Measuring Usage: A Comprehensive Analysis of a Social Work Journal Collection

Dawn Mckinnon,Nikki Tummon

doi:10.1080/00987913.2019.1611293

Abstract

This study examines what can be learned about a library’s electronic social work journal collection from usage statistics, survey data, faculty publications, and an examination of open access (OA) availability. A collections analysis was completed using data from two sources: a custom report by 1Science and results of a faculty survey on top journals for teaching. After creating a list of journals important to social work, top journals were identified by article downloads, faculty-authored publications, and references to faculty-authored papers. A publications analysis using faculty websites and author searches in Web of Science was also completed, to provide local, contextual data. SHERPA/RoMEO was used to determine the journals’ OA level and archiving policy. Library coverage for the journals was also included in the analysis. Results show that the McGill University Library has access to almost all of the journals identified as important to social work. Nearly one-third of publications authored by the McGill University School of Social Work since 2006 are OA, and more than half of the faculty in the school have at least one article published in an OA journal. While this is a good start for librarians who want to help faculty and students understand OA publishing and access, there is room for outreach in this area. While these results will aid librarians supporting faculty, students, and practitioners in the field of social work, a secondary aim of the study is to demonstrate a method that can be used by librarians undertaking similar analyses in other fields.

Highlights

Academic librarians who support social work schools can play a key role in helping faculty and students understand which journals have the most impact, i.e. are the most downloaded, cited, and published in, as well as which titles are open access (OA) or offer options to make the content freely available, such as selfarchiving
One third of publications authored by the McGill School of Social Work since 2006 are OA, and more than half of the faculty in the school have at least one article published in an OA journal
For the McGill faculty and students, the library has access to most of the social work journals, and has full access to titles identified as ‘top’ journals. It appears that one faculty member has paid Article Processing Charge (APC) to ensure the content is freely available, and more than half of the faculty has at least one article in an OA journal

Summary

Introduction

Academic librarians who support social work schools can play a key role in helping faculty and students understand which journals have the most impact, i.e. are the most downloaded, cited, and published in, as well as which titles are open access (OA) or offer options to make the content freely available, such as selfarchiving. In the field, finding online EBP repositories and “gold standard” evidence can be challenging as they differ quite significantly from subscription database access as found in academic libraries (Bingham, Wirjapranata, & Chinnery, 2016) This means that publishing high-quality articles and reviews in OA journals or archiving in disciplinary or subject repositories can play an important role in improving EBP in social work agency settings. While these are familiar topics for many social work liaison librarians, they are not always well understood by students and faculty. To better support the McGill School of Social Work, librarians at the McGill Library asked: “What can be learned about McGill’s Social Work researchers and the Library’s collection from combining usage statistics, survey data, and faculty publication and citation data?” to answer this question, this study examined the following: Does the Library have access to the journals that support the School of Social work, and what are the gaps in the electronic journal collection?

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion