Measurement and Analysis of Electronic Reserve Usage: Toward a New Path in Online Library Service Assessment

Abstract

This article identifies problems and issues in assessment of electronic reserves and investigates usage measures, particularly Web server logs, for after-hours and off-campus usage. Findings indicate that electronic reserves are heavily used during non-traditional service hours and from outside the library's physical walls.

E-Reserves in Transition: Exploring New Possibilities in E-Reserves Service Delivery

“…In most cases, these full service e-reserve programs are well-marketed, customercentered, popular, and heavily used by both faculty and students (Jacoby, 2004). The library retains control of the entire e-reserves process, ensuring that copyright is followed and that adequate safeguards are in place for quality control and access.…”

Digital libraries

“…The superficially contradictory notion of circulation in digital libraries, an intersection of past practice, current legal constraints, and future functions, is illustrated by electronic reserves (Jacoby & Laskowski, 2004), a practice that reveals students' use of digital libraries for shifting both time and place. Virtually all aspects of the service—from copyright issues through technical practices—are covered in one or another chapter of Rosedale's (2002) text.…”

Reserves, Electronic Reserves and Student Copying Practices at the University of Colorado, Boulder

“…Whitson (2000), Sellen and Hazard (2001), Chrzastowski (2001), Pilston and Hart (2002), and many others describe electronic reserves survey instruments measuring user satisfaction, comparing print and electronic reserves systems in varying ways and degrees, including differing perceptions of the services, but those studies do not extend to copying and copyright behaviors. Armstrong and Chalaron (2001) and Jacoby and Laskowski (2004) examine methods for gathering electronic reserve usage statistics, the latter also focusing on differing usage patterns between the two services, but neither addresses copying, printing or downloading issues. Laskowski and Ward (2001), while focusing primarily on staffing needs for electronic versus traditional print reserves, also compare the usage of electronic files with the use of paper copies of the same material, though again no mention is made of copying practices or copyright compliance-related behaviors.…”