Improving database vendors' usage statistics reporting through collaboration between libraries and vendors

Abstract

The article reports the results from the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) E-Metrics study to investigate issues associated with the usage statistics provided by database vendors. The ARL E-Metrics study was a concerted effort by twenty-four ARL libraries to develop and test statistics and measures in order to describe electronic resources and services in ARL libraries. This article describes a series of activities and investigations that included a meeting with major database vendors and the field-testing of usage statistics from eight major vendors to evaluate the degree to which the reports are useful for library decision-making. Overall, the usage statistics from the vendors studied are easy to obtain and process. However, the standardization of key usage statistics and reporting format is critical. Validation of reported statistics also remains a critical issue. This article offers a set of recommendations for libraries and calls for continuous collaboration between libraries and major database vendors.