| Dana Thomas Scholars Portal Evaluation and Assessment Librarian Ontario Council of University Libraries |
Alan Darnell Manager, Scholars Portal Projects Ontario Council of University Libraries |
| Terry Plum Assistant Dean Graduate School of Library and Information Science Simmons College |
Martha Kyrillidou Senior Director of Statistics and Service Quality Programs Association of Research Libraries |
What is known about the impact and use of networked information content by faculty, graduate students and undergraduates? The Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL), in collaboration with the Association of Research Libraries, has been engaged in assessing the impact of networked electronic resources available to the academic libraries in Ontario with the implementation of MINES for Libraries®, a protocol that collects data from users at the point of use of electronic resources.
Data collection activities from the Scholars Portal in 2004-2005 and in 2010-2011 document the increasing value of networked electronic resources offered by Scholars Portal and provide key insights on the shifting trends of the use of electronic resources. Analysis of a random sample of more than 35,000 representative uses of faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students across 21 higher education institutions in Ontario, Canada, will be discussed in relation to issues including:
• Shared technology infrastructure and resources at Scholars Portal
• Assessment infrastructure needed to study digital library use, i.e. what kinds of management decisions need to be informed by what types of data
• Originality and value of use of SFX (an OpenURL link resolver) as the instrument for intercept surveys in the digital environment
• Possible research designs, sampling plans, and implementations for point-of-use or intercept surveys
http://www.minesforlibraries.org
http://www.statsqual.org
http://www.minesforlibraries.org/home