A Model for Electronic Resources Value Assessment

Abstract

The current budgetary climate is forcing libraries to be more selective about e-resource purchases and renewals, and often to consider cancellations. The Mary and Jeff Bell Library at Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi has developed a model for assessing the value of our e-resources to our community of patrons that relies on a combination of metrics including content coverage, usage, patron needs and feedback, and costs. The model is applied to decisions about renewal or cancellation and potential new purchases. This session described the model in detail including an explanation of each metric used, the sources of data for each metric, and the weight each metric carries in the overall decision-making process. It concluded with a discussion of how a similar model may be implemented in other libraries.

Keywords:

• e-resources evaluation
• library databases evaluation
• overlap analysis
• library collection analysis
• academic libraries evaluation
• electronic resources

Notes

1. Project COUNTER, “COUNTER—Counting Online Usage of Networked Electronic Resources | Home,” n.d., http://www.projectcounter.org/ (accessed July 8, 2012).

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. Project COUNTER, “The COUNTER Code of Practice for E-resources: Release 4,” Project COUNTER, April 2012, http://www.projectcounter.org/r4/COPR4.pdf (accessed July 8, 2012).

5. Ibid.

6. Library of Texas, “Library of Texas—TexShare Database Menu,” TexShare, 2012, http://www.libraryoftexas.org/service-proxy/texshare/?orgid=340 (accessed July 8, 2012).

7. Younghee Noh, “A Korean Study on Verifying Evaluation Indicators and Developing Evaluation Scales for Electronic Resources Using a Pilot Evaluation,” Libri: International Journal of Libraries & Information Services 60, no. 1 (March 2010): 38–56. doi:10.1515/libri.2010.004