Hi All,
I'd like to add onto Luke's note below on level of use. We recently analyzed a subset of our collection for which we receive both print and e-books. Of 285 ebooks, 283 had use, but closer analysis showed that of these 283 ebooks with use, 130 of these were for one page view only, and 182 uses were for 1-2 pages viewed; only 34 had 11+ pages viewed (there were no chapter or full document downloads.)
In our case, this showed that print use (determined by 2 or more circulations) was higher than ebook use for the collection, and given a preference, our patrons - for now - prefer print over e. This same analysis would not apply to large subscribed collections, but it gave us some good information on focused use of ebooks.
Thanks,
Cathy
Cathy Goodwin
Head of Collection Management
Kimbel Library
Coastal Carolina University
P.O. Box 261954
Conway, SC 29528
843-349-2408
From: ACQNET-L [mailto:acqnet-l-bounces_at_lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of acqnet-l_at_lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Friday, June 13, 2014 2:03 PM
To: <acqnet-l_at_lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [ACQNET-L] E-books Usage Statistics - UNC Chapel Hill Perspectives
E-books Usage Statistics - UNC Chapel Hill Perspectives
UNC reviews and analyzes e-books usage statistics only when doing so makes a difference in terms of affecting collections decisions. Such occurs in four instances: informing librarian title-by-title selections; continuing subscriptions to leased e-books collections; providing indications of need and value for potentially purchasing on-going e-books packages; and (when the frontlist is owned) assessing the potential utility of acquiring a corresponding e-books archive.
When looking at a collection, package, or archive of e-books, UNC considers three elements: aggregate usage; cost-per-use; and distribution of use. While the first two metrics are obvious and mentioned often, the third component is not only critical but also can be more fundamental to assessing value/utility. This last factor may even trump high aggregate usage and low title cost-per-use!
Let me provide an instance of the critical importance of distribution of use, using the example of when UNC cancelled its subscription to a major collection of leased e-books despite an aggregate usage of >1.2M pages viewed annually. When we examined distribution, only 20% of the 70,030 e-books then in this collection registered usage. Further analysis revealed only 9% had more than 1 use and only 4% more than 3 uses. Finally, only 5% of these leased e-books registered more than 100 pages viewed-and they accounted for 81% of all pages viewed. On the basis of this use distribution UNC concluded that it was more cost effective the buy the relatively few intensely used titles and cancel the leased e-books subscription.
Luke Swindler
*******************************************************************************
Luke Swindler Collections Management Officer
Davis Library CB #3918 luke_swindler_at_unc.edu<mailto:luke_swindler_at_unc.edu>
University of North Carolina TEL (919-962-1095)
Chapel Hill, NC 27514 USA FAX (919-962-4450)
*************************************************"*****************************
"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most
intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change." Charles Darwin
On Jun 10, 2014, at 5:46 PM, <acqnet-l_at_lists.ibiblio.org<mailto:acqnet-l_at_lists.ibiblio.org>>
<acqnet-l_at_lists.ibiblio.org<mailto:acqnet-l_at_lists.ibiblio.org>> wrote:
Hi Stacey.
For us, ebook usage reports help justify some of our material funding requests (because they show our students are heavily using our e-resources,) and they generally inform collection development decision-making.
Based partly usage reports from our earlier ebook collections, ebooks are now the first choice for some subject areas, if available. When deciding whether or not to try out a DDA plan, existing ebook usage was considered. We look at usage when deciding whether or not to renew a subscription-based collection, and whether to buy perpetual collections from particular publishers. Platforms known to have higher usage tend to get the money.
Also, one way I look at it, is that with the use of our facility very high, but print circulation dropping, it might cause some on campus to question what services we are providing besides study hall. E-resource usage stats, ebooks included, are helping show the usefulness of our services as they migrate to electronic provision.
The only ebook "weeding" we do is with our DDA plan discovery pool. We like to keep only the two recent publishing years in the discovery pool, so in rolling fashion, once a year we drop off the publications that would now be 3 years back. We'd rather DDA purchases be newer titles.
Carole
Carole Correa-Morris
University Library Head of Acquisitions &
Interim Lead for Technical Services
San Jose State University
408-808-2372
Carole.Correa-Morris_at_sjsu.edu<mailto:Carole.Correa-Morris_at_sjsu.edu>
On Tue, Jun 10, 2014 at 8:45 AM, <acqnet-l_at_lists.ibiblio.org<mailto:acqnet-l_at_lists.ibiblio.org>> wrote:
All
Over the years, I have attended several sessions at ALA and other conferences about collecting ebook usage statistics. Those sessions always seemed to be focused on how to collect or the mechanics of collecting, not how to use the statistics.
Is anyone using ebook usage statistics for collection purposes? Weeding purposes? (Currently we are not removing any ebook titles from our catalog). Decision making purposes?
I am trying to determine what useful, actionable information I can get out of my ebook statistics.
Stacey
Stacey Marien
Acquisitions Librarian
American University Library
smarien_at_american.edu<mailto:smarien_at_american.edu>
202-885-3842<tel:202-885-3842>
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Received on Mon Jun 16 2014 - 16:43:57 EDT