Selected Findings from

The UC/CMI Journal Use and

User Preference Studies

The University of California Collections Management Initiative (UC/CMI)

Brian E. C. SchottlaenderUniversity Librarian, UC-San Diego

Reaping the Harvest: Studies of Electronic Journal UseOhio State University, October 2003

What the Project Involved

Removing from campus libraries selected print journals for which electronic access is available, and relocating those journals to storage.

Gathering objective data, including cost and usage data, for both print and electronic versions of 300 journals.

Surveying user attitudes and preferences with regard to the use of Digital and Print journals.

UC/CMI Journal Use Study: Titles

Print Electronic Ratio of Print to Electronic

Print Electronic Ratio of Print to Electronic

Arts & Humanities 22 528 5,475 0.096 46 10,602 0.004

Life & Health Sciences 130 3,601 34,449 0.105 118 84,584 0.001

Physical Sciences & Engineering 102 1,635 54,757 0.030 24 59,207 0.000

Social Sciences 26 280 2,812 0.100 13 5,787 0.002Grand Total 280 6,044 97,493 0.062 201 160,180 0.001

Experimental Campus UsageSubject Category Number of Titles

Control Campus Usage

UC/CMI Journal Use Study: Publishers

Provider Total TitlesACS Web Editions 11American Physical Society 3BlackwellScience 18Company of Biologists 1Elsevier 130IDEAL 15Institute of Physics 11JSTOR 44Project Muse 17Royal Society of Chemistry 1SIAM 5Wiley InterScience 24TOTAL 280

UC/CMI Journal Use Study: Titles

Print Electronic Ratio of Print to Electronic

Print Electronic Ratio of Print to Electronic

Arts & Humanities 22 528 5,475 0.096 46 10,602 0.004

Life & Health Sciences 130 3,601 34,449 0.105 118 84,584 0.001

Physical Sciences & Engineering 102 1,635 54,757 0.030 24 59,207 0.000

Social Sciences 26 280 2,812 0.100 13 5,787 0.002Grand Total 280 6,044 97,493 0.062 201 160,180 0.001

Experimental Campus UsageSubject Category Number of Titles

Control Campus Usage

UC/CMI Usage Summary

6,044

97,493

201

160,180

0

40,000

80,000

120,000

160,000

200,000

Control, Print Control,Electronic

Experimental,Print

Experimental,Electronic

Journal Usage by FormatStudy Period: October 1, 2001 - September 30, 2002

Year-to-Year Change in Digital Use

Subject Category

Control Campus Electronic Use Experimental Campus Electronic Use

Prior Year Uses

Study Year Uses

Change from Prior Year to Study Year

Prior Year Uses

Study Year Uses

Change from Prior Year to Study Year

Arts & Humanities

4,763 4,256 -10.6% 5,278 7,733 46.5%

Life & Health Sciences

20,333 27,407 34.8% 50,665 65,183 28.7%

Physical Sciences & Engineering

32,466 44,607 37.4% 33,194 46,937 41.4%

Social Sciences 1,885 2,132 13.1% 3,398 4,546 33.8%

Grand Total 59,447 78,402 31.9% 92,535 124,399 34.4%

Survey Respondents by Campus

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200

Berkeley

Davis

Irvine

Los Angeles

Riverside

Santa Barbara

Santa Cruz

San Diego

San Francisco

Office of the President

FacultyAll

Survey Respondents’ University Affiliation

Graduate Student54%

Faculty23%

Undergraduate4%

UC Staff5%

Researcher5%

Post Doc6%

Health Care Professional

3% Other0%

Most Recent Use of Journals

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Faculty

All

Faculty

All

Pri

ntE

lect

roni

c

Today Less than a week ago Less than a month ago More than a month ago Never

Format Dependency

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Faculty All Faculty All

Research dependent on e-journals Research dependent on print journals

Agr

ee w

ith S

tate

men

t

Print vs. Electronic Usage by Broad Discipline

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Print Electronic Print Electronic Print Electronic Print Electronic Print Electronic Print Electronic

Arts & Humanities Life & Health Sciences Physical Sciences &Eng.

Social Sciences Multi/Inter-Disciplinary Other

Today Less than a week ago Less than a month ago More than a month ago Never

E-Journals as Print Alternative

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Faculty All Faculty All

Print more reliable E-journals a suitable alternative

Agr

ee w

ith S

tate

men

t

Access Characteristics

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8

FacultyEasy to locate e-journals via

online catalog

All

FacultyIndexes & databases provide

good e-journal coverage

All

FacultyBrowse more and different e-

journals than print

All

Strongly AgreeAgree

Types of Use: Discovery

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Facu

lty All

Facu

lty All

Facu

lty All

Facu

lty All

Facu

lty All

Facu

lty All

Browsingcurrentissues

Browsingpast issues

Searchingthrough

different titles

Keepingcurrent in my

field

Keepingcurrent

outside my

Locatingspecific facts

Print Either Electronic N/A

Types of Use: Production

0%10%20%30%40%50%

60%70%80%90%

100%

Faculty All Faculty All Faculty All Faculty All

Making copies ofarticles

Comparing &contrasting

articles

Citing articles For use in courseassignments

Print Either Electronic N/A

Format Preferences for Use in Course Assignments by Broad Discipline

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Arts &Humanities

Life & HealthScience

Physical Science& Eng.

Social Sciences Multi/Inter-Disciplinary

Other

Print Either Electronic

Advantages of Electronic Journals

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

AllNo need to go

to library orwait for doc

delivery

AllAlways

available

AllIncludes links

AllIncludes

downloadabledata

AllAvoids

photocopycosts

AllAvailable

before print

ImportantVery important

Content and Coverage Barriers

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

AllUnavailability of

older issues

AllUnavailability of

recent issues

AllLocating table of

contents

AllLocating info for

authors

AllOmission of

letters,supplements,

editorial info, etc

Minor barrier

Major barrier

Usability Barriers

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

AllReadingonscreen

Faculty AllPrinting charges

Faculty AllMaps,

illustrations,non-Roman text

Faculty

Minor barrier

Major barrier

Computing Barriers

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

AllProxy or

authenticationoff-campus

AllSpeed of

home internetconnection

AllHome

computer

AllLibrary

computers

AllComputersupport &

training

AllOffice

computer

AllComputer

skills

Minor barrier

Major barrier

Barriers: Summary

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Unavailability of older issues

Reading onscreen

Proxy or authentication off-campus

Highlighting & notes

Unavailability of recent issues

Speed of home internet connection

Moving between parts of an article

Major barrier Minor barrier

Statistical Significance of Demographic Variables

Demographic differences of degree, not kind

Variables statistically significant, but in most cases relationships not strong (Cramer’s V < 0.10)

Strongest variable = Affiliation Followed by:

Discipline Age Gender Campus

Reaping the Harvest: Studies of Electronic Journal Use

Ohio State UniversityOctober 2003

The University of California Collections Management Initiative (UC/CMI)

http://www.ucop.edu/cmi/ Brian E. C. Schottlaender

University of California, San Diego