Journal Use Reports: Easier Collection Development

 

Doug Newman
Thomson Scientific
February 2005

Gathering publisher usage data can be a time-consuming step in assessing your library’s collection and its usage. Thomson Scientific and MPS Technologies (a subsidiary of MacMillan Publishing Services) intend to ease this task by enabling linking between Thomson’s Journal Use Reports and MPS’ ScholarlyStats.

A 360° view of journal usage

Analyzing journal usage is essential to collection maintenance and development. Yet it often takes time and resources that many libraries just don’t have. Thomson Scientific is developing Journal Use Reports to aid in this essential task, and to help e-resource managers better understand how journal literature is being used at their institution.

Journal Use Reports, which will be available later in 2006, will combine several types of data:

  • Usage data, which shows the value of a journal to the patrons
  • Publication activity, which shows the value of a journal to the patrons
  • Citation activity, which shows the value of a journal to the literature

Using data from the Web of Science and Journal Citation Reports, as well as COUNTER-compliant publisher usage reports, Journal Use Reports will provide users with a 360° view of how journals are being used at their institution.

Responding to customer input

Several academic institutions have been offering invaluable guidance and input that is helping Thomson Scientific develop and refine Journal Use Reports. One oft-repeated message has been the need to ease the gathering of publisher usage data, which required downloading information from several Web sites, aggregating it into a common format, and uploading the final data set into Journal Use Reports.

Linking from Journal Use Reports to Scholarly Stats from MPS Technologies will streamline and ease this process. Providing service from India, MPS Technologies does the work for the customer: accessing publisher Web sites, downloading usage data, and delivering reports. This data will link from Scholarly Stats into Journal Use Reports automatically.

Thomson Scientific has also been an important participant in the opening discussions of the SUSHI initiative. SUSHI, which stands for Standardized Usage Statistic Harvesting Initiative, is sponsored by NISO (National Information Standards Organization), with the goal of establishing usage reporting standards to allow institutions to obtain usage data systematically.

Setting standards; ensuring quality

Working in partnership with other publishers and academic institutions to set the standard for usage statistic compilation continues Thomson Scientific’s history of setting and adhering to high standards for other crucial scholarly resources - citation indices and journal evaluation. These standards assure librarians and their patrons of access to not only the best research tools available, but also the best analytical tools as well.