What's it worth? Getting value for money from e-resources

What's it worth? Getting value for money from e-resources Di Walker, Acquisitions Librarian Paul Stainthorp, E-resources Librarian

Why?
Background of increased usage of e-journals
Looking to transfer subscriptions to electronic only
Curiosity from subject librarians / managers: what are the 'valuable' databases?
Looking to make savings: questioning the value of 'big deals'

Comparing database subscriptions: 1
This is what we did:

For all databases, for the last full academic year:

Gather full-text usage (COUNTER JR1 reports)
Cost-use figure = Subscription cost ÷ Usage
High cost-use figure: poor value for money?

For example: 'Uniqueness' is derived from our e-journal knowledgebase 97.50% 51.30% 71.30% 'Uniqueness' £0.22 £18,655.00 83,959 ScienceDirect Freedom Collection £0.63 £15,700.00 24,944 ProQuest ABI/INFORM Global £0.20 £14,745.00 73,517 Academic Search Elite Cost-use Cost (ex VAT) F/T usage Database

Comparing database subscriptions: 2
Should we cancel databases with high cost-use figures?

Need to consider:

How much unique content is there?
Are there any key titles with high individual usage?
How much to subscribe to key titles individually?
How much to meet 'background' demand via ILL?
Does that represent a saving?
Requirements of the subject: e.g. high-cost-use database may be serving a niche market

Conclusions
This process led to our cancelling one business database
Consider the needs of the subject: prepare to have your data and methodology challenged!
Communication is the key
Time-consuming and a lot of factors to consider
Needs to be done every year!

Any questions?
Di Walker [email_address]

Paul Stainthorp [email_address]

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What's it worth? Getting value for money from e-resources

by Paul Stainthorp on Jun 27, 2011

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What’s it worth? Getting value for money from e-resources — Presentation Transcript