how well a library makes electronic resources accessible (LibQual+TM).

  19. Library User Survey

  20. Purpose of Use By Location U.S. Medical Libraries 2003 – 2005 In the Library n = 6,590 On-Campus, Not in the Library n = 15,948 Overall Use n = 27,390 Off-Campus n = 4,852 *83% of sponsored research usage occurred outside the library. 92% of this use took place on-campus.

  21. Purpose of Use By Location U.S. Main Campus Libraries 2003 – 2005 On-Campus, Not in the Library n = 9,460 In the Library n = 9,733 Overall Use n = 26,983 Off-Campus n = 7,790 *72% of sponsored research usage of electronic resources occurred outside the library; 83% took place on campus.

  22. OCUL Scholars Portal Users by Purpose of Use In a sample of 20,300 electronic resources uses at OCUL libraries, there were four uses outside the library for each use in the library.

  23. Use Measures for Electronic Resources: Theory and PracticeA Librarian’s Perspective Copies of this presentation are available at: www.library.uconn.edu/~bfranklin See also: “Managing the Electronic Collection with Cost per Use Data” by Brinley Franklin, IFLA Journal, Vol. 31, No. 3 (October, 2005)www.minesforlibraries.org Contact the author at: brinley.franklin@uconn.edu

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