Selected Findings
from
The UC/CMI Journal Use
and
User Preference Studies
The University of California
Collections Management Initiative (UC/CMI)
Brian E. C. Schottlaender
University Librarian, UC-San Diego
Reaping the Harvest: Studies of Electronic Journal Use
Ohio State University, October 2003
What the Project Involved
 Removing from campus libraries selected print
journals for which electronic access is available, and
relocating those journals to storage.
 Gathering objective data, including cost and usage
data, for both print and electronic versions of 300
journals.
 Surveying user attitudes and preferences with regard
to the use of Digital and Print journals.
UC/CMI Journal Use Study: Titles
Subject Category
Number of
Titles
Control Campus Usage
Print
Experimental Campus Usage
Electronic Ratio of Print to
Electronic
Print
Electronic Ratio of Print to
Electronic
Arts & Humanities
22
528
5,475
0.096
46
10,602
0.004
Life & Health Sciences
130
3,601
34,449
0.105
118
84,584
0.001
Physical Sciences & Engineering
102
1,635
54,757
0.030
24
59,207
0.000
Social Sciences
Grand Total
26
280
280
6,044
2,812
97,493
0.100
0.062
13
201
5,787
160,180
0.002
0.001
UC/CMI Journal Use Study: Publishers
Provider
ACS Web Editions
American Physical Society
BlackwellScience
Company of Biologists
Elsevier
IDEAL
Institute of Physics
JSTOR
Project Muse
Royal Society of Chemistry
SIAM
Wiley InterScience
TOTAL
T otal T itles
11
3
18
1
130
15
11
44
17
1
5
24
280
UC/CMI Journal Use Study: Titles
Subject Category
Number of
Titles
Control Campus Usage
Print
Experimental Campus Usage
Electronic Ratio of Print to
Electronic
Print
Electronic Ratio of Print to
Electronic
Arts & Humanities
22
528
5,475
0.096
46
10,602
0.004
Life & Health Sciences
130
3,601
34,449
0.105
118
84,584
0.001
Physical Sciences & Engineering
102
1,635
54,757
0.030
24
59,207
0.000
Social Sciences
Grand Total
26
280
280
6,044
2,812
97,493
0.100
0.062
13
201
5,787
160,180
0.002
0.001
UC/CMI Usage Summary
Journal Usage by Format
Study Period: October 1, 2001 - September 30, 2002
200,000
160,180
160,000
120,000
97,493
80,000
40,000
6,044
201
0
Control, Print
Control,
Electronic
Experimental,
Print
Experimental,
Electronic
Year-to-Year Change in Digital Use
Subject
Category
Control Campus Electronic Use
Experimental Campus Electronic Use
Prior
Year
Uses
Prior
Year
Uses
Study
Year
Uses
Change from
Prior Year to
Study Year
Study
Year
Uses
Change from
Prior Year to
Study Year
4,763
4,256
-10.6%
5,278
7,733
46.5%
Life & Health
Sciences
20,333
27,407
34.8%
50,665
65,183
28.7%
Physical
Sciences &
Engineering
Social Sciences
32,466
44,607
37.4%
33,194
46,937
41.4%
1,885
2,132
13.1%
3,398
4,546
33.8%
Grand Total
59,447
78,402
31.9%
92,535
124,399
34.4%
Arts &
Humanities
Survey Respondents by Campus
Berkeley
Davis
Irvine
Los Angeles
Riverside
Faculty
All
Santa Barbara
Santa Cruz
San Diego
San Francisco
Office of the President
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
Survey Respondents’ University Affiliation
Undergraduate
4%
Health Care
Professional
3%
Other
0%
UC Staff
5%
Researcher
5%
Post Doc
6%
Graduate Student
54%
Faculty
23%
Most Recent Use of Journals
Print
Faculty
Electronic
All
Faculty
All
0%
Today
10%
20%
Less than a week ago
30%
40%
50%
Less than a month ago
60%
70%
80%
90%
More than a month ago
100%
Never
Format Dependency
100%
Agree with Statement
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Faculty
All
Research dependent on e-journals
Faculty
All
Research dependent on print journals
Print vs. Electronic Usage
by Broad Discipline
Today
Less than a week ago
Less than a month ago
More than a month ago
Never
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Print
Electronic
Arts & Humanities
Print
Electronic
Print
Electronic
Life & Health Sciences Physical Sciences &
Eng.
Print
Electronic
Social Sciences
Print
Electronic
Multi/Inter-Disciplinary
Print
Electronic
Other
E-Journals as Print Alternative
100%
Agree with Statement
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Faculty
Print more reliable
All
Faculty
All
E-journals a suitable alternative
Access Characteristics
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
Faculty
Easy to locate e-journals via
online catalog
All
Faculty
Indexes & databases provide
good e-journal coverage
Strongly Agree
Agree
All
Faculty
Browse more and different ejournals than print
All
Types of Use: Discovery
Print
Either
Electronic
N/A
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
Browsing
current
issues
Browsing
past issues
Searching
Keeping
through
current in my
different titles
field
Keeping
current
outside my
All
Faculty
All
Faculty
All
Faculty
All
Faculty
All
Faculty
All
Faculty
0%
Locating
specific facts
Types of Use: Production
Print
Either
Electronic
N/A
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Faculty
All
Making copies of
articles
Faculty
All
Comparing &
contrasting
articles
Faculty
All
Citing articles
Faculty
All
For use in course
assignments
Format Preferences for Use in Course
Assignments by Broad Discipline
Print
Either
Electronic
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Arts &
Humanities
Life & Health
Science
Physical Science Social Sciences
& Eng.
Multi/InterDisciplinary
Other
Advantages of Electronic Journals
Important
Very important
1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
All
No need to go
to library or
wait for doc
delivery
All
Always
available
All
Includes links
All
Includes
downloadable
data
All
Avoids
photocopy
costs
All
Available
before print
Content and Coverage Barriers
Minor barrier
Major barrier
1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
All
Unavailability of
older issues
All
Unavailability of
recent issues
All
Locating table of
contents
All
Locating info for
authors
All
Omission of
letters,
supplements,
editorial info, etc
Usability Barriers
Minor barrier
Major barrier
1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
All
Reading
onscreen
Faculty
All
Printing charges
Faculty
All
Maps,
illustrations,
non-Roman text
Faculty
Computing Barriers
Minor barrier
Major barrier
1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
All
Proxy or
authentication
off-campus
All
Speed of
home internet
connection
All
Home
computer
All
Library
computers
All
Computer
support &
training
All
Office
computer
All
Computer
skills
Barriers: Summary
Major barrier
Minor barrier
Unavailability of older issues
Reading onscreen
Proxy or authentication off-campus
Highlighting & notes
Unavailability of recent issues
Speed of home internet connection
Moving between parts of an article
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Statistical Significance of
Demographic Variables
 Demographic differences of degree, not kind
 Variables statistically significant, but in most
cases relationships not strong (Cramer’s V <
0.10)
 Strongest variable = Affiliation
 Followed by:




Discipline
Age
Gender
Campus
Reaping the Harvest:
Studies of Electronic Journal Use
Ohio State University
October 2003
The University of California
Collections Management Initiative (UC/CMI)
http://www.ucop.edu/cmi/
Brian E. C. Schottlaender
University of California, San Diego