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 gross

Source: 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 gross

Source: 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 unavoidableWay 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 Universitys.a.killick@cranfield.ac.ukTel: 01793 785561