1. ONLINE JOURNAL USAGE STATISTICS FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA: What We Learned and What Surprised Us
Lenny Rhine, Cecilia Botero, Michele R. Tennant and Steven Carrico
University of Florida
2005 Joint Meeting of the CSUL Committees
November 8, 2005

2. Hypothesis
widespread access to online journals has resulted in significant usage increases of the basic sciences and clinical medicine journal collections
this includes subscriptions that have been added via numerous consortial agreements.

3. Setting - UF
transition from predominantly print serials subscriptions to the online/print or online only access formats
access to more than 4,200 basic sciences and clinical medicine online journals
primarily from University-wide and State University Libraries of Florida consortial agreements

4. Participants three major UF Libraries:
Smathers Libraries – humanities and social sciences
Marston Science Library – basic sciences
Health Science Center Libraries – basic sciences and clinical medicine

5. Methodology - Study
based on statistics gathered from COUNTER-compliant publishers
focused on vendor-supplied usage statistics derived from library patrons downloading full-text articles
statistics from 2004 calendar year usage

6. Methodology continued
online titles with zero hits were verified for subscription and ready access
non-accessible online titles were removed from further analysis
a random sample of 682 titles was used; this represents 10 percent of the total and is accurate to .04 standard deviation

14. What We Knew
Library patrons and researchers access health, medical and general sciences library resources substantially more than do library patrons who access resources in the humanities and social sciences.

15. What We Learned and What Surprised Us
Smathers Libraries continue to access the online journals significantly less than users of the HSC Libraries and Marston Science Library, despite the fact that the Smathers Libraries' stacks are closed due to a massive building renovation.

16. What We Knew
The 'Big Deal' and consortial packages for online resources are siphoning an increasingly larger percentage of the library budget.

17. What We Learned and What Surprised Us
In the big picture (cost per article and access to more online journals), the 'Big Deals' in many cases (e.g., Elsevier, Wiley) are also 'Good Deals'.

18. What We Knew
The HSC Libraries subscribe to online resources that are both underutilized and too expensive to be cost-effective and therefore should be reviewed for cancellation.

19. What We Learned and What Surprised Us
After eliminating 'Big Deal' package titles for individual cancellation and high-use online journal subscriptions from independent publishers, few titles are both underused and expensive; thus, such cancellations would save little on the budget.

20. What We Knew
The HSC Libraries' book budget for FY 2005/2006 is 5 percent of the total allocation, down from 12.5 percent in FY 2000/2001.

21. What We Learned and What Surprised Us
Once reference and textbook purchases are made each fiscal year, the remaining monograph funds are so limited that book selection by collection managers is almost a thing of the past.

22. What We Knew
The University of Florida increased the number of accessible online journals through new consortial agreements.

23. What We Learned and What Surprised Us
Significantly more titles were made accessible (almost 100 percent more in most disciplines), and there was substantial usage of the added titles (an average of 204 full-text downloads per clinical medicine title).

24. What We Knew
Traditionally, libraries have accepted the 20/80 Rule (20 percent of the collection gets 80 percent of the use) as being the yardstick for general use of print journal collections.

25. What We Learned and What Surprised Us
According to our usage statistics of online journals, the 20/80 Rule is more of a 40/80 Rule.

26. What We Knew
The top 20 online journal titles would emerge from the ISI Journal Citation Report sub-disciplines of Medicine (General and Internal), Medicine (Research and Experimental), and Multidisciplinary Science.

27. What We Learned and What Surprised Us
Not one of the top 20 online journals was from the subdiscipline of Medicine (Research and Experimental).

28. Recommendations For Future Study
examine the current impact of online journal usage on the print journal collection
review online/print packages for possible cancellations of print to reduce maintenance costs
analyze the data tied to specific disciplines – ISI Journal Citation Reports
design an ongoing mechanism to evaluate vendor-supplied electronic usage data and gather in-house electronic usage statistics

29. Recommendations continued
conduct a Health Science Center Libraries-wide User Survey to gather data on:
patron satisfaction/dissatisfaction
methods to assist in collection management decision-making and materials fund reallocation
ideas for redesigning the webpage and improving the accessibility of online resources
impact of online journal usage on grant research writing