Penny,
Usage stats. of electronic resources are easy to collect - it's
comparable measurements on print equivalents that are difficult!
The Decomate project (EC Telematics for Libraries programme) undertook
an extensive study of user behaviour with electronic journal materials,
across 3 libraries (LSE, UAB in Barcelona, Tilburg University) and
produced an interesting (I'm told) report (although it doesn't answer
the question you ask about comparing use of print to electronic.
Basically, accesses to all (as far as I know) electronic full-content
resources (such as the PDF file containing a journal article) are
automatically logged, with more or less identification of the individual
user. So you can tell very precisely how many times an
electronic-version item has been 'taken off the shelf' (I believe you do
something equivalent with paper by measuring the dust on it...); You
can't, of course, measure what has been *read* (or understood) - but
we're working on Web-monitored student brain
implants ;->
Some of the eLib Hybrid Libraries projects (see via
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/elib/) may be aiming for answers that
compare print to electronic usage.
John Paschoud
Project Manager, HeadLine project
(www.headline.ac.uk)
& Workpackage Leader (Document Delivery, Access & Accounting) Decomate-2
project
(www.bib.uab.es/decomate2)
British Library of Political & Economic Science
at the London School of Economics
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Penny Garrod [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, June 18, 1998 3:47 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: enquiry re use of print and electronic resources
>
> Dear list members
>
> Does anyone out there know if we have any (fairly basic) statistics
> comparing current levels of usage of print and electronic resources
> by the UK HE student community? If so how are the latter stats
> acquired, or how is usage measured? Answers to me personally please.
>
> Thanks in anticipation.
>
> Penny Garrod
>
> xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> Penny Garrod
> Research Officer
> Suite 321, Educational Development Services
> Babbage Building
> University of Plymouth
> Plymouth PL4 8AA
>
> Phone: (01752) 232377
> Fax: (01752) 232293
> email: [log in to unmask]
>
>
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