levine-clark, michael, “diving into ebook usage: assessing the swell of information,” proquest...

Diving Into E-Book Usage: Assessing the Swell of Information

PhiladelphiaJanuary 24, 2014

Michael Levine-ClarkAssociate Dean for Scholarly Communication and Collections Services

University of Denver Libraries

What can we learn by examining usage of 750,000+ e-books?

• Does quality matter?• Are there general patterns by subject?• Can we identify disciplinary preferences?• What are the best ways to measure use?• Can those patterns and preferences help

shape our collections and guide our services?

The Data Set

• 2010– 435,417 titles– 5,295 libraries



• 2013 (through Sept 4)– 776,060 titles– 7,118 libraries

• 2011– 225,448 titles– 291 libraries

• 2012– 320,796 titles– 411 libraries

• 2013 (through Sept 9)– 378,530 titles– 587 libraries

Combined Data

• 2010-Sept 2013• 435,417 titles• 304,417 with an LC call

number• 32,988 university press

titles

• 2011-Sept 2013• 217,457 titles• 210,539 titles with an LC

call number• 21,089 university press

titles

Usage Definitions• Session– Any time that a user interacts with an e-book

• View– A count of the number of pages examined

• Print– ebrary: counts the act of printing, regardless of

how many pages– EBL: counts each page printed, even if printed as a

range

Usage Definitions

• Copy– Any instance of copying a portion of text

• Download– A download of the entire book

Some aspects of usage aren’t comparable

• ebrary has far more libraries than EBL, and an extra year of data– Averages and totals only useful when comparing

within one aggregator• Some usage not counted the same – Printing

Breadth vs Depth

PERCENTAGE OF TITLES USED

AVER

AGE

AMO

UN

T O

F U

SE

DO HIGHER-QUALITY E-BOOKS GET USED MORE?

University Press Books

• A proxy for quality• ebrary – 32,988 titles• EBL – 21,089 titles

Do better books get used at a higher rate?

Overall Usage - Sessions

• At least one session– 69.16% of titles– 91.72% of titles with an LC

call number– 93.76% of university press

titles

• On average (across all libraries)– 147.43 sessions per title – 208.64 sessions per title with

an LC call number– 339.01 sessions per title for

university press titles

• At least one session– 88.33% of titles– 89.00% of titles with an LC


titles

• On average (across all libraries)– 69.39 sessions per title – 70.99 sessions per title with

an LC call number– 76.74 sessions per title for


Overall Usage – Page Views

• Viewed at least once– 69.15% of titles– 91.70% of titles with an LC


titles

• On average (across all libraries)– 2,245.23 views per title – 3,174.31 views per title with

an LC call number– 5,203.82 views per title for


• Viewed at least once– 87.30% of titles– 88.01% of titles with an LC


titles

• On average (across all libraries)– 1,310.39 views per title – 1,341.91 views per title with

an LC call number– 1,499.78 views per title for


Overall Usage - Copies

• At least one title with a section copied– 35.84% of titles– 49.82% of titles with an LC


titles

• On average (across all libraries)– 27.56 copies per title – 39.21 copies per title with an

LC call number– 63.95 copies per title for


• At least one title with a section copied– 37.13% of titles– 37.92% of titles with an LC


titles

• On average (across all libraries)– 92.00 copies per title – 94.46 copies per title with an

LC call number– 116.05 copies per title for


Overall Usage - Printing

• At least one title with pages printed– 34.41% of titles– 47.33% of titles with an LC


titles

• On average (across all libraries)– 171.35 prints per title – 244.32 prints per title with an

LC call number– 461.27 prints per title for


• At least one title with pages printed– 36.46% of titles– 37.17% of titles with an LC


titles

• On average (across all libraries)– 5.29 prints per title – 5.43 prints per title with an LC

call number– 5.57 prints per title for


Overall Usage – Full Downloads

• At least one title downloaded– 24.35% of titles– 34.42% of titles with an LC


titles

• On average (across all libraries)– 2.77 downloads per title – 3.95 downloads per title with

an LC call number– 5.64 downloads per title for


• At least one title downloaded– 59.12% of titles– 59.83% of titles with an LC


titles

• On average (across all libraries)– 9.34 downloads per title – 9.54 downloads per title with

an LC call number– 10.41 downloads per title for


University Press Summary

• Used at a higher rate across all categoriesBUT

• University press books may be available in more libraries

BROAD DISCIPLINARY DIFFERENCES

The Disciplines

HumanitiesB (Philosophy, Religion) excluding BF (Psychology)C, D, E, F (History)M (Music)N (Fine Arts)P (Language & Literature)

Social Sciences BF (Psychology)H (Social Sciences)J (Political Science)K (Law)L (Education)U, V (Military, Naval Sciences)

STMQ (Science)R (Medicine)S (Agriculture)T (Technology)

Percentage of Titles Usedebrary

Discipline % Titles with a Session

% Titles Viewed

% Titles Copied

% Titles Printed

% Titles Downloaded

Humanities 92.05% 92.04% 52.50% 49.44% 40.87%

Social Sciences 92.70% 92.69% 55.44% 50.89% 36.40%

STM 90.19% 90.17% 42.90% 41.95% 27.53%

Baseline (all titles with an LCCN)

91.72% 91.70% 49.82% 47.33% 34.42%

Percentage of Titles UsedEBL

Discipline % Titles with a Session

% Titles Viewed

% Titles Copied

% Titles Printed

% Titles Downloaded

Humanities 88.44% 87.19% 36.28% 33.24% 58.62%

Social Sciences 89.95% 89.12% 42.77% 42.69% 62.40%

STM 88.30% 87.35% 33.65% 33.91% 57.68%

Baseline (all titles with an LCCN)

89.00% 88.01% 37.92% 37.17% 59.83%

Average Usageebrary

Discipline Sessions Page Views Copies Prints Full Downloads

Humanities 207.79 3122.16 36.86 235.16 3.95

Social Sciences 251.21 3766.11 54.65 283.03 4.74

STM 162.57 2570.70 24.33 211.63 3.16

Baseline (all titles with LCCN) 208.64 3174.31 39.21 244.32 3.95

Average UsageEBL

Discipline Sessions Page Views Copies Prints Full Downloads

Humanities 54.18 999.12 69.48 3.85 6.76

Social Sciences 91.96 1694.91 124.34 7.63 12.54

STM 59.90 1192.46 81.51 4.20 8.32

Baseline (all titles with LCCN) 70.99 1341.91 94.46 5.43 9.54

Actions Per Sessionebrary

Discipline Views Per Session

Copies Per Session

Prints Per Session

Downloads Per Session

Humanities 15.03 0.177 1.132 0.019

Social Sciences 14.99 0.218 1.127 0.019

STM 15.81 0.150 1.302 0.019

Baseline (all titles with an LCCN) 15.21 0.188 0.171 0.019

Actions Per SessionEBL

Discipline Views Per Session

Copies Per Session

Prints Per Session

Downloads Per Session

Humanities 18.44 1.282 0.071 0.125

Social Sciences 18.43 1.352 0.083 0.136

STM 19.91 1.361 0.070 0.139

Baseline (all titles with an LCCN) 18.90 1.331 0.076 0.134

Disciplinary Summary

• Social sciences far outperform humanities and STM in two categories– Percentage of books used– Average amount of use

• Humanities stronger than STM on ebrary• STM stronger than humanities on EBL• STM outperforms the others in actions per

session

MEASURING PREDICTED USE

Difference from Predicted UseLC Class % of eBooks

available% of titles with a session

Difference

A – General Works 0.19% 0.19% 0.00%

B – Philos, Psych, Religion 7.03% 6.88% -0.16%

C – Aux Sciences of History 0.40% 0.41% +0.01%

D – World History, etc. 3.70% 3.73% +0.03%

E – History of the Americas 1.65% 1.71% +0.06%

F – History of the Americas 1.96% 1.85% -0.11%

G – Geog, Anthro, Rec 2.94% 3.01% +0.07%

H – Social Sciences 21.98% 22.27% +0.29%

J – Political Science 3.40% 3.50% +0.10%

K – Law 3.33% 3.29% -0.04%

Difference from Predicted UseLC Class % of eBooks

available% of titles with a session

Difference

L - Education 4.61% 4.80% +0.19%

M - Music 0.81% 0.85% +0.04%

N – Fine Arts 1.06% 1.10% +0.04%

P – Language & Literature 10.87% 11.00% +0.13%

Q - Science 13.09% 12.51% -0.58%

R - Medicine 10.83% 10.73% -0.10%

S - Agriculture 2.01% 2.08% +0.07%

T - Technology 8.65% 8.69% +0.04%

U – Military Science 0.69% 0.58% -0.11%

V – Naval Science 0.12% 0.12% 0.00%

Z – Bibliography and LIS 0.67% 0.69% -0.02%

% of titles used (breadth)

% of overall usage (depth)

Performance Compared to Expected Use

Better than expected (top five)

• H (Social Sciences)• L (Education)• E (History of the Americas)• D (World History)• G (Geography,

Anthropology, Recreation)

Worse than expected (bottom five)

• Q (Science)• P (Language & Literature)• F (History of the Americas)• T (Technology)• U (Military Science)

INTENSIVE / EXTENSIVE USE

ebrary Sessions – Avg and % Narrow (low %) but Deep (more usage of each title)

Broad (high %) andDeep (more usage of each title)

Narrow (low %) andShallow (low usage of each title)

Broad (high % and Shallow (low usage of each title)

EBL Sessions – Avg and % Narrow (low %) but Deep (more usage of each title)




ebrary Page Views – Avg and % Narrow (low %) but Deep (more usage of each title)




EBL Page Views – Avg and % Narrow (low %) but Deep (more usage of each title)




ebrary Copied – Avg and % Narrow (low %) but Deep (more usage of each title)




EBL Copied – Avg and % Narrow (low %) but Deep (more usage of each title)




ebrary Printed– Avg and % Narrow (low %) but Deep (more usage of each title)




EBL Printed– Avg and % Narrow (low %) but Deep (more usage of each title)




ebrary Downloaded – Avg and % Narrow (low %) but Deep (more usage of each title)




EBL Downloaded – Avg and % Narrow (low %) but Deep (more usage of each title)




Summary of Performance Trends• Broad and Deep

– G (Geog and Anthro), H (Social Sciences), L (Education), N (Fine Arts)

• Broad– D (World History), J (Political Science), M (Music)

• Narrow– R (Medicine)

• Shallow – P (Lang & Lit), S (Agriculture), T (Technology), Z (Bibliography &

LIS)• Narrow and Shallow

– F (History of the Americas), Q (Science), U (Military), V (Naval)

TYPES OF USE PER SESSION

Page Views Per Session - ebrary

T F E Q R C G H D N J M P B K L U A S V Z10.00

11.00

12.00

13.00

14.00

15.00

16.00

17.00

18.00

15.21

Page Views Per Session - EBL

F N T R M A E Q G C H D S B K P V J L Z U10.00

12.00

14.00

16.00

18.00

20.00

22.00

24.00

18.90

Copies per Session - ebrary

K J H C G L E F B D R P U S M T N Z V A Q0.000

0.050

0.100

0.150

0.200

0.250

0.300

0.350

0.188

Copies Per Session - EBL

A K U C J B Q T V L R P N H S Z D F E G M0.000

0.500

1.000

1.500

2.000

2.500

1.331

Prints Per Session - ebrary

Q K J C T B Z U D P R F H L S E A V M G N0.600

0.800

1.000

1.200

1.400

1.600

1.800

0.171

Prints Per Session - EBL

L K A V R H B J U G Z P C N S D F E T M Q0.030

0.040

0.050

0.060

0.070

0.080

0.090

0.100

0.076

Downloads Per Session - ebrary

V U T B Q C S L Z D H P M K N E J R F G A0.010

0.012

0.014

0.016

0.018

0.020

0.022

0.024

0.026

0.028

0.030

0.019

Downloads Per Session - EBL

V Z U S T Q L N K H J C G B D P R A M F E0.040

0.060

0.080

0.100

0.120

0.140

0.160

0.180

0.200

0.134

Use Per Session Summary• Very slight differences in some categories• Some subjects do have greater activity during each

session than others• Some big fluctuations– Some subjects may not have enough titles to measure

copies, prints, downloads meaningfully.• Five best subjects across all four categories of usage:– B (Philos, Psych, Rel), C (Aux Sciences of History), K (Law), T

(Technology), U (Military Science)• Five worst subjects:– G (Geog, Anthro, Rec), M (Music), P (Lang & Lit), S

(Agriculture), Z (Bibliography)

CAN WE DETERMINE LEVEL OF IMMERSION IN A BOOK?

If more pages are viewed per session in a subject area, does that mean that users spend more time in those books?

Page Views Per Session - ebrary

T F E Q R C G H D N J M P B K L U A S V Z10.00

11.00

12.00

13.00

14.00

15.00

16.00

17.00

18.00

15.21

Page Views Per Session - EBL

F N T R M A E Q G C H D S B K P V J L Z U10.00

12.00

14.00

16.00

18.00

20.00

22.00

24.00

18.90

Average Rank Across Both Aggregators: Page Views Per Session

1. F – History, Americas2. T – Technology3. R – Medicine4. E – History, Americas5. N – Fine Arts6. Q – Science7. C – Aux Sciences of History8. G – Geography,

Anthropology, Recreation9. M – Music10. H – Social Sciences

11. D – History, World, etc.12. A – General Works13. B – Philos, Psych, Religion14. J – Political Science15. P – Language & Literature16. K – Law17. S – Agriculture18. L – Education19. V – Naval Science20. U – Military Science21. Z – Bibliography and LIS

CONCLUSIONS

There are many ways to measure use

• Difference from predicted use• Depth vs breadth– Books used a lot vs a lot of books used

• Type of use (view, print, copy, download)• Amount of use per session– Does this measure amount of time spent?

Quality matters

• University press books used at a higher rate by all measures

• Users appear to be making some judgment about quality

There are clear (but nuanced) differences by subject

• Two examples– F (History, Americas) • Low usage as % of available F titles• Low average usage rate• Very poor performance relative to availability of F titles• Highest # of page views by session

– L (Education)• High usage as % of available L titles• High average usage rate• Very strong performance relative to availability of L titles• Very low # of page views by session

How do we use these observations to build better collections and

better serve our users?

For More Information…

• A white paper will be available on the ebrary and EBL websites in March

• This presentation is available on SlideShare:http://www.slideshare.net/MichaelLevineClark

http://www.slideshare.net/MichaelLevineClark



Thank You

Michael Levine-ClarkAssociate Dean for Scholarly Communication and

Collections ServicesUniversity of Denver [email protected]

levine-clark, michael, “diving into ebook usage: assessing the swell of information,” proquest...

Education

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