Abstract
Measuring the use, outcomes and value of the library’s role in scholarly reading helps demonstrate the value library collections bring to scholarship. The Scholarly Reading and the Value of Library Resources project, funded by JISC Collections, measured the value and outcomes to academic staff members from access to scholarly publications. Six higher education institutions in the UK participated in the 2011 survey of scholarly reading. Over 2,000 academic staff members responded to the survey, which asked questions about reading of scholarly articles, books and other materials. Respondents read from a variety of materials, an average of 22 articles, seven books and ten other publications monthly, for an average of 39 scholarly readings per month. Readings from the library are more likely to be for research or teaching and the libraries’ e-journal collections are the main source for article readings. Additional reading patterns and outcomes are discussed.
Highlights
Academic libraries provide access to scholarly articles, books and other materials to support the work of academic staff and students, yet academics today have many alternative ways to access scholarly information
Outcomes and value of the library’s role in scholarly reading helps librarians make decisions about the future direction of their collections and services, and helps demonstrate the value library collections bring to scholarship
This article summarizes the results of the combined findings, with a particular emphasis on those findings that focus on the value of the reading that comes from the library collections
Summary
Academic libraries provide access to scholarly articles, books and other materials to support the work of academic staff and students, yet academics today have many alternative ways to access scholarly information. The Scholarly Reading and the Value of Library Resources project[1] measured the value and outcomes to academic staff members from access to scholarly publications in six universities in the United Kingdom. It sought to answer questions such as: What is the value and outcome of scholarly reading for academic staff? How do academic library collections support research and teaching activities of academic staff?
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