User-defined Value Metrics for Electronic Journals

Building on the work done by the California Digital Library (CDL), the University of Minnesota Libraries is developing a set of user-defined value-based electronic journal usage metrics. User value is assessed in three overall categories: (1) utility or reading value, (2) quality or citing value, and (3) cost effectiveness. In addition to analyzing vendor-generated usage metrics, also included were Affinity String data, derived from the University of Minnesota’s central authentication system that anonymously captures a user’s academic department and degree program or position at the university and combined with vendor-generated usage data, provides a granular picture of journal use down to the title level. Collection management librarians and library users can benefit from a viable, more accurate metric for use and value of library resources than cost-per-download, which would ensure that the most needed/valued resources are available to further research and learning