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SCONUL Statistics:The view from the shop floor
JIBS workshop on management data in higher education librariesSchool of Oriental and African Studies, London1st June 2009
Introduction
• Introducing Cranfield University
• Our process for the SCONUL statistics
• Working with the data
• Problems and issues
• Looking ahead
Cranfield University
• Wholly postgraduate
• Positioned between traditional universities and business and industry
• Specialising in applied sciences, defence, engineering, health and management
• Ranked 3rd in the UK for the impact of our mechanical, aeronautical and manufacturing research* *RAE2008
Locations and Libraries
Cranfield Campus
• Kings Norton Library
• Management Information Resource Centre
Shrivenham Campus
• Barrington Library
Cranfield UniversityLibrary and Information Services
• Total catalogued book stock = 438,091
• Number of unique serial titles = 9,605 (92% e-only)
• Users entering the library = 385,773 • Number of FTE users = 4,408*
• Number of active borrowers = 1,506
• Total number of loans = 270,261
• Total number of staff = 48.1 (55% professional)
• Information provision expenditure = 32% of grossSource: SCONUL Statistics 2007-08
*SCONUL Statistics 2006-07
Cranfield Defence and Security
• Specialises in the research and teaching of Defence Management, Science and Technology
• Academic Provider to the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom - College of Management and Technology
• Student population of armed forces, civil servants and industry personnel from all over the world
Barrington Library
• Total catalogued book stock = 156,617
• Number of unique serial titles = 7,291 (97% e-only)
• Users entering the library = 70,805• Number of FTE users = 2,321*
• Number of active borrowers = 682
• Total number of loans = 19,804
• Total number of staff = 20 (59% professional)
• Information provision expenditure = 30% of grossSource: SCONUL Statistics 2007-08
*Internal data, not FTE
My Role
• Design and manage the processes and systems to collect the data at the Barrington Library
• Collate, review and submit data from all Cranfield Libraries
• Produce regular reports on results
(and other data sets) to
Senior Management
• Provide Library data as requested
Our Process – Cranfield at Shrivenham
Process
• Sections 1 – 4: Stock, Clientele, Usage.
• Data provided from:• Library Management System• Manual counts• Activity reports• Enquiry tracker
• Data provided by:• All Library staff
Process
• Sections 5 & 6: Library Staff & Staff Expenditure
• Staff numbers provided by Library Administrator
• Includes vacancies
• Staff expenditure provided by Finance
• All expenditure over the year
• Staff expenditure : staff numbers – inaccurate
Process
• Sections 7 & 8: Expenditure & Income
• Automated process
• Cost codes cross-referenced to SCONUL Q’s
• Serials breakdown provided by SWETS
• Data analysed by me, with input from Finance/SWETS
Data Checking
• Year-on-Year fluctuations• Number and %
• A + B = C• e.g. Number of additions to stock minus number
of disposals equals difference in catalogued book stock
• Ratios, e.g.• Number of loans : Number of active borrowers• Number of active borrowers : Number of users
• Differences between University Libraries
Working with the data
Working with the data
• Limited application for our needs• Provides a good framework for data collection• Supported with qualitative and quantitative data
• Resource impact measurement• Usage per target population• Cost per use• Impact rating by target population
• User feedback• LibQUAL+
SCONUL Statistics on the Web
• Excellent resource, if a little clunky…• Ranked list popular with stakeholders• Institutional data & defined groups useful for
benchmarking• Time series helped inform stakeholders of changing
costs of information provision
Problems and Issues
Consistency
…getting better but still not right• Year-on-Year• Between Cranfield University Libraries• With all SCONUL members
Causes of inconsistency:• Isolation of the role• Quiet discussion group• Grey guidelines• No definitive manual
eResources Definitions
• Is it an eBook? a Database? a Serial?
• Definitions do not meet our needs
• eMeasures table is not comprehensive
• Open for interpretation
Number of Unique Serials
How many unique eSerials do we have in each format?
• Publishers cannot tell us how many serials in our packages
• SWETS unable to provide report
• Annotated each record ourselves
• Double counting is currently unavoidable
Way forward?
• Ex-Libris Advanced Collection Tool?
Usage Statistics
• Contradiction in the question• “4s: Number of successful requests for full-text
articles (journals only)…including serials counted as databases in 2k”
• Data Source• Aggregator?• Publisher?
• Counter has helped, but usage data for each Library is strategically VITAL
Reliability of Systems
• Library Management System
• Reporting functionality minimal
• Verde/SFX
• SFX Advanced Collection Tool
• Verde reporting functionality still to come online
• Finance
• Accuracy of cost-codes
Looking Ahead
• Consistency• Isolated role within the Institution• Quiet discussion group• Grey definitions
• Changing face of information provision• Redundant information (e.g. ‘active’ borrower)• Open access• Bibliometrics for REF
• Changes in performance measurement• Impact is the new magnitude
Conclusions
• We’re improving, but we’re not there yet
• A useful framework of Library statistics but limited for our needs
• Supported with a portfolio of metrics
• Benchmarking ability excellent, however consistency could skew results
• SCONUL needs to move with the times without destroying the foundations
Selena Killick
Research & Development OfficerCranfield [email protected]: 01793 785561