Rob Withers wrote:

> The Technical Services and Collection Management divisions of the Academic
> Library Association of Ohio will be holding a workshop on electronic
> journals in mid-May. We are interested in providing an overview of what
> practices people use to determine how many e-titles they provide access
> to.  How does your institution do it? Please share your ideas...
>
> 1a. When asked to estimate the number of serials subscriptions, do you
> include electronic titles? Titles which provide articles through
> LexisNexis and other databases?

In my previous situation we had many ejournals as a result of system
purchases.  If asked for serial subscriptions, we counted titles ordered
through our vendor, which included some online only.  We got a report from our
vendor on those titles.  We did not include any titles in databases as most
were citation only and did not present the journal as a whole; that is, it
couldn't be easily browsed.

>
>
> 1b. What is the job title/classification of the person who tracks this
> information?

I was the Periodicals Librarian.  (There is currently no one in that
position).

>
>
> 2. Do you include links for free serials titles into your catalog? Include
> these in the number of e-journals or periodicals to which your library
> provides access?

I had planned to do so, but it took a back seat to migration.  If asked how
many ejournals we provided access to, they would have been counted.

>
>
> 3a. Do you track the number of titles available in part or in whole only
> through research databases? How do you collect this information? How often
> do you update it?

Did not attempt to do this.

>
>
> 3b. In the event that only selected articles are available from a
> database, do you exclude these titles? include them as if the  whole
> title were availabe? use a fractional number?

Citation database titles were excluded.

>
>
> 3c. What is the position title/classification of the person responsible
> for collecting this information?
>
> 4a. How do you estimate the long-term costs for subscriptions for
> individual titles?

It never came up.

>
> 4b. How do you estimate the long-term costs for subscriptions for
> titles obtained through aggregators and/or consortial deals?

Also never came up.  We benefited so greatly from system/consortial packages
it was never an issue.

>
> 4c. How do you estimate the ratio for cost per electronic title over a
> multi-year period-- especially if it's through an aggregator?
>
> 5. If you could wave your magic wand and change something about the ways
> in which libraries provide access to e-journals, what is one thing that
> you would change to make it easier to gather and present statistics on the
> number of e-journal titles, what would it be?

I would worry first about providing rational and consistent access and get to
the statistics later.  Surely there is software that will track use.

>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  Rob Withers
>  Assistant to the Dean & University Librarian
>  Miami University Libraries
>  Oxford, OH 45056

--
Mary Williams
Serials Librarian
Olson Library
Minot State University
500 University Ave. W
Minot, ND  58707

Ph: (701) 858-4285
FAX: (701) 858-3581