Building on sand

1

• Building on sand?
• Using statistical measures to assess the impact
  of electronic services
• Dr Angela Conyers
• evidence base
• research evaluation
• UCE Library Services
• UCE Birmingham

2
Key questions

• Why collect usage statistics?
• What statistics to collect?
• How to collect them?
• How to analyse them?
• How can libraries be assisted in this task?

3

• E-measures project funded by HEFCE
• working with 25 UK higher education libraries
• www.ebase.uce.ac.uk/emeasures/index.htm
• NESLi2 study of usage statistics funded by JISC
  working with 17 UK higher education libraries
• www.ebase.uce.ac.uk/projects/NESLi2.htm

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Why collect usage statistics?

• Because theyre there
• Because SCONUL has asked for them
• To help with promotion and user support
• For budgeting and decision-making
• To aid bench-marking

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What usage statistics to collect?

• 1. Identify type of resource
• Serials
• Databases
• E-books
• Digital documents
• Virtual visits
• Electronic enquiries

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What usage statistics to collect?

• 2. Identify reliable statistics
• COUNTER compliance
• Serials JR1 report number of full-text article
  requests 40 publishers/suppliers
• Databases DB1 report total searches and
  sessions by month and database 13
  publishers/suppliers - DB2 report total
  searches and sessions by month and service 15
  publishers/supplier
• E-books new draft COUNTER code of practice

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How to collect?

• Identify sources of statistics
• Collect passwords
• Download
• Establish where gateway statistics to be added
• Encourage all suppliers to be COUNTER compliant

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How to analyse?

• Identify supplementary information required
• Cost of deal (subscribed titles and e-access
  costs)
• Lists of subscribed titles
• Number of FTE users
• Total library serials budget

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How to analyse?

• 2. Identify groupings
• Usage range
• Price band
• Subject category
• Subscribed/unsubscribed titles

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Usage range

• Nil and low use (under 10 requests)
• nil use
• 1-4 requests
• 5-9 requests
• Medium use (1-99 requests)
• 10-49 requests
• 50-99 requests
• High use (100 or more requests)
• 100-499
• 500-999
• 1000-9999
• 10,000 plus

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Price band

• Unpriced those for which no price could be found
• Low price under 200
• Medium price - 200-399
• High price - 400-999
• Very high price - 1,000 and over

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Other groupings

• Subject category
• STM (science, technology medicine)
• HSS (humanities and social sciences)
• Subscribed and unsubscribed titles

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Assessing value for money

• Average cost per request all requests
• Average cost per request subscribed titles
• Average cost per request unsubscribed titles
• Cost per FTE user
• Cost per title
• Yield per for access to unsubscribed titles

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How can libraries be assisted with the task?

• NESLi2 study main recommendations to the JISC
• Clearer, more transparent deals
• Review of pricing and cancellations policies
• Portal site for publisher usage statistics
• More support to libraries in monitoring usage-
  toolkit, workshops etc

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How can libraries be assisted with the task?

• NESLi2 study main recommendations to the higher
  education library community
• Libraries to ensure they have sufficient internal
  resources to manage and analyse usage data
• Libraries to be encouraged to take a more
  joined-up approach to the management of print and
  e-journal resources

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The future?

• Workshops
• Tool-kits
• Benchmarking groups
• Outsourcing
• Angela Conyers
• Angela.Conyers_at_uce.ac.uk
• www.ebase.uce.ac.uk