Assessing Return on Investment for E-Resources: A Cross-Institutional

Analysis of Cost-Per-Use Data

Patrick L. CarrNorth Carolina Serials Conference

Chapel Hill. March 10, 2011

“Print was simpler.”

This

has been replaced by…

From Appendix B of the 2004 report of the Digital Library Federation’s Electronic Resources Management Initiative.

This

Has been replaced by…

From Appendix B of the 2004 report of the Digital Library Federation’s Electronic Resources Management Initiative.

Indeed:

This

Has been replaced by…

“Print was simpler.”

From Appendix B of the 2004 report of the Digital Library Federation’s Electronic Resources Management Initiative.

Indeed:

This

Has been replaced by…

“Print was simpler.”Not when it comes to use-based

evaluations.

From Appendix B of the 2004 report of the Digital Library Federation’s Electronic Resources Management Initiative.

Thomas E. Nisonger, Management of Serials in Libraries (Englewood, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited, 1998): 160-65.

Thomas E. Nisonger, Management of Serials in Libraries (Englewood, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited, 1998): 160-65.

We have far superior tools to assess use of e-resources.

Cost-Per-Use:

Annual Subscription Cost÷

Annual Use

Cost-Per-Use:

Should always be considered in the context of qualitative

measures of ROI.

Cost-Per-Use:

A powerful tool for assessing return on investment.

Cost-Per-Use:

A powerful tool for assessing return on investment.

But are we using CPU data to its fullest potential?

Chuck Hamaker’s idea: A cross-institutional analysis of CPU data

&

http://www.northcarolina.edu/campus_profiles/INST_UNCW.php

Carnegie Classifications 2009 ASERL Statistics

Student Population

Basic Class E-Journals Subscriptions

(5.a.i)

E-Journal Expenditure

(23)

East Carolina University

27,654 Doctoral / Research Universities

47,274 $3,030,342

UNC-Charlotte

24,701 Doctoral / Research Universities

24,224 $2,117,660

UNC-Greensboro

21,306 Research Universities (high research activity)

35,892 $2,769,122

UNC-Wilmington

12,924 Master's Colleges and Universities (larger programs)

Caveat: Data is generally from 2009 (complete

2010 data wasn’t yet available)

Caveat: Data is generally from 2009 (complete

2010 data wasn’t yet available)

Caveat: The coverage ranges for cost and use

data didn’t always overlap completely.

Caveat: Data is generally from 2009 (complete

2010 data wasn’t yet available)

Caveat: The coverage ranges for cost and use

data didn’t always overlap completely.

Caveat: Institution-by-

institution access

sometimes differed .

Caveat: Data is generally from 2009 (complete

2010 data wasn’t yet available)

Caveat: The coverage ranges for cost and use

data didn’t always overlap completely.

Caveat: Institution-by-

institution access

sometimes differed.

Caveat: Not all sources of use

data were COUNTER compliant.

Caveat: Data is generally from 2009 (complete

2010 data wasn’t yet available)

Caveat: The coverage ranges for cost and use

data didn’t always overlap completely.

Caveat: Institution-by-

institution access

sometimes differed.

Caveat: Not all sources of use

data were COUNTER compliant.

We can’t really use this study’s results to make sweeping

conclusions.

Five Categories of Resources

1. Publisher journal packagesCommercial publishersSociety publishersUniversity presses

2. Full-text aggregators3. Site licenses to journals4. Indexing & abstracting databases5. Other stuff

Publisher Journal Packages UNC Charlotte ECU UNC Wilmington UNC Greensboro

Resource Average CPU CPU CPU CPU CPU

Blackwell Synergy $11.51 $11.46 $7.59 $20.12 $6.88

Elsevier ScienceDirect $5.65 $3.89 $4.06 $8.56 $6.08

Emerald EMX $3.16 $1.10 $3.75 $5.08 $2.72

Sage Premier $6.15 $4.42 $4.79 $10.25 $5.15

Springerlink $10.49 $9.06 $6.64 $15.17 $11.08

Wiley $14.43 $14.17 $12.72 $23.64 $7.20

ACM Digital Library $6.85 $2.42 $4.73 $5.71 $14.54

ACS Web Editions $5.32 $4.72 $4.84 $6.41

Annual Reviews $4.21 $4.22 $3.14 $5.27

IEEE/IEE Electronic Library $17.73 $5.91 $13.40 $33.87

Institute of Physics $23.95 $19.78 $28.11

Royal Society of Chemistry $34.51 $20.98 $38.06 $44.50

Cambridge University Press $7.28 $8.59 $8.27 $5.86 $6.40

E-Duke Scholarly Collection $5.35 $4.73 $6.94 $4.39

Oxford University Press $5.24 $4.13 $3.77 $6.56 $6.49

ResearchNow (BEPress) $6.79 $7.90 $5.68

Average $10.54 $7.97 $9.78 $15.48 $6.93

Publisher Journal Packages - Commercial

UNC

Charlotte ECUUNC

WilmingtonUNC

Greensboro

ResourceAverage

CPU CPU CPU CPU CPU

Blackwell Synergy $11.51 $11.46 $7.59 $20.12 $6.88Elsevier ScienceDirect $5.65 $3.89 $4.06 $8.56 $6.08Emerald EMX $3.16 $1.10 $3.75 $5.08 $2.72Sage Premier $6.15 $4.42 $4.79 $10.25 $5.15Springerlink $10.49 $9.06 $6.64 $15.17 $11.08Wiley $14.43 $14.17 $12.72 $23.64 $7.20

Average $8.57 $7.35 $6.59 $13.80 $6.52

Publisher Journal Packages - Society

UNC

Charlotte ECUUNC

WilmingtonUNC

Greensboro

ResourceAverage

CPU CPU CPU CPU CPUACM Digital Library $6.85 $2.42 $4.73 $5.71 $14.54ACS Web Editions $5.32 $4.72 $4.84 $6.41 Annual Reviews $4.21 $4.22 $3.14 $5.27IEEE/IEE Electronic Library $17.73 $5.91 $13.40 $33.87 Institute of Physics $23.95 $19.78 $28.11 Royal Society of Chemistry $34.51 $20.98 $38.06 $44.50

Average $15.43 $9.67 $15.38 $22.62 $9.91

Publisher Journal Packages - University Presses

UNC

Charlotte ECUUNC

WilmingtonUNC

Greensboro

ResourceAverage

CPU CPU CPU CPU CPUCambridge University Press $7.28 $8.59 $8.27 $5.86 $6.40E-Duke Scholarly Collection $5.35 $4.73 $6.94 $4.39Oxford University Press $5.24 $4.13 $3.77 $6.56 $6.49ResearchNow (BEPress) $6.79 $7.90 $5.68

Average $6.17 $6.34 $6.17 $6.21 $5.76

Full-Text Aggregators

UNC

Charlotte ECUUNC

WilmingtonUNC

Greensboro

ResourceAverage

CPU CPU CPU CPU CPUATLA Religion $4.34 $1.25 $1.62 $8.90 $5.61CIAO: Columbia Int. Affairs Online $2.07 $1.67 $3.96 $2.15 $0.51Communication & Mass Media Complete $0.52 $0.03 $0.63 $0.89 $0.53EconLit $3.84 $3.49 $4.18Literature Resource Center $3.68 $2.91 $7.15 $0.99Project Muse $1.84 $1.29 $1.96 $2.18 $1.94PsycArticles $0.61 $0.27 $1.06 $0.54 $0.58SPORTdiscus $0.55 $0.35 $0.35 $0.96

Average $2.18 $1.41 $1.60 $3.25 $2.05

Site Licenses to Individual Journals

UNC

Charlotte ECUUNC

WilmingtonUNC

Greensboro

ResourceAverage

CPU CPU CPU CPU CPUNature $3.71 $3.08 $3.01 $5.35 $3.41Nature Biotechnology $24.70 $18.00 $16.75 $39.36Nature Cell Biology $42.92 $55.59 $13.10 $60.07Nature Genetics $20.62 $14.82 $12.04 $35.01Nature Medicine $20.61 $26.71 $7.13 $27.98Nature Structural & Molecular Biology $50.34 $28.07 $13.51 $109.45 Science $2.42 $1.98 $1.62 $2.35 $3.71

Average $23.62 $21.18 $9.59 $39.05 $28.26

Indexing & Abstracting Services

UNC Charlotte ECUUNC

WilmingtonUNC

GreensboroResource Average CPU CPU CPU CPU CPU

Abstracts in Social Gerontology $0.13 $0.04 $0.21America, History and Life $0.41 $0.12 $0.66 $0.20 $0.64Avery Index to Architectural Per. $0.48 $0.28 $0.69Engineering Village (Compendex) $16.38 $2.54 $30.22 Film and Television Lit Index $0.05 $0.04 $0.07 $0.05Historical Abstracts $0.49 $0.13 $0.77 $0.23 $0.82Journal Citation Reports Web $7.99 $5.25 $8.00 $10.73 Mathscinet $0.73 $0.11 $0.25 $1.72 $0.85MLA International Bibliography $0.15 $0.17 $0.21 $0.12 $0.09Music Index Online $1.09 $2.89 $0.28 $0.09 Oxford English Dictionary Online $0.43 $1.01 $0.46 $0.08 $0.16Philosopher's Index $1.04 $0.69 $0.16 $2.26 Polling the Nations $5.78 $8.84 $2.71 RILM Abstracts of Music Lit. $0.48 $0.08 $1.57 $0.10 $0.16Social Work Abstracts $0.13 $0.08 $0.12 $0.19Ulrichs Periodicals Directory $2.02 $4.32 $0.86 $0.89Web of Science $1.80 $0.92 $2.24 $1.18 $2.87

Average $2.33 $1.62 $3.46 $1.69 $0.64

Other Resources

UNC

Charlotte ECUUNC

WilmingtonUNC

Greensboro

ResourceAverage

CPU CPU CPU CPU CPUAmerican Periodical Series Online (archival fee) $1.17 $1.48 $1.43 $0.61Dictionary of National Biography $4.02 $8.00 $2.61 $2.50 $2.96Historical Statistics of the United States (archival fee) $0.55 $0.38 $0.96 $0.30JSTOR (archival fee) $0.26 $0.12 $0.16 $0.36 $0.40Proquest Dissertations & Theses $2.20 $2.30 $2.10Times (London) Digital Archive $1.10 $1.36 $0.84

Three Questions

Three Questions

What does a cross-institutional CPU analysis actually tell us?

Three Questions

What does a cross-institutional CPU analysis actually tell us?

How can we use what it tells us?

Three Questions

What does a cross-institutional CPU analysis actually tell us?

How can we use what it tells us?

Where do we go from here?

Questions/Comments

Patrick L. CarrHead of Electronic & Continuing Resource Acquisitions

Joyner LibraryEast Carolina University

Greenville, North Carolina 27858email: carrp@ecu.eduphone: 252-328-2266