Terry Plum

Successful Web Survey Methodologies for Measuring the Impact of Networked Electronic Services (MINES for Libraries)

MINES for Libraries is a web-based survey methodology that is proving to be a valid and reliable method for assessing networked electronic resources usage. The methodology has collected usage data on the libraries’ electronic resources, including electronic journals, electronic books, databases, the online catalog, and services such as interlibrary loan. It can also integrate data on non-subscription resources such as digital collections, open access journals, pre-print and post-print servers, and institutional repositories. This web survey method is more successful in libraries that have implemented a network assessment infrastructure. To illustrate its utility, an overview of the methodology, a discussion of assessment infrastructures, and recent results from MINES for Libraries surveys at more than 30 North American universities during the last 2 years are presented, including health sciences libraries, main academic libraries, and a Canadian library consortium of colleges and universities.

Networked electronic services usage patterns at four academic health sciences libraries

An examination of the methodology and results from patron use surveys of networked electronic services at four geographically disparate academic health science libraries in the USA between 1999 and 2002. The principal fields of inquiry include demographic differences between in‐house library users as compared to remote library users by status of user; users’ purposes for accessing electronic services; how the purpose of use differs between traditional, in‐person, library services; and differences in usage of electronic resources based upon the location of users. The results of this study should help guide service decisions in academic health sciences libraries.

Measuring the impact of networked electronic resources

Purpose – As libraries are developing a larger Web presence, issues regarding the utility, accessibility, and impact of the usage of their networked resources and services are gaining critical importance. The need to assess systematically the networked electronic services and resources is great as increasing amounts of financial resources are dedicated to the Web presence of libraries. This paper aims to address this issue.Design/methodology/approach – This project proposes to measure the impact of networked electronic services, building on MINES for Libraries®, in a scalable way across libraries and consortia to enhance digital library service quality and impact on learning by enabling the future allocation of resources to areas of user‐identified need. Short, standardized web surveys are placed at the point‐of‐use of networked electronic resources and services through a network assessment infrastructure that uses contemporary mechanisms of authentication and access, such as EZproxy, openURL, Shibboleth,...

Evaluating Usage and Impact of Networked Electronic Resources through Point-of-Use Surveys: A MINES for Libraries™ Study

This article presents a literature review of methods for evaluating serials, or networked electronic resources, usage, and focuses on point-of-use intercept Web surveys. In the context of the MINES for Libraries protocol administered by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and derived from the indirect cost study methodologies developed by Franklin and Plum, the article discusses a variety of point-of-use Web survey implementation methodologies used in libraries. It discusses sampling plan options and articulates issues related to the mandatory and optional versions of the point-of-use Web survey protocols with an emphasis on nonresponse bias. The article provides a set of methods that libraries can use to continue to evaluate their networked electronic services in innovative ways to better serve the research, teaching, and learning needs of their users.

Assessing the Value and Impact of Digital Content

ABSTRACT During the last decade, library users have responded favorably to the rapid growth in available digital content. In recent years, a number of assessment initiatives related to digital content have surfaced. Among these are projects to standardize the measurement of digital content use, user satisfaction with digital content, cost/benefit analyses, and determination of the demographics and purpose of use of digital content. This paper surveys early attempts by libraries to assess the value and impact of digital content on users. It also explores the potential that digital content offers libraries for understanding library usage, which previously was not available in the traditional print environment.

What Is Different About E-Books?: A MINES for Libraries® Analysis of Academic and Health Sciences Research Libraries' E-Book Usage

Building on the theoretical proposals of Kevin Guthrie and others concerning the transition from print books to e-books in academic and health sciences libraries, this paper presents data collected using the MINES for Libraries® e-resource survey methodology. Approximately 6,000 e-book uses were analyzed from a sample of e-resource usage at thirteen academic and health sciences research libraries between July 2009 and June 2013. The authors report on findings about e-book usage and propose explanations regarding how the adoption path from print books to e-books differs from the growth in use of e-journals and the associated decline in print journals usage.

Building a virtual archives and preservation curriculum laboratory at Simmons GSLIS

This demonstration showcases the Simmons GSLIS Digital Curriculum Laboratory (DCL), a collaborative teaching and learning environment to support the archives, preservation and cultural heritage informatics curricula. The Digital Curriculum Laboratory is a virtual space comprised of digital content, scenarios describing archival and preservation processes, metadata standards, and a set of digital asset management applications, where students problem-solve, experiment, evaluate and gain hands-on experience with digital materials in a classroom context.

Assessment of E-Resource Usage at University of Massachusetts Amherst: A MINES for Libraries® Study Using Tableau for Visualization and Analysis (RLI 288, 2016)

As academic libraries spend an increasing amount of their budgets on electronic resources, librarians seek to find out who is using the electronic resources and why, so libraries can provide better service. One tool is COUNTER,1 which sets standards for recording and reporting usage of networked electronic resources. From COUNTER-compliant data-usage reports from subscribing vendors, libraries receive the number of successful full-text article requests by month and journal, total search requests by platform or database, successful section requests by e-book, and various title request reports, among other reports.2 As described by Emery and Stone,3 there are a number of tools for analyzing COUNTER data in addition to those in an electronic resource management system, including vendor-supplied applications like ProQuest 360 Counter,4 EBSCO Usage Consolidation,5 and consortial tools like Journal Usage Statistics Portal.6 With these data and tools, performance indicators such as downloads per FTE user, cost per search, cost per view, cost per FTE user, and other metrics can be generated.7

EBL ebook use compared to the use of equivalent print books and other eresources

Purpose – This paper, a case study with research implications, analyzes ebook use and users, focusing on ProQuest’s Electronic Book Library (EBL) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The purpose of this paper is to understand ebook user attributes and behaviors in the context of print books and other eresources; to examine usage of EBL ebooks and print materials; and to explore differences between users of ebooks and print books. Design/methodology/approach – The methodologies of the study are MINES for Libraries® implemented through EZproxy and an analysis of users and usage of EBL ebooks compared to print books based in part on the set of books available to the UMass community in both formats. Findings – Undergraduates use print more often compared to graduate and faculty users. Among all uses of overlap materials in which materials are available in both formats, EBL and print, we find more print use. In all, 40 percent of EBL users did not check out any print library books, which would indicate ...