Big picture in statistical frame – a statistical analysis and data visualization project of price change for electronic resources in academic libraries

Abstract

Purpose

The purposes of this paper are as follows: first analyze and visualize the price-changing pattern of common electronic resources; second, provide predictions for future price changes at the vendor level; third, discover any potential cause of such price changes; and fourth assess the practice of skills and techniques used for statistical analysis and data visualization.

Design/methodology/approach

Statistical analysis and data visualization of library’s expenditure data were conducted using business intelligence tools, in this case, Microsoft Excel and IBM SPSS.

Findings

This study reports the price changes of electronic resources over the past few years, as well as future prediction until 2018.

Originality/value

Overall, this research combines statistics analysis and data visualization to unveil current price-changing trends of E-resources, provides price prediction of near future and offers unique, while valuable, reference for future evidence-based acquisition decisions.

Citation

Cheng, C., Hayes, K., Lee, K., Locascio, J. and Lougen, C. (2018), "Big picture in statistical frame – a statistical analysis and data visualization project of price change for electronic resources in academic libraries", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 35 No. 6, pp. 12-16. https://doi.org/10.1108/LHTN-09-2017-0071