Mine or theirs, where do users go? A comparison of usage at OhioLINK’s Electronic Journal Center versus

Elsevier’s ScienceDirect

OSU Libraries Faculty ForumDecember 9, 2013

Juleah SwansonAcquisitions Librarian for Electronic Resources

Reminder of History

• 1995- Elsevier offered 1,100 of its journals in electronic form to subscribers

• 1997- Elsevier launches ScienceDirect

• 1998- OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center (EJC) goes live online

• 2000- 3,000 journal titles and over 1.9 million articles in the EJC

• 2009- ScienceDirect held 9 million articles, 4,700 e-books, for 11 million

researchers in over 200 countries.

• February 2009- OhioLINK & EJC system failure

• March 2009- EJC fully restored

• 2011- 15 Millionth article added to EJC

Methodology Highlights

• Why ScienceDirect?• Ability to obtain OhioLINK wide data

• Substantial number of titles

• Parallel history

• Data reviewed from 2007-2012

• Title lists reviewed for matches

• Usage analyzed per 100 titles

Year Title Count

2007 1910

2008 2050

2009 2084

2010 2154

2011 2243

2012 2245

Number of matching titles

Usage per 100 titles at the Electronic Journal Center and ScienceDirect

EJC Usage February 2009

Usage per 100 titles

ScienceDirect:y = 5.1748x - 198939R² = 0.4997

Electronic Journal Centery = -1.2238x + 54936R² = 0.2033

Rolling 12-month average usage per 100 titles at the Electronic Journal Center and ScienceDirectUsage per 100

titles

Science Directy = 5.0881x - 196354R² = 0.8238

Electronic Journal Centery = -1.1064x + 50314R² = 0.6413

Who still uses the EJC?

2012 Usage of the Elsevier content per OhioLINK institution

Trendline: Y=-0.0686x+4.9366

Comparison of usage per student to population

Comparison of percentage population and usage:

Percentage of total statewide student population

Percentage of total EJC usage

Ohio State 10.27% 21.12%

Kent State 6.74% 5.62%

U of Cincinnati 6.45% 8.67%

Ohio U 5.26% 9.82%

Smallest 35 Colleges*

10.46% 12.36%

*Student Population: 64,362 (looked at set of smallest schools roughly equivalent to the size of OSU)

Questions for You:

• Initial thoughts?

• How could this type of data change the way you approach

your work or interactions with students/faculty?

• Why does this matter?

Questions or Feedback?

Juleah Swanson

Acquisitions Librarian for Electronic Resources

Assistant Professor

The Ohio State University

Swanson.234@osu.edu