The implications of usage statistics as an economic factor in scholarly communications

UBC Faculty Research and Publications

The implications of usage statistics as an economic factor in scholarly communications Morrison, Heather

Abstract

Usage statistics for electronic resources are needed, and highly desirable, for many reasons. It is encouraging to see the beginnings of quality, reliable usage data. This data can form the basis of economic decisions (selection and cancellation) that make a great deal of sense in the context of the individual library. However, the cumulative effects of such decisions could have serious implications for scholarly communications. For example, the journals of small research communities could easily be vulnerable to mass cancellations, and might fold. Fortunately, open access provides an alternative. The question of whether the impact of local decisions on scholarly communications as a whole should be taken into account in collection development policies is raised. The possibility that usage statistics could form the basis for a usage-based pricing system is discussed, and found to be highly inadvisable, as usage-based pricing tends to discourage usage.

Item Metadata

Title	The implications of usage statistics as an economic factor in scholarly communications
Creator	Morrison, Heather
Publisher	Haworth Press
Date Issued	2007
Description	Usage statistics for electronic resources are needed, and highly desirable, for many reasons. It is encouraging to see the beginnings of quality, reliable usage data. This data can form the basis of economic decisions (selection and cancellation) that make a great deal of sense in the context of the individual library. However, the cumulative effects of such decisions could have serious implications for scholarly communications. For example, the journals of small research communities could easily be vulnerable to mass cancellations, and might fold. Fortunately, open access provides an alternative. The question of whether the impact of local decisions on scholarly communications as a whole should be taken into account in collection development policies is raised. The possibility that usage statistics could form the basis for a usage-based pricing system is discussed, and found to be highly inadvisable, as usage-based pricing tends to discourage usage.
Extent	87030 bytes
Subject	Usage statistics; Scholarly communication; Open access; Library collection policies; Journal subscriptions
Genre	Book Chapter
Type	Text
File Format	application/pdf
Language	eng
Date Available	2008-06-26
Provider	Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights	All rights reserved
DOI	10.14288/1.0107435
URI	http://hdl.handle.net/2429/954
Affiliation	Arts, Faculty of; Library, Archival and Information Studies (SLAIS), School of
Citation	Fowler, David, ed. Usage statistics of e-serials. New York: Haworth Press, 2007.
Peer Review Status	Unreviewed
Scholarly Level	Faculty
Aggregated Source Repository	DSpace

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