Hi Sarah,
In addition to the possible explanations already mentioned, we have also
been told by publishers that such usage could be from individuals within
our institution that have a personal subscription to a journal and that
are accessing content via our IP address. We do include all such usage
in our annual statistic files because with most publishers, it's just
too difficult to break down the overall usage easily (or accurately)-
ie, by culling out which usage was from OA articles or issues, free
backfiles, previously subscribed titles where we have perpetual access
to a few years of content, etc. etc.
That being said we do keep this information in mind when analyzing
statistics and when making decisions about whether or not to renew a
package or subscribe to a new title. To make this easier, we will often
add a column (we use Excel) to statistics spreadsheets indicating which
titles we have an active subscription to.
Leah Donley
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask]
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Taylor, Sarah
Sent: Thursday, September 03, 2009 9:35 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [lib-stats] Usage stats for non subscribed-to services
Hi all,
Apologies for may seem like a really odd question, but I've been
noticing a few strange things in some of our usage stats reports and
wondered if anyone had any words of wisdom!
Sometimes, when I request a report from a provider from whom we have a
number of services, I seem to have usage stats for services that we
don't actually pay for, nor do we think we have any access. I queried
this with Ebsco once, who wondered if we'd had a trial to something (a
sensible explanation), but we hadn't to the products in question. I
suppose there's really a whole other issue here of getting access to
things we should be paying for but haven't, but I did wonder if anyone
else had found this, and if so, do you do anything with the information?
Could it inform future decisions?
Like I said, a strange one, but all thoughts greatly appreciated!
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Sarah
Sarah Taylor
Electronic Resources Librarian
Library
University of Bolton
Deane Road
Bolton
BL3 5AB
01204 903099
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