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This paper aims to investigate the usage of electronic resources within the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Ghana (CARLIGH) in order to support subscription and budget decisions. This has become necessary because of the difficulty faced by institutions in paying subscription fee as a result of the continuous increase in subscription fee, financial constraints and high exchange rates.

The study is a quantitative research of electronic resource use covering six years. Full-text download statistics of ten most used electronic resources accessed by an average of 33 institutions were sampled from 27 databases and analysed to investigate level of usage. Six out of the ten electronic resources were analysed to evaluate cost per use over four years. Sampling was purposive. Data analysis and presentation were conducted using a descriptive method of analysis of simple frequency count, mean and percentages, while Microsoft Excel was used to organise data into tables and graphs.

Findings revealed an improved usage of CARLIGH-facilitated electronic resources. However, the rate of improvement declined by the year. Also, October and November recorded high usage, while January and May-August recorded low patronage. Finally, using a mean as a benchmark, it was ascertained that costs per use/article was less than $0.98.

Because of limited data evaluated, the research results may lack generalisation; hence, there is a need for further research.

This study will be useful in supporting librarians’ decisions on continuous subscription, budget justification and promotion.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a project undertaken at SUNY Cortland to develop a system that would collect electronic resource usage data in a consistent manner and allow SUNY Cortland to assess this data over several years.

The project used data gathered from EZProxy server log files to examine usage of the library's electronic resources.

Through examining the usage data the library discovered that users were utilizing particular types of resources, from specific physical locations, and accessing those resources from specific pages in the library's web site.

By examining usage data for electronic resources, libraries can learn more than which resources are being used. Usage data can give libraries insight into where, when, how, and possibly why their users are accessing electronic resources.

Usually the impact of research and researchers is quantified by using citation data: either by journal‐centered citation data as in the case of the journal impact factor (JIF) or by author‐centered citation data as in the case of the Hirsch‐ or h‐index. This paper aims to discuss a range of impact measures, especially usage‐based metrics, and to report the results of two surveys.

The first part of the article analyzes both citation‐based and usage‐based metrics. The second part is based on the findings of the surveys: one in the form of a brainstorming session with information professionals and scientists at the OAI6 conference in Geneva, the second in the form of expert interviews, mainly with scientists.

The results of the surveys indicate an interest in the social aspects of science, like visualizations of social graphs both for persons and their publications. Furthermore, usage data are considered an appropriate measure to describe quality and coverage of scientific documents; admittedly, the consistence of usage information among repositories has to be kept in mind. The scientists who took part in the survey also asked for community services, assuming these might help to identify relevant scientific information more easily. Some of the other topics of interest were personalization or easy submission procedures.

This paper delineates current discussions about citation‐based and usage‐based metrics. Based on the results of the surveys, it depicts which functionalities could enhance repositories, what features are required by scientists and information professionals, and whether usage‐based services are considered valuable. These results also outline some elements of future repository research.

To report on the 1st Electronic Resources & Libraries Conference held in March 2006 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Provides a review of some of the events of the conference.

The ER&L conference is the first step to building an shared understanding about the unique medium of electronic resources and management and developing a supportive community for dissemination of basic practices and latest developments in the field.

A conference report of interest to information management professionals, especially those involved with electronic resources.

To provide some insight into the phenomenon of e‐books and their potential application in general, and to describe how the ETH‐Bibliothek, an academic library, has integrated web‐based e‐books into its collection.

The concept of e‐books was examined and the success (or failure) of their integration into library collections evaluated. How web‐based e‐books have been integrated into the ETH‐Bibliothek's collection was evaluated, as there were different formats and pricing models for e‐books. Other important issues relevant to e‐books were considered, such as usage statistics, how to discover new e‐books for integration into a collection, and whether web‐based e‐books are likely to be applied successfully in academic libraries.

The implementation of e‐books at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule) in Zurich is described, and information is provided on publishers or aggregators through which the ETH has subscribed to e‐books, different formats and pricing models for e‐books and usage statistics. How the number of e‐books to which an institution subscribes can be increased, is described, together with the benefits of e‐books in the academic environment, which will in all likelihood ensure the ongoing future of web‐based e‐books.

The paper provides introductory information on e‐books in general and on their suitability to an academic library in particular.

Tracking electronic journals to collect usage statistics is not an easy task. E‐journal publishers and aggregators are using various standards to create e‐journal usage reports. This situation has created many problems for libraries that use those reports. For e‐journal collection development, it is essential for libraries to know exactly who is using their e‐journals, how often their e‐journals are being used, and how their e‐journals are being accessed. Although several methods have been used in the library community, this article focuses on a method cooperatively developed by the cataloging department and the office of libraries technology at the University of Louisville to take control of collecting and generating e‐journal usage statistics. This method involves the use of a CGI script, AXS shareware. The success of this method in fact is built on cooperative efforts between the two departments.

While documents librarians are generally familiar with document usage through their circulation statistics, they have no idea of how publications are being accessed online. The University of Denver has developed a system for tracking online document access. By redirecting every URL in their OPAC for federal documents first to a ColdFusion database, recording the URL, and then sending the user to the online document, they were able to track each access to online documents. Then, importing these statistics into an Access database, they were able to provide an analysis by agency, date of document, and other features. This article presents the results of one year of tracking access through the University of Denver library OPAC.

An increased number of academic libraries are providing access to nontraditional technologies including 3D printers, 3D scanners, laser cutters, and more. However, these new equipment offerings require users to learn new literacies and skills in order to fully utilize them and realize their full potential to impact creativity and innovation on campus. The purpose of this paper is to share how one academic library is providing services and resources to help users acquire the necessary 3D modeling skills to design and successfully 3D print new knowledge objects.

The library is providing access to online tutorials on many different 3D modeling programs, gives instruction on 3D modeling through group workshops, and provides individual consultations with 3D modeling experts. These instruction efforts were assessed by analyzing usage statistics, attendance, and user satisfaction surveys.

Usage statistics show that the online tutorials are heavily utilized by UNR users and that many different 3D modeling programs are of interest to our community. Usage statistics and user surveys show the individual consultation service to be helpful and often exceeding expectations. Workshop attendance is generally low and appears to positively impact far fewer users than the other services.

While more libraries begin providing access to maker technologies, few are addressing the need to teach new skills and literacies necessary to utilize those technologies fully. This paper may prove valuable for other academic libraries to start providing avenues of learning for new and nontraditional library skills, such as 3D modeling.

Usability tests to improve information accessibility for the blind have rarely been carried out. Recently, the LG Digital Talking Book (LG DTB) Library has developed a ubiquitous service, which provides the blind with library service anytime, anywhere, using mobile phones with the automated library access procedure. The main purpose of this paper is to draw up a better plan to improve information accessibility for the blind through the usability test of the service being made by the LG DTB Library.

An online survey and in‐depth interviews are conducted among the blind, and usage statistics analysis of the Digital Talking Book Library services and web server log analysis are carried out together for the usability test.

The blind respondents answer that late updates of new publications, unbalanced subject areas, and lack of educational contents are the most serious problems in reality. The paper also showed that handy‐to‐carry information terminals like mobile phones are very much favored by the blind.

This paper has a unique value in that the real effect and usability of the ubiquitous library service for the blind is investigated for the first time.

Collection assessment is an essential aspect of library collection development, especially for public institutions currently affected by financial budget cuts. Collection managers working with little to no budget have the task of establishing unconventional methods of selecting most relevant materials. This paper aims to demonstrate the correlation between a syllabi analysis, faculty survey and circulation statistics as a practical measure to enhance and expand the architecture library services at the City College of New York and in academia in general.

This study uses mixed use assessment strategies to evaluate a library collection. The scope of the study supports combining collection-based practices and use-based methods to gather two types of data: quantitative (including collection size and/or in-house use statistics) and qualitative (accomplished by user opinion surveys, focus groups and/or list checking).

Out of 74 architecture faculty members, 22 participated in a library survey to help uncover new opportunities for cross-collaboration. The findings simultaneously reinforce the importance of exploring syllabi and usage data as methods of assessment to reveal opportunities for cultivating library collections.

This paper will provide a better understanding of faculty perceptions to discover academic needs and achieve library integration into the design curriculum. The study demonstrates prospective directions for collection evaluation and faculty collaboration to open further opportunities for building a successful library.