Catching leopards in the library; or, of panthers and posterity

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to show the value of measuring usage of cultural heritage materials held by libraries.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper studies how best to record usage patterns of cultural heritage material.

Findings

Digitization has been found to make the measurement of usage of collections more useful. Experience so far has been that where older material is concerned, digitisation of the content does not mean that people neglect the physical volumes – instead, it tends to increase usage.

Originality/value

The paper looks at the complex issue of older material consisting of numerous volumes, and how best to record usage of such material.

Citation

Heaney, M. (2011), "Catching leopards in the library; or, of panthers and posterity", Performance Measurement and Metrics, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 118-121. https://doi.org/10.1108/14678041111149336