This document summarizes a study that analyzed the effect of discovery systems on online journal usage across 33 libraries. The study found that implementation of a discovery service impacted journal usage, and that the degree of impact differed between individual libraries, publishers, and discovery services. Next steps proposed expanding the study to examine additional factors like full text availability and subject areas, and exploring the reasons behind differences in impact.

1. Discovery or Displacement?
A Large-Scale Longitudinal Study of the
Effect of Discovery Systems on Online
Journal Usage
OUP LAC Summit
June 30, 2014
Michael Levine-Clark, University of Denver
John McDonald, University of Southern California
Jason Price, SCELC Consortium

2. John McDonald
Associate Dean for Collections
University of Southern California
World-Champion Bocce Ball Player
Jason Price
Program Manager
Statewide California Electronic Library
Consortium (SCELC)
Blue ribbon winner, Single Crust Pies, Los
Angeles County Fair
Michael Levine-Clark
Associate Dean for Scholarly
Communication and Collections
Services
University of Denver
Can Clean and Jerk 400 Pounds

3. Does implementation of a discovery
service impact usage of publisher-
hosted journal content?

5. Dataset• 33 Libraries
– 28 US, 2 CA, 1 each from UK, AUS, NZ
– WorldCat book holdings
> Average: 1,114,193 ; Range: ~300k to ~2.6mil
– 4 discovery groups, of 6 libraries each
– 1 control group, 9 libraries
• Implementation dates (Discovery Libraries):
> 2010 (3), 2011 (19), 2012 (2)
• 6 Publishers
• 9,206 Journals
• 163,545 Usable Observations

6. How does usage change differ across libraries using the same service?
Libraries 10-15 Libraries 16-21 Libraries 22-27 Libraries 28-33Libraries 1-9

7. How does usage change differ across discovery services?
A
BB
C
D
Letters indicate statistically significant differences (Tukey multiple comparisons, p < .05)

8. How does usage change differ across publishers?
Publisher (sorted by Mean Change)
C
Letters indicate statistically significant differences (Tukey multiple comparisons, p < .01)
D
BBB
A

12. Results
Can we detect differences between Discovery
Services, Publishers, and/or Libraries and/or
their interactions?
• Library – Yes
• Publisher – Yes
• Discovery Service – Yes
• Differential discovery service effect by
publisher – Yes

13. Next Steps
• Design & test for effects of:
– Aggregator full text availability
– Publisher Size
– Journal Subject
– Overall usage trends
– Configuration options in Discovery services
• Expand pool of libraries
• Perhaps explore WHY