The tipping point: how granular statistics can make a big difference in understanding and demonstrating value

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce an original, quantitative approach to examining the use of library electronic resources by demographic (or \u27market segment\u27). In turn it provides an innovative way to demonstrate and explore the value of libraries and importantly, electronic collections. Methodology: University of Wollongong\u27s Performance Indicator Unit (PIU), in partnership with the University of Wollongong Library (UWL), has built a data warehouse - the \u27Marketing Cube\u27 that links real time usage of electronic resources (eresources) at a title level, to student demographic data. Findings: The Marketing Cube design provides a robust analytics framework for examining pictures of use of eresources by student demographic. For views explored, the cube reveals rich data for demographical context against number of student logins and engagement with resources in hours. Findings give rise to further questions or hypotheses, requiring further interrogation of the cube or triangulation with other available quantitative data or qualitative inquiry with faculty. Practical Implications: An ongoing commitment to continuous improvement at a university and library executive level is critical. UWL is fortunate to have secured the support of the enterprise Performance Indicator Unit (PIU), for this second UWL performance measurement project. The Marketing Cube also exploits tested system design created for UWL\u27s \u27Value Cube\u27 (Jantti & Cox, 2012). Considerable time has been invested anew to select priority resources and to configure them within the cube. Significant time was also spent on user acceptance testing by both the Library and PIU. Originality / Value: Existing research and literature has more often achieved to demonstrate the value of library collections on a qualitative basis. In contrast, the Marketing Cube offers a quantitative perspective and is focussed solely on student use of resources - the library\u27s broadest client base. Real time use capture and weekly reporting provides UWL with a granular picture of who is using a resource and when; on demand. This contextual insight has strategic value to acquisition and renewal decisions; but most innovatively, such analytics data can inform marketing strategy and provide a method to pre and post-test impact of promotional activity

Informacijsko ponašanje znanstvenika

In recent years we have seen intensive debates over the changes in scholarly practice caused by increased accessibility of digital resources and tools. This has caused an evident and rapid trend towards the development of different information behaviours by scholars: what information resources they are using, how and when. Recent studies of scholarly information behaviour all show significant changes in the ways researchers communicate, publish their works, collaborate, look for information and use it. Studies describe previously unseen patterns of scholarly information behaviour (e.g. skimming, navigating, power browsing, squirrelling, cross-checking). This, in turn, can (or should) have significant impact on the development of the information tools and information services for scholars. The paper first addresses key information concepts in scholarly context (e.g. information, information need, relevance, pertinence, salience, information overload, avoiding information), presents some general characteristics of scholarly information behaviour (e.g. difference between scholars and other users of information, differences between disciplines, individuals, etc.) and some typical examples of information behaviour (e.g. browsing, berrypicking, powerbrowsing, chaining, skimming, squirreling), as well as discusses some implications for information tools and services. In the end some attention is dedicated to issues of digital scholarship.Posljednjih godina svjedočimo intenzivnim polemikama o promjenama u znanstvenoj praksi uzrokovanim povećanom dostupnošću digitalnih izvora i alata što je potaknulo očigledan i brzi razvoj drugačijeg informacijskog ponašanja znanstvenika, te se postavlja pitanje koje informacijske izvore znanstvenici koriste, kako i kada. Nedavna istraživanja informacijskog ponašanja znanstvenika pokazuju značajne promjene u načinima na koje istraživači komuniciraju, objavljuju radove, surađuju, traže informacije i koriste ih. Istraživanja opisuju prethodno nepoznate uzorke informacijskog ponašanja znanstvenika (eng. skimming, navigating, power browsing, squirrelling, cross-checking) koji imaju (ili bi trebali imati) velik učinak na razvoj informacijskih alata i informacijskih usluga za znanstvenike. Ovaj se rad bavi ključnim informacijskim konceptima u kontekstu znanstvenog istraživanja (npr. informacijom, informacijskom potrebom, relevantnošću, primjerenošću stvarnoj informacijskoj potrebi, informacijskim preopterećenjem, izbjegavanjem informacija), nekim općim karakteristikama informacijskog ponašanja u području znanstvenih informacija (npr. razlikama između znanstvenika i drugih korisnika informacija, razlikama među disciplinama, pojedincima itd.), nekim tipičnim primjerima informacijskog ponašanja (npr. pregledavanjem, berrypicking-om, čitanjem samo osnovnih informacija, a ne punog teksta, praćenjem referencija naprijed/natrag u inicijalnom izvoru informacija, letimičnim pregledavanjem, preuzimanjem materijala za kasnije čitanje), te se raspravlja o implikacijama navedenog na alate i usluge. Na kraju rada pažnja se pridaje problematici vezanoj za znanost i istraživanje u digitalnom okruženju

Trustworthiness and Authority of Scholarly Information in a Digital Age: Results of an International Questionnaire

An international survey of over 3600 researchers examined how trustworthiness and quality are determined for making decisions on scholarly reading, citing, and publishing and how scholars perceive changes in trust with new forms of scholarly communication. Although differences in determining trustworthiness and authority of scholarly resources exist among age groups and fields of study, traditional methods and criteria remain important across the board. Peer review is considered the most important factor for determining the quality and trustworthiness of research. Researchers continue to read abstracts, check content for sound arguments and credible data, and rely on journal rankings when deciding whether to trust scholarly resources in reading, citing, or publishing. Social media outlets and open access publications are still often not trusted, although many researchers believe that open access has positive implications for research, especially if the open access journals are peer reviewed

Log Usage Analysis: What it Discloses about Use, Information Seeking and Trustworthiness

The Trust and Authority in Scholarly Communications in the Light of the Digital Transition research project1) was a study which investigated the behaviours and attitudes of academic researchers as producers and consumers of scholarly information resources in respect to how they determine authority and trustworthiness. The research questions for the study arose out of CIBER’s studies of the virtual scholar. This paper focuses on elements of this study, mainly an analysis of a scholarly publisher’s usage logs, which was undertaken at the start of the project in order to build an evidence base, which would help calibrate the main methodological tools used by the project: interviews and questionnaire. The specific purpose of the log study was to identify and assess the digital usage behaviours that potentially raise trustworthiness and authority questions. Results from the self-report part of the study were additionally used to explain the logs. The main findings were that: 1) logs provide a good indicator of use and information seeking behaviour, albeit in respect to just a part of the information seeking journey; 2) the ‘lite’ form of information seeking behaviour observed in the logs is a sign of users trying to make their mind up in the face of a tsunami of information as to what is relevant and to be trusted; 3) Google and Google Scholar are the discovery platforms of choice for academic researchers, which partly points to the fact that they are influenced in what they use and read by ease of access; 4) usage is not a suitable proxy for quality. The paper also provides contextual data from CIBER’s previous studies

Relación entre descargas y citas de revistas científicas en el ámbito de la documentación: el caso de las universidades públicas de Castilla y León

20 p.Se indaga en la utilidad de las revistas electrónicas de los big deals contratados por las universidades públicas de la Comunidad Autónoma de Castilla y León (Universidad de Burgos, Universidad de León, Universidad de Salamanca y Universidad de Valladolid) a partir del análisis de las descargas y citas realizadas por sus investigadores. El análisis se circunscribe a la producción científica presente en Scopus en la categoría Library & Information Science (LIS) durante el periodo 2011-2017 y a las estadísticas de descargas que Emerald, IEEExplore, ScienceDirect, Springer y Wiley han proporcionado a las cuatro universidades públicas. Los resultados muestran que las revistas de LIS se adscriben además a otras categorías y, por tanto, recogen una investigación pluridisciplinar. Los investigadores de Documentación no colaboran, sin embargo, de manera extensiva con otras disciplinas. Se confirma que los proveedores analizados distribuyen títulos que interesan a las comunidades académicas investigadas, aunque las preferencias no son homogéneas. Se constata, finalmente, la correlación entre descargas y citas lo que demuestra que ambas métricas sirven para identificar las revistas prioritarias para los académicos.S

Kuka kuuluu tieteelliseen seuraan? Raportti tieteellisten seurojen jäsenistökyselyn tuloksista

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