John Smith wrote:
> be requested. However, if users had to pay for Document Delivery would
> they request all these articles?
Seems highly unlikely, particularly for students.
> The problem is that to the users of e-journals each article is free so
> articles of limited interest are downloaded.
Or a possible interest that isn't clear until the article is seen.
> So when we look at download statistics we are not necessarily
> seeing the real value the users place on the service.
But you might say the same about ILL since we don't know what they do with
the requested material, or indeed articles photocopied in the library.
> Does anyone know if there has been any research
> asking what percentage of downloaded articles from e-journals are
considered of
> sufficient value that the user would be prepared to pay the
> equivalent of a BL document delivery charge for it?
You could apply some collection management techniques and set a limit
(arbitrary?) of the number of downloads/year (month?) below which the
ejournal would be cancelled. Even if stats are accurate we still have to
decide on a cut off point.
I assume you charge for ILL, which not all of us do.
--------------------------------------------
Ian Winship, Electronic Services Manager
Learning Resources, Northumbria University
City Campus Library, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST
email: [log in to unmask]
tel: 0191 227 4150 fax: 0191 227 4563
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