Most ILS systems have a procedure for in-house usage. During my time at
Walter Reed we did it this way: each journal title had a distinct
barcode. This barcode was on the spine of each bound journal and also on an
alpha journal title list. Since we had a very high journal usage - staff
would periodically sweep the copier areas and study carrels with and bring
back all the journals - bound and single to the circulation desk. There the
journals and would be arranged alphabetically on a book cart and scanned
into the ILS. That is if you had say 20 bound issues of JAMA and 5 single
issues - you would have to scan that barcode 25 times times. However with
newer ILS systems you probably just call the title and enter a number -
maybe. At the end of the day this count would be added to our book
check-out stats (journals were not allowed to be checked out) and we would
have our "total' circulation of checked out books and in-house journal
usage. There is of course in-house usage of books as well. These items are
also scanned but since books have a different type of barcode than journals
that usage could be differentiated.. As for e-journal usage and or e-book
usage - at Customs our vendors - EBSCOhost and netLibrary send us monthly
usage statistics.
Hoyt Galloway
Director, Information Resources Center
Office of Information and Technology
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Department of Homeland Security
(202) 344-3303
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"Gelman,
Jennifer" To: [log in to unmask]
<[log in to unmask] cc:
> Subject: Re: Methods to determine resource use?
Sent by: "FEDLIB:
Federal
Librarians
Discussion List"
<[log in to unmask]>
08/11/2005 05:18
PM
Please respond to
"FEDLIB: Federal
Librarians
Discussion List"
My experience when I worked at the USAID Library (5 years ago) was similar
to Jim's. Patron response to my survey was very small. I could track
journals issues that were checked out (like most libraries we barcoded them
on the fly as they were checked out), and I set up a "reshelving cart" for
3 months with a sign asking patrons not to reshelve journals. I reshelved
them all myself, so I could get some measure of in-library usage. It's
hard to say how well this worked - I'm sure that some patrons reshelved
journals anyway.
I have no advice on tracking electronic usage.
On Aug 11, 2005, at 1:54 PM, Janine Devereaux wrote:
> Please excuse cross-posting. I'm appealing to as many of you as
> possible.
>
> Have you discovered successful ways to track print journal usage
> and database usage by your organization's staff? We've been
> asked by management to use several methods to determine how much
> our resources are actually being used. Rising subscription
> prices are a concern and most tracking methods used in libraries
> where I've previously worked didn't really provide accurate data.
> Although print journal usage is a major concern, I'm also looking
> for methods you may have used to measure database usage.
> Several of our database vendors can supply statistics on use but
> others cannot. Also, if you have used any surveys successfully
> to help determine print journal or database usage, would you
> please send a copy to me?
>
> Thank you,
>
> Janine Devereaux, Librarian
> NOAA Coastal Services Center
> 2234 S. Hobson Ave.
> Charleston, SC 29405-2413
> Telephone: (843)740-1247 Fax: (843)740-1298
>
> Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift
> That's why they call it "the present" (Loretta LaRoche)
>
> Any opinion expressed in this email does not necessarily reflect
> the views of the U.S. Government.
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