From: Rachel Miller <RMILLER%UKANVM.BITNET_at_pucc.PRINCETON.EDU>
Ten months ago, we posted on this listserv [COLLDV-L no. 1057] a report
about the University of Kansas Libraries' early experiences providing
subsidized unmediated ordering of articles through a customized UnCover
gateway. We implemented the gateway in October 1995 on a one-year trial
basis. At the end of FY96 we decided, after an evaluation process which
included a user survey, to extend the gateway for one more year, while we
continue monitoring it closely and exploring additional document delivery
options. Here is a brief update on that evaluation and user survey, and on
our UnCover usage from October 1995-August 1996.
BACKGROUND:
We targeted subsidized ordering at KU faculty, graduate students, and
academic professional staff (about 11,000 individuals). UnCover
periodically loads an extract of our borrower file. Faculty and graduate
students are validated as they log in to the system using their KU ID, and
the library's deposit account number is automatically embedded (masked)
in their profiles. Subsidized ordering is limited to articles from journals
that KU does not own -- estimated at 40-45% of the UnCover database -- and
to articles that do not exceed $30 in price. Funding for the articles was
allocated from the library materials budget by the Collection Development
Council. Administrative funds covered all other gateway costs, including
an UnCover Reveal site license for the KU domain.
UNCOVER USAGE, OCTOBER 1995-JUNE 1996
The gateway was launched on October 4, 1995. As of August 30, 1996, 657
profiles had been established and 536 individuals were using UnCover
Reveal. Over this 11-month period 2474 articles were ordered and 2262
articles were supplied. UnCover was unable to supply 10% percent of the
articles ordered. About half the articles were faxed to office or home fax
machines, the rest to library fax machines which were made available for
this purpose in several library locations.
Articles were ordered by 286 users (84 faculty/ academic professional staff
and 198 graduate students). The average number of articles supplied per
user was 7.9, the median 3, the maximum 303. Articles were supplied from
864 different journals. The average number of articles supplied per journal
was 2.6, the median 1, the maximum 109. Of the 864 journals, 53% were
sci/tech, 41% social science, and 6% humanities.
Total article costs for the 11-month period were $30,111.06 (average cost
per article $13.31, per user $105.28). The maximum expenditure per user
was $4,180.10 and the maximum per journal was $1,580.50 (for Applied
Ergonomics-1996 subscription cost: $422). Order information by journal
title is being provided to bibliographers who are deciding when local
ownership of a title is necessary. The top 8% percent of the users account
for half the orders - a group of mostly graduate students who ordered 20 or
more articles each.
SUMMARY OF SURVEY
An 18-question survey was mailed this past April to all known users of KU
UnCover and to a random sample of faculty and graduate students. A total
of 134 faculty and 126 graduate students responded (48% from social
sciences, 28% from sci/tech, and 25% from humanities and other fields).
69% of respondents had used UnCover. Of these, 66% had ordered an article
34.5% think UnCover will decrease their use of ILL
49.1% are willing to pay some portion of the cost of the articles.
Users of the service gave it an overall rating of 3.956 on a scale of 1
(not at all satisfied) to 5 (completely satisfied). Respondents rated at
4.804 the importance of the Libraries' continuing to pursue document
delivery options such as UnCover.
* Positive aspects of UnCover noted were speed, convenience, and
availability of tables of contents.
* Negative aspects were difficulty of use (connecting, searching,
ordering) and slow response time over the Internet. (In May 1996, the
Libraries purchased a dedicated line to UnCover. Response time since then
has been fully satisfactory.)
IMPACT OF KU UNCOVER ON LIBRARY OPERATIONS
Public services: Although public service staff have been favorable to the
*idea* of unmediated document delivery, they observed that many patrons
found UnCover difficult to use without assistance. Slow system response
time was seen as a major factor in this, along with UnCover's "clunky"
search engine. (The dedicated line installed in May seems to have resolved
the response time issue for the most part.)
Collection development: Sci/tech bibliographers thought UnCover's journal
coverage was good and took UnCover into account when making cancellation
decisions. Other bibliographers were far less positive. Several saw the
lack of foreign language titles as a serious disadvantage. Bibliographers
from all subject areas were concerned about the number of journals in the
UnCover database for which publishers disallow transmission of articles.
Delivery options in addition to fax were considered essential, especially
in the sciences.
Interlibrary loan: During November 1995, to help promote the service,
interlibrary loan staff used UnCover whenever possible to fill article
requests from faculty and graduate students. About 27% of these users' ILL
requests were available from UnCover. ILL staff continue to use UnCover
selectively to fill rush requests.
Staff costs: These were significant. KU Libraries, Computer Center, and
Networking and Telecommunications staff spent many hours on system set-up
and subsequent activities: designing/customizing the Uncover product to
produce "KU UnCover;" creating the patron file and serial holdings extracts
for loading; dealing with problems in the serials holdings match (this
alone took 235 hours of Cataloging staff time); installing and debugging
the router for the dedicated line; writing and editing a user guide; and
assisting users and troubleshooting various problems (e.g., user ID not
recognized by UnCover).
If you have questions about any of this, don't hesitate to contact us.
Rachel Miller
Head, Retrieval Services
email: rmiller_at_ukans.edu
phone: (913) 864-3078
Mel DeSart
Engineering Librarian
email: desart_at_ukans.edu
phone: (913) 864-3854
Richard Ring
Collection Development Librarian
email: richring_at_ukans.edu
phone: (913) 864-3425
Received on Mon Oct 14 1996 - 16:41:09 EDT