If you have an ERM tool, you might want to see if they can calculate at the package level, which would give you an aggregate for those items that you get in the whole package. That might tell you if the package as a whole is “worth” the money being spent, or if it makes more sense to get just a title or two on their own.

Splitting it out evenly would be another way, but it might make more sense to go with the listed price if you were to subscribe to the actual journal. I believe this is how EBSCO’s ERM Essentials calculates the price per use [any EBSCO lurkers, correct me if I am misrepresenting!]. I think this would make an evaluation a little more accurate, especially for those “extra titles” thrown in, e.g. if we paid for this directly, this is how much it would cost per use. I believe that’s what I would factor in when deciding to keep or change or cancel a package of journals.

This is my first year with usage stats with cost/use, so I’m still formulating what’s important to us in decision-making, so I’ll be glad to hear. There is a small group of us who are “crowd-sourcing”/working on a book of best practices especially around usage statistics issues, so we will be glad to get input from as many people who have opinions about this.

Curious too,

Leslie

Leslie D. Burke

Collection Development & Digital Integration Librarian, Library

Kalamazoo College

1200 Academy St

Kalamazoo, MI 49006

p 269.337.7144

f 269.337.7395

Leslie.Burke@kzoo.edu

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/leslieburke/

Twitter: librarygal2go

More in Four. More in a Lifetime.

From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Rita Wells
Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2013 4:11 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] Calculating cost per use for bundled titles

Hi all,

I am interested in learning how other libraries are calculating cost per use for bundled titles.

For example : American Association for Cancer Research journals where one subscription price pays for 5 or 6 titles as opposed to separate title pricing. Is the general practice to divide the cost of the bundle equally among all titles and calculate cost per use for each title? Or are there other methods being used?

Very interested in what's going on out there.

Thank you in advance,

Rita

Rita Wells
Rutgers University
Alexander Library/Distributed Technical Services
169 College Ave
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1163
848.932.6128

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