E‐Metrics for Library and Information Professionals: How to Use Data for Managing and Evaluating Electronic Resource Collections

Citation

Myhill, M. (2006), "E‐Metrics for Library and Information Professionals: How to Use Data for Managing and Evaluating Electronic Resource Collections", Program: electronic library and information systems, Vol. 40 No. 2, pp. 199-200. https://doi.org/10.1108/00330330610669352

In an era of proliferating electronic information systems, there is clearly a duty on the providers and gatekeepers of such resources to provide value for money. This puts a heavy responsibility on budget‐strapped information managers who may have to choose between offering expensive yet key resources for modestly‐sized, specific (and often vociferous) constituencies and cheaper, yet more generic systems appealing to a much wider user grouping. The electronic information revolution has also affected the way our users access the materials they require, both in terms of systems (a notable reliance on Web search engines even in an academic setting) (OCLC, 2005) and physical access to collections which increasingly carry user expectations to be available online. E‐metrics for Library and Information Professionals promises to provide the reader with the means to answer vital questions such as “Is your library getting every pound's worth out of that thousand‐pound database? Should you re‐subscribe to that pricey e‐journal?”

Building on such bold claims, the authors seek to approach these issues in a well‐structured, current and highly relevant way. The contents pages reveal a consideration of libraries in the print era, and metrics before the computer age is promised, and a proposed discussion on how to understand the e‐metrics provided by vendors. The growing use of COUNTER‐compliant (counting online usage of networked electronic resources) statistics is explored as is the impact of the latest electronic resource management systems. Much of the work is to be dedicated to exploring why libraries need e‐metrics, how to compile them locally and topical concepts including OpenURL, SFX, VPN, repositories and proxy servers are also to be considered.

I am greatly disappointed. Sadly, I found this to be a book full of broken promises. Like many library managers, I spend considerable time collating, compiling and comparing e‐metrics from many sources to present to user groups, potential funding sources and senior university managers to endorse or inform views on the value and usage of our services. I had hoped that this work would provide new ideas on maximising the value of my library service and especially the means to improve it through a better interpretation of the many e‐metrics now available to me. Somehow, the link between the authors' good intentions and the reality of the final text seems to have got broken along the way. I learned very little through what is a difficult and often technical read, but far worse, the book falls into some glaring traps which those contemplating such a potentially ambitious work ought to avoid.

First, this book proffers a considerable number of statements of the blindingly obvious. For example, p. 65 includes:

Local e‐metrics printing statistics offer another source of usage patterns for library computing facilities … This report indicates not only that there are certainly many word processor documents that are being printed from these stations…

Secondly, to this, we can add the “crime” of “complexity for no good reason”. The section on “Intermediate Local E‐Metrics – Local Solution 2” (p. 130 and following) begins:

In addition to the basic Web metrics seen in figures 7‐1, 7‐2 and Table 7‐1 (solution Level 1), an intermediate library similar to Library B could implement the following solution described in Table 7‐4.

I am sure it can (!) but the reader would be assisted further, thirdly, if tables 7‐1, etc. were not spread across a number of pages. Annoyingly, in many parts of the book the text often refers to figures and tables when they are not in immediate view. Fourthly, the “real‐world” examples promised on the back cover are usually at least one step from my own experience of reality, unless the extensive data of table 1‐2 or the journal Movement Disorders (p. 85) happens to be a particular favourite. Fifth, the relentless march of time will quickly overtake this book – for example, already aggregators such as ScholarlyStats are beginning to enter the market and who may perform some of the key functions relating to e‐metrics on a commercial basis.

Happily, the book is not without some positive points. The book highlights the staffing input necessary to compile and even archive these important e‐metrics over a period of many years – to the point of becoming a core activity in its own right. Additionally, the appendix contains a good example of a web log parsing script (in Perl) and the bibliography is an extensive (and well‐researched) collection of the best contributions on e‐metrics. It is just a pity that the work itself fails to live up to its own self‐induced expectations.