Improving
Access to Usage Statistics for Electronic Journals
The Yale University Library has moved toward its ultimate goal of integrating print and electronic resources in its collections. This change in the Library’s collections has challenged traditional methods of gathering usage data. The Library previously gathered all usage data internally, but now must depend on external vendors to supply data on usage of electronic collections. This has sometimes been a difficult process, particularly in the lack of standardization among vendors. However, collecting the usage statistics allows the library to learn more about how electronic resources are used and how we can exploit their features to better serve our readers. This proposal seeks to enhance our ability to use and analyze electronic journal usage statistics by incorporating existing Library resources (e.g., the Ejournals database) and by providing a friendly Web front end to produce usage reports for individual selectors.
Information
from vendors is currently gathered and processed by Electronic Collections
staff. The data are transferred to
Excel spreadsheets and are then mounted on the Web, often with charts showing
the change in use over time. (http://www.library.yale.edu/ecollections/access/UsageStats.html). Many Yale librarians use this page and the
data it contains to find usage data for a particular journal or vendor-supplied
group of journals. Usage data are
currently not easily viewable in a way that would compare use across
resources.
This
is particularly true for electronic journals.
Most electronic journals arrive as part of a package subscription from
vendors and are not naturally grouped by subject. Our current presentation is
not helpful in spotting usage trends relative to other resources or
publishers. A helpful tool would
generate, given a specified subject area, a report detailing electronic journal
usage in a certain subject at Yale.
This would be particularly useful when negotiating with vendors for
electronic journal packages, which has become increasingly important as journal
prices rise.
We
propose to take vendor and SFX usage data available for Yale subscribed
journals and combine it with other data contained in the Ejournals database;
i.e., subject classification, selector, ISSN and title. By combining this information in a database
we will create the ability to run subject-wide reports on electronic journals
usage. Along with the data repository, a web front end will be designed that
will allow the user to specify the desired data, time period, and output format
(Web page or delimited text file). An
example of this type of front end for one set of usage statistics can be seen
on the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library’s intranet, http://info.med.yale.edu/library/intranet/statistics/ovid/
Journals will be selected for inclusion in this project based on the publisher’s adherence to established guidelines (such as the ICOLC guidelines and COUNTER). Journal usage statistics must be provided on a monthly basis in an electronic format. Data will be included based on their ability to be compared across vendors; that is data must be provided with clear definitions of how they are gathered, and those definitions must match across vendors. Journal packages identified as candidates for this project include Elsevier, Highwire, Project Muse, Ebsco journals from Academic Search, JSTOR and journals we receive from Ovid. This selection of several thousand journals will cover many disciplines and fields in humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Data from the SFX server will be included based on requests to the SFX server for a particular journal.
Web
and Workstation Support will create new tables for our project in the Ejournals
database. The Ejournals database
includes the information that runs the electronic journals list and the
databases lists on the Library Front Door.
We will then load the usage statistics for 2002 and 2003 directly into
the database ourselves without bothering the systems office further.
A
significant portion of the time will be spent developing processes to load the
data into the database in a consistent and efficient manner. We will also train a student in the use of
these processes and create new ones for resources we’d like to add to the
database. The student will also be
responsible for documenting the process for staff that will take over this
responsibility in the future.
The student will also help us create the Web front-end. This Web form will allow the selector to specify journals in a particular subject area, a particular month (or months) and out format (html or a comma delimited text file).
At
the end of this project:
January-April: Analyze electronic journal usage statistics, select statistics for inclusion in the project. Set up new tables in Ejournals database
May-September: With student help, establish procedures, import usage statistics, develop schedules for retrieving information, create web front-end.
Autumn: Announce project, assess its success (see Project Assessment below).
|
Student Labor (learning importing processes,
creating documentation, helping design front end) |
$11.00/ hr x 100 (10 hours a week for 10 weeks
over the summer) |
$1100 |
As
the Library moves into a time of large percentage increases in pricing for
electronic journals, selectors may be faced with more difficult decisions as to
where to spend Library collections funds. This prototype system will provide
better access to journal statistics.
This may help us to negotiate more effectively with vendors over pricing
and content of packages.
Even
where cost is not an issue, it is increasingly important for us to assess the
use of electronic resources and to find ways to measure use and the impact
electronic resources have on scholarship and research. This project will help Yale better determine
if the data we receive from vendors is useful, or if we need to ask for or
develop different data about electronic resources.