An analysis of music e-journal usage at Mcgill University

Abstract

From 2014 to 2016, McGill University collected data about music e-journals using a variety of tools, including: 1. Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Measuring the Impact of Networked Electronic Services (MINES) for Libraries survey that asked library patrons why they selected specific e-journals and how they are applying the knowledge; 2. 1Science publishing and citation report that compared faculty publications with the library's e-journal holdings, and revealed publishing trends for the McGill faculty and for faculty worldwide; 3. An analysis from a Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) survey on the top journals preferred by faculty for research and teaching; 4. Vendor-supplied e-journal usage statistics through Counting Online Usage of Networked Electronic Resources (COUNTER) data. Looking at the results of this data, we considered the following research questions: Does the Library have access to the journals that support the Music Library and Music Faculty? Are there gaps in the e-journals collection? Where are our faculty publishing? What are the journals with the highest usage, lowest usage and zero usage? Are these the right data points for making collection development decisions? The use of multiple data sources can provide a basis for a more holistic approach to understanding usage of e-journal collections as well as Music faculty and patrons' preferences and practices. There are also recommendations about gathering this sort of information by lower cost methods at other music libraries.