Comparing usage between dynamic and static e-reference collections. Issue 3 (6th July 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lamothe, Alain R
• Is Part Of: Collection building. Volume 34:Issue 3(2015)
• Page Start: 78
• Page End: 88
• Publication Date: 2015-07-06
• Subjects: Collection development (Libraries) -- Periodicals; 025.21
• DOI: 10.1108/CB-04-2015-0006
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0160-4953

Abstract

<abstract> <title> <x content-type="archive" xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <sec> <title content-type="abstract-heading">Purpose</title> <p> – The purpose of this article was to present the results of a quantitative analysis that compared usage levels between an e-reference collection that has experienced continual updated content and growth and an e-reference collection that has not experienced any recent changes. The aim of the study was to determine quantitatively if e-reference collections with dynamic content experience greater levels of usage compared to e-reference collections that are static in both size and content. </p> </sec> <sec> <title content-type="abstract-heading">Design/methodology/approach</title> <p> – E-reference data were separated into a dynamic collection and a static collection. Usage for e-reference belonging to the dynamic collection was compared to usage of e-reference belonging to the static collection. The number of e-reference was obtained by simple count. Additional statistics tracked include the number of viewings. A linear regression analysis was used to determine the strength of the linear relationship between collection size and usage. </p> </sec> <sec> <title content-type="abstract-heading">Findings</title> <p> – Results indicate that e-reference collections that continue to grow in both size and content also continue to experience year-to-year increases in usage. E-reference collections that remain static in size and content experienced a decline in usage. A linear regression analysis indicates the existence of an extremely strong linear relationship between dynamic content and usage. A weaker linear relationship was calculated for static content. </p> </sec> <sec> <title content-type="abstract-heading">Originality/value</title> <p> – To this author's knowledge, this research is the first to systematically and quantitatively compare usage levels between e-reference titles from growing collections to collections that have not had any new titles added recently.</p> </sec> </abstract>