View
219
Download
0
Category
Tags:
Preview:
Citation preview
Experiences on the Ground: usage stats as a practical tool in the Library
Jill Taylor-RoeNewcastle University LibraryUKSG Usage Statistics Training Seminar 27 June, 2006
There is nothing new under the sun…
Libraries have been collecting and using usage data for many years
Initial core data – based around print based services and physical presence of users in Library
Current data more likely to focus on remote use of e-services
Usage and Value
What do we measure and why? How does it help? Are we measuring the right things? Are we making correct assumptions
from the data?
What do we measure and why?
Anything which tells us about the utilisation of services in our Library
Data which might help to demonstrate whether we are getting a reasonable return on our financial investment
Data which may help to support cases for funding Data which can inform our strategic
planning
Usage data can be…
A practical management tool - helps assess effectiveness
A means of assessing performance A planning tool A political tool A means of helping to demonstrate VFM A means of highlighting user satisfaction Support for funding bids
Traditional Library Usage Data
Academic Year 94/95 99/00 03/04 04/05
Issues 574,618 760,128 505,044 759,091
ILL Requests 35,771 23,335 13,180 12,939
Photocopies 4,431,397 4,498,000 1,746,648 1,875,358
Visits to the Library 1,243,970 1,175,249 1,012,670 1,121,759
Graphs can (sometimes!) be helpful
Tradtional Library Usage Data
0
500,000
1,000,000
1,500,000
2,000,000
2,500,000
3,000,000
3,500,000
4,000,000
4,500,000
5,000,000
94/95 99/00 03/04 04/05
Issues
ILL Requests
Photocopies
Visits to the Library
New Library Performance Indicators
Gross Library Expenditure per staff/student FTE Gross Information Expenditure per staff/student FTE Library Staff Expenditure per staff/student FTE Cost per seat hours per annum Cost per use of electronic journals Expenditure on e-resources as a % of total expenditure Uses per day of e-resources per staff/ student FTE
E-Journal Key Performance Indicators per package @ NUL (1)
METRICS COSTS
Total No. titles Total package Total full text downloads Cost as % of total serials
budget Mean cost per title
Max downloads (month) Mean cost per F/T download Min downloads (month) Cost per FTE user***Mean downloads (year)PDF full text downloads HTML full text downloads PDF/HTML ratioDownloads per FTE user*Total turnaways (titles not included in licence) Medium use: (11-99 hits)
High use: (= >100 hits) Top 20 best performing titles as % of total hits Low-use: (0-10 hits)
E-Journal KPI profile with data
Graphs CAN sometimes be helpful
What are these usage stats telling us?
Average cost per f/t download for large STM packages now around £1.50 - £1.75
Average cost per use of e-journals = £0.93 Usage still appears to be increasing year on year Humanities and Social Sciences packages seem
to be less well used than STM Initially, titles we had as print were always better
used than unsubscribed content, but now many of the latter are beginning to show heavy use
How does this help? (1)
Given the significant sums we are investing in e-resources – cost per use figs appear to show good value for money
Total f/t downloads per annum are still rising – ( may offset decline in traditional ILL) Journals collection has effectively doubled in size
– more choice for users Because usage is increasing year on year – MAY
help persuade paymasters to maintain and preferably increase funding
How does this help? (2)
Dealing with practical queries: “Why are you wasting money on all these
second rate journals – you should only buy the top IF rated titles in each field and cancel all the rest.”
QUESTION: does high IF correlate with high use?
How does this help? (3)
“There is a new journal called Nature Physics. This is essential for my research so please take a subscription out immediately.”
QUESTION: would it be worth trying to find funds for this title?
Building up evidence…
Average cost per use of current Nature Journal Collection: £0.74 in 2005
Overall package usage has increased year on year by over 30%
Would be worth securing trial access to the title to see how it compares with the rest
This MAY provide enough supporting evidence to warrant making a case for funding a subscription.
How does this help? (4)
“ SD is excellent – but it would be even better if you bought the back-files then we can search back to volume 1.”
QUESTION – is it worth looking at the backfiles? How could we make a case to buy them??
Building up evidence…
How many metres do our current print back-runs occupy? If we were to charge an annual rental for this space what would
it be? Have we any evidence of usage of the print runs? Can we trial access to the back runs? Can we separate out usage of the backfiles from the current
files? What level of usage of the digital backfile would support a case
for purchase? Would it need to be significantly cheaper than the cost of
maintaining the print runs on the shelves?
Are we measuring the right things?
Managerial Realities… (1)
Library budgets still fail to keep pace with the demands placed upon them
Most Libraries are competing for funds with other services and academic schools
Demand for new resources, especially (but not exclusively) e-resources is insatiable
Managerial Realities… (2)
In the print environment it was difficult to assess claims that particular resources were “essential” both pre and post purchase
E-usage stats are a powerful new tool to help us assess the value of the resources which are absorbing increasingly large percentages of our budgets
We are constantly having to respond to new initiatives requiring us to demonstrate the cost effectiveness of our services
Summary points
We need usage data in order to… Provide KPIs for our paymasters To inform collection development strategies Evaluate whether the resources we have
selected are providing good VFM Support cases for future funding
Are we making the correct assumptions from the data?
At regular intervals you should always stop and think:
Are we taking a fair and balanced view? Is there critical data that we are missing? Are there any significant flaws or omissions in the
data we are using?
More work is needed
More info re usage of backfiles vs current issues Clarify the position re subscribed and non-subscribed
content in usage reports More info on turnaways – these too could influence
future purchases More comparative data to facilitate benchmarking
between libraries Greater number of publishers to be fully COUNTER
compliant Data gathering process needs further streamlining
Concluding thoughts
Usage metrics have come a long way in a short time They are far from perfect, and need to be interpreted
with care, but they are important to librarians in our role as information managers
They are important to publishers as a means of understanding and refining their market
We need to acquire and share more expertise in collating and analysing usage data
We need more and better usage data – particularly comparative data so that we can benchmark effectively
Openly collaborative work between librarians and publishers will help us to move forward faster
Recommended