Measuring the Effectiveness of STEM Book Purchasing: A Print-Focused Cost-Per-Use Analysis of Five Publishers

Abstract

This study considers the cost-per-use of recently purchased print books on STEM subjects. The aim was to find out whether books published by certain STEM publishers were more or less likely to circulate than their subject areas would lead one to expect. This would indicate the presence of a “publisher effect,” related to content, format, or other non-subject criteria, that influences how often a book will be used. The findings indicate that there may be a positive publisher effect in the case of Wiley; however, the other publishers in the study did not seem to vary significantly in this regard.

KEYWORDS:

• assessment
• circulation
• cost-per-use
• print books
• publishers
• STEM