From: Anthony Watkinson <[log in to unmask]> Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:02:13 +0100 If you also look at the site of CIBER Research you will find that some of the research reports and peer-reviewed publications from this research group comes within this framework. The big emphasis has been on use of e-journals online but there is serious work on the use of e-books and some also on the value of academic libraries. The site is at: www.ciber-research.eu Anthony Watkinson > From: Frederick Friend<[log in to unmask]> > Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2012 12:57:08 +0100 > > Ann has raised a very interesting topic which goes to the heart of how we > measure the value of libraries. It could be said that a library's value does > not lie in the number of uses of items in its collection, but unfortunately > descriptions of value without numbers attached to the descriptions do not > cut much ice with those providing the money to support libraries. And yet > arriving at reliable and comparable usage statistics is an impossible task, > for the reason Bryan Skib outlines, i.e. that so many variable factors enter > the calculation. Any number has to be accompanied by an explanation of the > factors used to calculate the number. Change one factor - such as the > percentage of older material - and the number becomes meaningless in talking > to policy-makers. > > What can be valuable are year-on-year comparisons starting from a reliable > baseline, and used in a context which takes account of the profile of a > particular library. So for example, it would be possible to compare the > usage of digital items in a particular library over time, building in a > growth factor for the size of the collection. However, it would be very > unreliable to compare that statistic with a figure for the usage of paper > items over the same period, given the fundamentally different factors which > differentiate electronic usage from paper usage. A focused statistic could > help a library in making a case for support of the library for particular > resources, but the more general the statistic and the greater the attempt to > make comparisons between libraries, the more open to challenge any statistic > will be. > > Good luck to all library statisticians! > > Fred Friend > Honorary Director Scholarly Communication UCL