The annual SCONUL Statistics Philip Payne JIBS workshop on management data in higher education libraries 1 st. June 2009

SCONUL statistics: aims Allows libraries to make comparisons with other similar libraries (benchmarking) Provides sector-wide information on university and college libraries

SCONUL statistics: coverage UK university and college libraries in membership of SCONUL … so long as they have completed the annual statistics return

SCONUL Statistics: the compilation Annual (online) statistics return Return reviewed annually - Stats Group in May Institutions invited to complete return – August Libraries submit their return online Returns checked and collated by LISU Queries – LIS-SCONUL-STATS - SCONUL 86% response rate for last year HESA data for fte staff & student numbers SCONUL WGPI proof read Publication

SCONUL statistics: online return

SCONUL statistics: outputs Published SCONUL statistics Higher Education Library Management Statistics (HELMS) SCONUL statistics: trends Statistics on the web (hosted by ILRT, University of Bristol) – part of SCONUL Performance Portal Tailored outputs

SCONUL statistics: annual statistics volume Published annually by SCONUL Listings for each items on the return Derived ratios Commentary and notes Means/minimum/maximum/ quartiles for SCONUL, RLUK, other old unis, new unis, HE colleges

SCONUL statistics: HELMS Management statistics about HE libraries Cut-down version of Annual Statistics Sent to Vice-Chancellors

SCONUL statistics: statistics on the web On line password controlled Choose who to benchmark with Data from 1993/1994 Institutional data Ranked lists Multiple institutions time series Multiple variables time series Download Define groups

SCONUL statistics: trend analysis 10 year trends Summary data service provision library use staffing financial data RLUK Other old universities, New universities HE colleges Annual PDF publication

SCONUL statistics: outputs Final version of main statistical tables for 2007/2008 available by 9 th. June HELMS report available w/c 15 th. June SCONUL trends available w/c 13 th. July Web database update available 27 th. July

SCONUL statistics: key areas 1.Organisational structure 2.Accommodation and provision 3.Provision of stock 4.Clientele 5.Use of libraries 6.Expenditure – staff 7.Expenditure – other expenditure 8.Library Income

SCONUL statistics: known problems Non-response Inconsistent responses Changing environments E-measures

SCONUL statistics: e-measures Current e-measures questions introduced for 2003/2004 return Informed by HEFCE-funded E-measures project undertaken by Evidence Base at BCU [with SCONUL] Increase in number of libraries reporting on use of e-resources with higher level of consistency

SCONUL statistics: E-measures (1) Number of unique serial titles (print & electronic) Number of unique titles received in electronic form only) Number of unique titles received in print and electronic form Number of electronic databases received by subscription and licence Number of electronic books

SCONUL statistics: E-measures (2) Number of successful requests for full text articles (journals only) Number of successful section requests for electronic books

SCONUL statistics: E-measures (3) Expenditure: information provision & access Serials subscriptions to titles received in electronic form only Serials subscriptions received in both print & electronic form Subscription to electronic databases Expenditure on e-books Expenditure on other digital documents

Review of e-measures questions Executive Board agreed WGPI recommendation to review e-measures (April 2009) Aim of review: To ensure that the e-measures questions in the SCONUL annual statistics are sufficiently robust to give confidence in their use in a national/international context and in assisting SCONUL members to benchmark their own results with other libraries.

Review of e-measures questions Review being undertaken by Angela Conyers (BCU), Pat Barclay (Westminster), & Claire Creaser (LISU) Working with Stats Group & WGPI Review of how statistics collected by the Council of Australian Librarians (CAUL) & the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Set of draft proposals drawn up

Review of e-measures questions Wide circulation & discussion –E-resource librarians, LIS-SCONUL-STATS, SCONUL Directors Final decision in September 2009 at WGPI Implementation for 2010 return (major revision to return)

Review of e-measures questions Number of serial titles –Inclusion of full text serial title in aggregator databases –New category of serial titles received but not purchased –Serial titles to be divided into print only and electronic (including print and electronic)

Review of e-measures questions Number of databases –Break down into type of database Abstracts and Indexes Full text: serials Full text: e-books Non text databases Composite Other

Review of e-measures questions Number of electronic books –Inclusion of e-books held within aggregator databases –New category of e-books received but not purchased

Review of e-measures questions Number of full-text article requests –To remain as at present Number of database sessions and searches –New questions on number of sessions and number of searches based on COUNTER data Number of section requests for e-Books –Additional questions being considered covering title requests and/or searches and sessions

Review of e-measures questions Expenditure –Changes being considered to give a clearer idea of expenditure on electronic resources including serials, and to give more accurate idea of cost per download.

Support for SCONUL statistics contributors Notes on the statistics return SCONUL performance portal – guidance on completing the return, guidance on e-measures questions, definitions table LIS-SCONUL-STATS mailing list Workshops run by LISU

Contact details Philip Payne Librarian Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street London, WC1E 7HX