Perceptions of Value and Value Beyond Perceptions Carol Tenopir University of Tennessee web.utk.edu/~tenopir/

What Who Why

What: Journals

What: Articles

What: Parts of articles

Why? 1. To make decisions and rethink old ones 2. To demonstrate return on investment or the value of the library’s collections and services 3. To improve services and collections

Who = Readers What = Scholarly Articles Why = To provide data useful for librarians, publishers, researchers

Explicit Value of Reading Articles Ask directly What was the purpose of your reading? How valuable was the reading to you?

Principal Purpose of Reading Research Teaching Current Awareness Writing Other Universities % 8.9% 10.5% 9.3% 50.7%

Purposes of Readings by Students Help complete a course assignment or required reading in a course (46-50%) Thesis/dissertation (33-37%) Keep up with the literature (7-8%) Personal interest (2-4%)

Values of reading by reading purposes Values of Reading Not at all important Somewhat important Absolutely essential writing proposals or reports 2.0%54.7%43.3% research 1.0%59.9%39.2% teaching.7%64.7%34.6% current awareness 6.3%85.7%7.9%

Value of Reading in Order of Frequency of Responses (faculty) Inspired new thinking/ideas(33%) Improved results(25%) Changed focus(17%) Resolved technical problems( 7%) Saved time( 6%) Faster completion ( 4%) Collaboration( 3%) Wasted my time(.6%)

Surveys Using Critical Incident Specific (last incident of reading) Includes all reading--e & print, library & personal Purpose, motivation, outcomes Last reading=random sample of readings

What faculty say… How did we ever get along without electronic journals? The ability to obtain articles online has made [my work] much more efficient and more thorough. I use electronic media for 90% of my literature searching. This has been true for 10 years now.

What faculty say… I have dropped some personal subscriptions as they have become available on-line. I rarely visit the library in person anymore… which, compared with the ease and convenience of doing literature searches, downloading and printing from my office/computer, takes too much time.

What students say… Finding articles online is so much easier and faster than finding articles in dusty journals in musty corners of the library. I have found electronic journals an invaluable aide as it means I do not have to travel to the Uni for every little article (which takes AT LEAST 1 hour.)

Implicit Values of Reading Articles are easier to collect (downloads) don’t necessarily involve users directly (log files) are easier to quantify are particularly valuable for measuring changes over time, such as increased use of e-journals.

Implicit Value of Reading Articles Users are “willing to pay” with their time -Faculty spend on average ~ hours per year just reading -Medical faculty spend on average ~168 hours per year just reading Achievers read more than others

Average Articles Read per year per University Faculty Member *280 with outliers

Average Minutes per Article by University Faculty Member Average Minutes Per Article

Definition of Contingent Valuation Contingent Valuation is an economic method used to assess the benefits of non-priced goods and services (e.g., libraries or specific library services) by examining the implication of not having the product or service. (Donald W. King)

I would not bother getting the information 19% (209) I would obtain the information from another source (ILL most common) 81% (889)

Proportion of Readings of Scholarly Articles by Faculty

1stYear 1st Year 2-5 Years Older articles are judged more valuable & are more likely to come from libraries Over 5Years Over 5 Years 28.8% 18.1% 53.2% Library Personal Separate 9.2% 17.5% 73.3% 33.5% 10.3% 56.3%

Readings by Students Only 18-25% of readings of current year articles Over 80% of readings from library, mostly electronic collections

As You Like It All’s Well That Ends Well

All Individual Reports web.utk.edu/~tenopir/ research/survey_instruments.html