From: "Schwartz, Judy" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:06:32 +0000
Subject: RE: Usage statistics for discovery services
Chuck - after the first few years of spending waaaaaaaay too much time
on this survey, and then passing the responsibility to another
librarian, here's what we came up with: use your best guess for
percentages; don't spend more than 20 minutes on any question trying
to figure out its precise answer, as there is none. At that time,
Ebsco would provide a monthly report on how many logins, searches,
articles for each of its databases. We used their figures and
extrapolated by means of an equation, how many librarian hours were
spent assisting users. And, using only the EBSCOhost® figures, we
discovered that more librarian hours were required to support the
students than there were librarians available.
From my experience, no one is going to come after you with a 2x4 if
your reported figures are not exact to the nth degree.
Judy Schwartz
Director of Library Services
Trocaire College
http://library.trocaire.edu
-----Original Message-----
From: "Hamaker, Charles" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2012 16:23:34 +0000
I’m in a bit of a quandary about what to do about search statistics
from Discovery services.
I can’t find anywhere a definition that includes them, yet when I look
at some of what we are receiving from our vendors, I can’t EXCLUDE
them from the stats to determine individual database usage either.
What is being requested.. (these originally were in the ARL supplemental stats)
Number of successful full-text article requests (journals)
Number of regular searches (databases)
Number of federated searches (databases)
When you look at the ARL supplemental definitions, it says:
“Questions 18-20. Use of Electronic Resources. Items reported should
follow definitions as defined in the COUNTER Code of Practice
(www.projectcounter.org). In a footnote, please include the types of
resources for which you are reporting data. It is recommend that ONLY
data that follow the COUNTER definitions be reported. Any exceptions
should be documented in a footnote.”
And when you go to the COUNTER pages, the list of “known” federated
search engines while quite lengthy does not include the discovery
services.
Any thoughts welcome.
Chuck
Charles Hamaker M.L.S
Associate University Librarian Collection Development and Electronic
Resources UNC Charlotte
J. Murrey Atkins Library
[log in to unmask] | http://library.uncc.edu/
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