Although efforts like Project COUNTER have made strides towards systematizing numeric measures of database access, does the data standardized by COUNTER really help libraries to understand "how information they buy... is being used"? This presentation will introduce a typology of library resource use that provides a framework for assessing use in a more meaningful way.

1. Beyond Log-ons and Downloads:
Meaningful Measures of E-Resource Use
Rachel A. Fleming-May, Ph.D., M.L.I.S.
Assistant Professor,
School of Information Sciences
The University of Tennessee-Knoxville
rfmay@utk.edu

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An event?
Something that can be measured?
…with numbers?
Use is frequently assessed in order to generate
“objective” data for decision making.

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Use is often treated as a
PRIMITIVE CONCEPT in
Library and Information
Science:
an idea so fundamental to
the theoretical framework
as to be indefinable, even
when presented as a
phenomenon to be
measured and quantified.

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To measure Use
We focus on Inputs Number of patrons
who enter the building
…and Outputs …such as the number
of book circulations.

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What about electronic resources?
• Many instances of use are removed
from the library, thus unobservable
• Multiple points of access (such as
Google Scholar) further confuse the
issue: patrons are less aware that
they’re using library resources

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“some of the basic ‘natural laws of library
and information science’ may not apply as
well or as consistently in the realm of
electronic information discovery and use”2

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“Among other changes, the
Complete College Tennessee Act:
• Funds higher education based
in part on success and
outcomes, including higher
rates of degree completion.”

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“Questions such as, ‘Who uses these resources?’ or
‘Are these huge outlays of funds justified in terms of
use, or value derived from use?’ or ‘What difference
do all of these resources make to students and
faculty in universities?’ must be answered if
university administrators, trustees, students, and
faculty are expected to support ever-increasing
levels of funding for the acquisition and
development of these resources and services.”3

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Is Use a Primitive Concept?
No. Use does not, in fact have a singular
conceptual meaning in the LIS domain and
can signify many actions, processes, and
events.

11. The Use Typology: Dimensions of
Use
I. Use as an Abstraction
Ia. Use as a Facilitator
II. Use as an Implement
III. Use as a Process
IV. Use as a Transaction
IVa. Use as a Connector
11

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Use as an Abstraction
• A general term for all
types of
library/information use
• Disassociated from any
specific instance of the
phenomenon

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“Of the 57,148
households, 27,511
households (48.1%)
had a household
member who used
the public library in
the past year. ”4

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Use as a Process
Application of library/information resources,
materials, and/or services…
To complete a complex or multi-stage task
To the solution of a problem

15. “This study reveals that undergraduate students
experience information use in a complex, multi-tiered
way that needs to be addressed by higher educators
when creating information literacy pedagogy.”6

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Use as a Transaction
• Isolated
instances of
library or
information use
• Can be recorded
and quantified
• Removed from
the user

17. “statistics provided by electronic book
vendors…show that [our] community uses e-books
quite heavily. The data do not show, however, how
books are used. For instance, the available
The data do not show, however, how books
statistics show that a book has been accessed but
are used….the databetween a one-second click on
do not differentiate also do not tell us why an
electronic version of immersion in used instead
a title and a five-hour a book was a book.
ofThe data also do not tell us why an electronic
the paper version”7
version of a book was used instead of the paper
version”

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Transactional Model of Use=
Over-reliance on static assessments of
electronic resource usage, such as…
• Vendor-supplied data (COUNTER compliant
or otherwise)
• Transaction log analysis
▫ Including page view time measurement (are they
really reading?)
▫ Log-ons—what about database timeouts?
▫ “Connectedness” of journals within session

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Db A: Log
Visit to the on
Reference
Desk
Article
Download
Understanding of Use as
Process

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Understanding Use as Process
 Not exclusively statistical
 Requires multiple data collection
methods
 Requires “bipartisan” support, i.e.,
working with public services to gain a
fuller understanding of how and why
patrons use the resources they do.

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How, specifically?
• Observation
• Focus groups
• Interviews
• Surveys
• Inter-institution
information sharing
• Usability testing
• Triangulation.

22. Questions?
Thank you for your time!

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1. Swigger, Keith, and Adeline Wilkes. 1991. The use of citation data to evaluate serials
subscriptions in an academic library. Serials Review 17 (2):41-46; 52.
2. Peters, Thomas A. 2002. What's the use? the value of e-resource usage statistics. New Library
World 103 (1172/3):39-47.
3. Miller, Rush, and Sherrie Schmidt. E-Metrics: Measures for Electronic Resources. In Northumbria
International Conference on Performance Measurement in Libraries and Information Services.
4. Sin, Sei-Ching Joanna, and Kyung-Sun Kim. 2008. Use and non-use of public libraries in the
information age: A logistic regression analysis of household characteristics and library services
variables. Library & Information Science Research (07408188) 30 (3):207-215.
5. Peters, Thomas A. 2002. What's the use? the value of e-resource usage statistics. New Library
World 103 (1172/3):39-47.
6. Maybee, C. (2006). Undergraduate Perceptions of Information Use: The Basis for Creating User-
Centered Student Information Literacy Instruction. The Journal of Academic Librarianship,
32(1), 79-85.
7. Levine-Clark, Michael. 2006. Electronic Book Usage: A Survey at the University of Denver. portal
6 (3):285-299.