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Usage Statistics and How We’re Using Them: The Example of Glasgow University: What We’d Really Prefer to Do, and the Way Ahead

What We’d Really Prefer to Do, and the Way Ahead

There is of course a theoretical question as to the “quality” of use represented by a full-text article download. What we really would like to measure is the impact of journal subscriptions, and that is beginning to be examined – but the number of full-text article downloads must be regarded as at least an initial proxy for this. It is also relevant whether a few individual articles are accessed many times, or whether use is more diffuse – and some publishers can provide, e.g., the number of unique articles accessed. But again overall use is the most important figure.

Having obtained usage figures, and taking due account of different levels of use in different subject areas, we then look at the costs involved, whether overall costs for package deals or individual subscriptions, to try to obtain some cost-benefit evidence. We are now doing this much more systematically, and beginning to present the results to Faculty Library Committees. Although this is only one factor to be taken into account, we are starting to base more of our decisions, given limited resources, on hard evidence of this nature. It does emphasize again differences between “big deals” and individual subscriptions; perhaps we are getting closer to the stage where we have enough evidence to think more closely once more about moving away from packages back towards more individual subscriptions.

Why Staff Structures Are Important

A final point that I wish to mention here is the implication of usage statistics on staff structures within the library. The management of e-journals, in its various aspects, has of course been absorbing more, and more senior (and expensive), staff time within libraries, and usage information is an integral and important part of this. On the one hand, there is far more information now requiring much time to analyze; on the other hand, the adoption of COUNTER standards will make this easier. At Glasgow, there is now a staff member at senior library assistant level who spends a large proportion of her time collecting and assembling usage statistics. In the medium term, there will not be so much analysis work by high-level staff, but decisions based on this analysis will still of course be a professional matter.

In sum, usage statistics are now an integral part of our professional life, and will continue to grow more important as they become both ubiquitous and standardized.