1700 tue lomond tenopir

Center for Information and Communication Studies

Value and Outcomes of Scholarly Library Resources

Carol TenopirUniversity of Tennessee

[email protected]

UKSGMarch 2012


2 Value Studies

Lib-Value Scholarly Reading and Value of Library Resources

Aim: Develop models for assessing value and ROI for academic libraries.

Aim: examine the value UK academics place on having

access to scholarly materials.

End Result: An international perspective on the role and value

libraries and their resources bring to individuals and institutions.


Today:

1. Goals of the UK/JISC project

2. A bit about methodology

3. Key findings


“Articulate more clearly the return on investment from academic libraries’ provision of journals [and books and other scholarly materials] to support the core teaching and research activities in UK universities

...and to assess the ‘value added’ that academic libraries bring...”

U.K. Project Goals…


Three Types of Questions:

1. Demographic

2. Recollection

3. Critical Incident

Therefore, insights into

both READERS and READINGS


Reading and Scholarship Surveys (Tenopir & King, 1977-present)

Measure purpose, outcome, and value from scholarly reading by focusing on critical incident of last reading

Include all reading (from library and not) Exchange (time spent) and use value (outcomes) Open ended questions provide another dimension Method can be used for other services


The following questions in this section refer to the SCHOLARLY ARTICLE YOU READ MOST RECENTLY, even if you had read it previously. Note that this last reading may not be typical, but will help us establish the range of patterns in reading.

Critical Incident of Last Reading


The following questions in this section refer to the BOOK FROM WHICH YOU READ MOST RECENTLY, even if you had read it previously. Note that this last reading may not be typical, but will help us establish the range of patterns in reading.



The following questions in this section refer to the OTHER PUBLICATION YOU READ MOST RECENTLY, even if you had read it previously. Note that this last reading may not be typical, but will help us establish the range of patterns in reading.



Advantages:•Outcomes and Values•Comparisons•A Mix of Data•Personal View

Disadvantages:•Response Rate•Self Reported Measures

There Is No Perfect Measure


1. Scholarly reading is essential to academic work.


Academics read a lot of material

Other Publication

Book

Article

0 5 10 15 20 25

10

7

22

# of Readings per Month

n=2117, 6 UK institutions, June 2011


Research & writing is the most likely principal purpose of reading

n=2117, 6 UK universities, June 2011

Article Readings Book Readings Other Publication Readings

74%

58%45%


n=2117, 6 UK institutions, June 2011

And academics spend a lot of time per reading

•49 minutes per article reading

•1 hour and 46 minutes per book reading

•42 minutes per other publication reading


Time Spent (Exchange Value) Reading

•Article• 49 min/article X 22 read per month X 12 months =

216 hours

•Book• 106 min/book X 7 per month X 12 months=

148 hours

•Other Publication• 42 min/publication X 10 per month X 12 months=

84 hours


2. The library plays an important role in academic

work and success.


The library is the source of scholarly articles

Article Reading Book Reading Other Publication Reading

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

67

27

15% li

brar

y-pr

ovid

ed



Library e-collections are primary source of article readings

Elec-tronic94%

Print6%



Office, Lab62%

Home26%

Travelling10% Library

2%


The e-collections save the readers’ time


The library book collection supports younger academics

Under 30

31 ~ 50

Over 50

40

26

24

%

libra

ry-p

rovi

ded



Year of publication of library articles

Pe

rce

nt

of A

rtic

le R

ea

din

gs

Before 1996

1996-2000 2001-2005 2006-2009 2010-20110

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Personal Subscrip-tion

Library Subscription

Other

n=1131 6 UK universities, June 2011


Year of publication of library-provided articles

> 15 yrs13%

15 ~ 11 yrs7%

10 ~ 6 yrs14%

5 ~ 2 yrs21%

< 2 yrs45%

n=1131 6 UK universities, June 2011


Library-provided articles are considered more important

Absol

utel

y Ess

entia

l

Very

Impo

rtant

Impo

rtant

Somew

hat I

mpo

rtant

Not A

t All I

mpo

rtant

05

101520253035404550

14

27 2831

0

11

22

32 33

2

Library-Provided

Other Source


Per

cen

t


Academics praise the library for its long-term outcomes

Electronic access to the university library system from off-site is crucial for swift access to articles to support my teaching and research activities.

Library resources have been essential to my work for the past 20 years.

The journal collection at my institution is excellent and scholarship is all the richer for the contribution for easy access to journals and print publications.


Time Spent (Exchange Value) Reading Library

•Article• 216 hours reading X 67% from library= 144 hours a

year per academic staff member from the library

•Book• 148 hours reading X 27% from library= 40 hours a year

per academic staff member

•Other Publication• 84 hours reading X 15% from library= 13 hours a year

per academic staff member


In other words, they spend 23 eight-hour work days reading library materials.


3. Successful academics read more.


Award-Winning Academics Read More

Did not receive an award

Received an award0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

23

30

799

14Article ReadingsBook ReadingsOther Publication Read-ings

Per

Mon

th



Prolific Academics Read More

0 ~ 2 3 ~ 10 11+0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

2023

30

69

7810

12

Article ReadingsBook ReadingsOther Publication Read-ingsP

er M

onth


# of publications in last 2 yrs.


Library-provided articles support prolific academics

0 ~ 2 3 ~ 10 11+0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

62

71 72

4 4 6

34

25 22

Library ProvidedPersonal SourceOtherP

erce

nt

# of publications in last 2 yrs.n=900, 6 UK universities, June 2011


•Has won an award in the last two years.

•Publishes four or more items per year.

•Reads more of every type of material.

•Spends more time per book and other publication readings.

•Uses the library for articles

•More often buys books and obtains other publications from the Internet.

•Occasionally participates and creates social media content.

What a ‘successful’ academic looks like:


Return on investment in a strict sense…

…is a quantitative measure expressed as a ratio of the value returned to the institution for each

monetary unit invested in the library.

For every $/€/£ spent on the library,the university received ‘X’ $/€/£ in return.

Demonstrate that library collections contribute to income-generating activities


Return on Investment is also…

…values of all types that come to stakeholders and the institution from the library’s collections, services, and

contribution to its communities.


Value is demonstrated by time invested in reading, by purpose of reading, by value to purpose, by outcomes of reading, and by

how library services contribute to the income and mission of the

institution


Thank You

For more information: http://libvalue.cci.utk.edu/JISC

Carol Tenopir, [email protected]

1700 tue lomond tenopir

Education