The annual SCONUL Statistics

Philip Payne

JIBS workshop on management data in higher education libraries1st. June 2009

SCONUL statistics: aims

• Allows libraries to make comparisons with other similar libraries (benchmarking)

• Provides sector-wide information on university and college libraries

SCONUL statistics: coverage

• UK university and college libraries in membership of SCONUL

• … so long as they have completed the annual statistics return

SCONUL Statistics: the compilation

• Annual (online) statistics return

• Return reviewed annually - Stats Group in May

• Institutions invited to complete return – August

• Libraries submit their return online

• Returns checked and collated by LISU

• Queries – LIS-SCONUL-STATS - SCONUL

• 86% response rate for last year

• HESA data for fte staff & student numbers

• SCONUL WGPI proof read

• Publication

SCONUL statistics: online return

SCONUL statistics: outputs

• Published SCONUL statistics

• Higher Education Library Management Statistics (HELMS)

• SCONUL statistics: trends

• Statistics on the web (hosted by ILRT, University of Bristol) – part of SCONUL Performance Portal

• Tailored outputs

SCONUL statistics: annual statistics volume

• Published annually by SCONUL • Listings for each items on the return• Derived ratios• Commentary and notes

Means/minimum/maximum/ quartiles for SCONUL, RLUK, other old unis, new unis, HE colleges

SCONUL statistics: HELMS

• •Management statistics about HE libraries• Cut-down version of Annual Statistics• Sent to Vice-Chancellors

SCONUL statistics: statistics on the web

• On line password controlled• Choose who to benchmark with • Data from 1993/1994

• Institutional data• Ranked lists• Multiple institutions time series• Multiple variables time series

• Download • Define groups

SCONUL statistics: trend analysis

• 10 year trends

• Summary data • service provision• library use • staffing• financial data

• RLUK• Other old universities, • New universities• HE colleges

• Annual• PDF publication

SCONUL statistics: outputs

• Final version of main statistical tables for 2007/2008 available by 9th. June

• HELMS report available w/c 15th. June

• SCONUL trends available w/c 13th. July

• Web database update available 27th. July

SCONUL statistics: key areas

1. Organisational structure2. Accommodation and provision3. Provision of stock4. Clientele5. Use of libraries6. Expenditure – staff7. Expenditure – other expenditure8. Library Income

SCONUL statistics: known problems

• Non-response

• Inconsistent responses

• Changing environments

• E-measures

SCONUL statistics: e-measures

• Current e-measures questions introduced for 2003/2004 return

• Informed by HEFCE-funded E-measures project undertaken by Evidence Base at BCU [with SCONUL]

• Increase in number of libraries reporting on use of e-resources with higher level of consistency

SCONUL statistics: E-measures (1)

• Number of unique serial titles (print & electronic)

• Number of unique titles received in electronic form only)

• Number of unique titles received in print and electronic form

• Number of electronic databases received by subscription and licence

• Number of electronic books

SCONUL statistics: E-measures (2)

• Number of successful requests for full text articles (journals only)

• Number of successful section requests for electronic books

SCONUL statistics: E-measures (3)

Expenditure: information provision & access• Serials subscriptions to titles received in electronic form

only

• Serials subscriptions received in both print & electronic form

• Subscription to electronic databases

• Expenditure on e-books

• Expenditure on other digital documents

Review of e-measures questions

• Executive Board agreed WGPI recommendation to review e-measures (April 2009)

• Aim of review: “To ensure that the e-measures questions in the SCONUL annual statistics are sufficiently robust

to give confidence in their use in a national/international context and in assisting SCONUL members to benchmark their own

results with other libraries.”

Review of e-measures questions

• Review being undertaken by Angela Conyers (BCU), Pat Barclay (Westminster), & Claire Creaser (LISU)

• Working with Stats Group & WGPI

• Review of how statistics collected by the Council of Australian Librarians (CAUL) & the Association of Research Libraries (ARL)

• Set of draft proposals drawn up

Review of e-measures questions

• Wide circulation & discussion– E-resource librarians, LIS-SCONUL-STATS,

SCONUL Directors

• Final decision in September 2009 at WGPI

• Implementation for 2010 return (major revision to return)

Review of e-measures questions

• Number of serial titles– Inclusion of full text serial title in aggregator

databases– New category of serial titles received but not

purchased– Serial titles to be divided into print only and

electronic (including print and electronic)

Review of e-measures questions

• Number of databases– Break down into type of database

• Abstracts and Indexes• Full text: serials• Full text: e-books• Non text databases• Composite• Other

Review of e-measures questions

• Number of electronic books

– Inclusion of e-books held within aggregator databases

– New category of e-books received but not purchased

Review of e-measures questions

• Number of full-text article requests– To remain as at present

• Number of database sessions and searches– New questions on number of sessions and number of

searches based on COUNTER data

• Number of section requests for e-Books– Additional questions being considered covering title

requests and/or searches and sessions

Review of e-measures questions

• Expenditure– Changes being considered to give a clearer

idea of expenditure on electronic resources including serials, and to give more accurate idea of cost per download.

Support for SCONUL statistics contributors

• Notes on the statistics return

• SCONUL performance portal – guidance on completing the return, guidance on e-measures questions, definitions table

• LIS-SCONUL-STATS mailing list

• Workshops run by LISU

Contact details

Philip PayneLibrarianBirkbeck, University of London,Malet StreetLondon, WC1E 7HX

020 7631 6250p.payne@bbk.ac.uk