Print & Electronic Journal Usage Patterns:
a Library Case Study by ETH Zürich
Dr. Alice Keller, ETH-Bibliothek
Elsevier‘s 4th ScienceDirect Annual Conference,
Amsterdam,14-15 March 2002
Journals at the ETH Library
• Print only journals:
2‘800
• Print + online journals:
2‘000
• Online only journals:
1‘200
• Total:
6‘000
3‘200 e-journals
Journal Usage at the ETH Library
Journals consulted in reading room
 no data available
Documents requested: 480‘000 items per annum
 how many are journals?
Requests for photocopies: 106‘000 per annum
 mainly journal articles
Print Journal Usage: Selected Titles
• Planta Medica, Thieme
» 140 requests in 2001
• Journal of Animal Ecology, Blackwell
» 82 requests in 2001
• Biochemistry, ACS
online
» 432 requests in 2001
• Chemistry of Materials, ACS
online
» 146 requests in 2001
• Historia Mathematica, Academic Press
» 17 requests in 2001
online
140 requests in 2001
1953
1955
1957
1959
1961
1963
1965
1967
1969
1971
1973
1975
1977
1979
1981
1983
1985
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
2001
Requests for print volumes (2001)
Planta Medica, Thieme (1953-)
Usage Pattern 2001
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
82 requests in 2001
1932
1935
1938
1941
1944
1947
1950
1953
1956
1959
1962
1965
1968
1971
1974
1977
1980
1983
1986
1989
1992
1995
1998
2001
Requests for print volumes (2001)
Journal of Animal Ecology, Blackwell (1932-)
Usage Pattern 2001
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Biochemistry, ACS (1962-)
(online available from 1996)
Usage Pattern 2001
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
432 requests in 2001
+ 3660 full text downloads in 2001
1963
1965
1967
1969
1971
1973
1975
1977
1979
1981
1983
1985
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
0
2001
Requests for print volumes (2001)
40
Chemistry of Materials, ACS (1989-)
(available online from 1996)
Usage Pattern
146 requests in 2001
+ 1069 full text downloads in 2001
Historia Mathematica, Academic Press (1974-)
online available from 1996
3
2
1
17 requests in 2001
+ 3 full text downloads in 2001
1975
1977
1979
1981
1983
1985
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
0
2001
Requests for print volumes
(2001)
Usage Pattern 2001
Print Usage Patterns: Conclusions
• Recent years are most heavily used
• However, backyears are also requested
regularly
• Usage stats show roughly 8 times as
many full text downloads as print
requests (estimate)
• Online access reduces – but does not
eliminate – requests for print volumes
Electronic Journals at ETH Library
• 3‘200 e-journals (January 2002)
• All STM titles
• National consortia for
– Springer LINK
– Academic Press
– Elsevier ScienceDirect
Usage of Electronic Journals
• Usage statistics available at ETH
Library
• Comparison of usage of different
journals
• Benefits of journal consortia
• Comparison of journal usage in different
subject areas
E-Journal Usage Statistics at ETH Library
E-Journals at ETH Zurich:
Availability of usage stats
according to pub lishers
10%
9%
Publisher supplied usage
data
Publisher could not supply
data
Publisher w as not
approached
81%
E-Journal Usage Statistics at ETH Library
63%
E-Journals at ETH Zurich:
Availability of usage stats
according to Journals
Publisher supplied usage
data
Publisher could not supply
data
Publisher w as not
approached
11%
26%
E-Journals Usage: Summary of All Titles (2001)
E-Journal Usage: All Titles
1400
1000
800
600
400
200
2800
2600
2400
2200
3000 and over
No. of full text dow nloads
2000
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
0
No. of journals
1200
... Looking at Those with under 100‘s Downloads...
E-Journal Usage: All Titles
600
400
300
200
100
No. of full text dow nloads
over 100
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0
No. of journals
500
E-Journal Usage Patterns I:
Conclusions
• 8,3% of the e-journals were never
accessed during 2001
• A further 53% are not accessed more
than 50 times
• 22 journals are accessed more than
3000 times ....
... These 22 Journals are ...
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Science, Am.Assoc.Adv.Science
Nature, Macmillan
PNAS, Nat.Acad.Sciences
Journal of Biological Chemistry,
ASBMB
Journal of the ACS, ACS
Lecture Notes in Computer Science,
Springer
Journal of Organic Chemistry, ACS
Cell, Cell Press
Tetrahedron Letters, Elsevier
Organic Letters, ACS
Computers and Security, Elsevier
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Physical Review Letters, APS
Journal of Chemical Physics, AIP
Chemical Communications, RSC
Journal of Physical Chemistry A,
ACS
Physical Review B, APS
Journal of Cell Biology, Rockefeller
Univ. Press
Biochemistry, ACS
Nature Biotechnology, Nature
America
Applied Physics Letters, AIP
Tetrahedron, Elsevier
EMBO Journal, OUP
Benefits of Journal Consortia
A consortium offers:
• New titles that were not available in print
 Increased Collection
• Access to articles that were not available in
print

Article Cross Access
Increased Collection
A consortium enriches the library‘s collection
with new titles that weren‘t subscribed to before.
Article Cross Access
Users can download articles they didn‘t
have access to before.
Benefits of Consortia according to
Subject Area (all data ETH)
Subject areas analysed:
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Earth Sciences
• Mathematics
• Medicine
• Physics
• Mechanical Engineering
Benefits of Consortia acc. to Subject Area:
Increased Collection (2001)
All 3 Consortia (Springer, AP, SciDirect)
400
300
200
Journal in print collection
Increased collection
MECH
PHYS
MED
MATH
EARTH
0
CHEM
100
BIOL
No. of journal titles
500
Benefits of Consortia acc. to Subject Area:
Article Cross Access (2001)
50'000
40'000
30'000
20'000
Journal in print collection
MECH
PHYS
MED
MATH
EARTH
0
CHEM
10'000
BIOL
No. of full text downloads
All 3 Consortia (Springer, AP, SciDirect)
Article Cross Access
Cross Access Rates Around the World
• ETH Library: 9-23% (*)
• Bayern Consortium: 24-31%
• OHIO Link Consortium: 30-85%
(*)
all depending on publisher
A high cross access rate indicates
 .... a successful consortium,
 .... or that the print collection was inadequate.
Comparison of Journal Usage in
Different Subject Areas
Subject areas analysed:
• Biology:
• Chemistry:
• Earth Sciences:
• Mathematics:
• Physics:
• Mechanical Engin.:
380 FTEs
340 FTEs
215 FTEs
200 FTEs
385 FTEs
367 FTEs
(All faculty members (FTE), doctoral + postdoc students (FTE), advanced undergraduate students)
Comparison of E-Journal Collection
in Different Subject Areas
MECH
PHYS
MATH
EARTH
CHEM
1.4
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
BIOL
No. of journals per FTE
E-Journal Collection / Subject Area
Full Text Dow nloads / Subject Area
300
250
200
150
100
MECH
PHYS
MATH
EARTH
0
CHEM
50
BIOL
No. of full text downloads per FTE
Comparison of E-Journal Usage in
Different Subject Areas
All data from ETH Zurich, Jan-Dec 2001
E-Journal Usage Patterns II:
Conclusions
• Usage data is still very incomplete
• Many journals are rarely used, few are very
heavily used
• Consortial deals increase size of collection
• Cross access rates vary according to
libraries and subject areas
• Heaviest e-journal usage is found in Biology,
Chemistry and Physics
• Weakest usage in Engineering
A final word from the Neue
Zürcher Zeitung (22.02.02):
- Lügen
- verdammte Lügen
- Statistik
- Internetstatistik
End