Tag Archives: statistics

How Many Journals Does The Library Subscribe To?

I was asked this today, and it seemed like such an innocuous question. So I decided to do some investigating. I was expecting, oh, I don’t know, maybe 5,000 or so. Was I ever wrong!

First, the definition of the question took some untangling. Does this mean current subscriptions? Does it mean individual subscriptions that we choose specifically to receive, or does it count the titles we receive as part of “big deals” from vendors like Elsevier? Does it mean stuff we pay cold hard cash for, or does it include freebies, such as the 4000+ open access journals that are readily accessible on the web (and which are all included in the library catalog)? Or does it mean just the print stuff we receive in hard copy?

After some hemming & hawing, I decided the most interesting questions were: 1) how many journal titles do we have access to altogether, both current & ceased? and 2) how many journal titles do we currently subscribe to, regardless of format, regardless of cost?

With help from the cataloging, acquisitions, and serials departments, I discovered that:
1) we currently have access to an astounding total of approximately 42,443 journal titles; and
2) of these, approximately 38,000 are current.

Furthermore, about 5,100+ are print titles (current & ceased) and we have free web access to about 4,300+ titles from the Directory of Open Access. Catalog records for all of these titles are in MIDCAT.

This is an incredible resource for our students and faculty (and staff!), and many thanks to all the people — acquisitions & collection development folks, catalogers, systems people, infrastructure people, librarian liaisons & selectors, etc. etc. — who have worked hard over the years to make this possible. And this is just one small part of the many many many services LIS provides. Really amazing.

Quantitative Analysis Lab in LIB 105

From Jeanne Albert, Director of Quantitative Skills Support, Center for Teaching, Learning, and Research:

The Quantitative Analysis Lab (QAL) in LIB 105 is up and running! On Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings peer tutors are available to help students with the statistics packages Stata, SPSS, and Minitab (see the schedule, below.) In addition, other quantitative software packages are available on the computers in LIB 105, including Data Desk, R, Maple, Mathematica, MatLab, Excel, and Geometer’s Sketchpad. The lab will be a great resource for students who are working in the main library, and can potentially bring together people working on a variety of subjects, topics, and projects.

Quantitative Analysis Lab Schedule

Sundays:

  • Minitab tutor: 7 – 10 pm
  • Stata tutor: 8:30 – 10 pm

Wednesdays:

  • Stata tutor: 8:30 – 10 pm
  • SPSS tutor:  8:30-10 pm

Thursdays:

  • Stata tutor: 8:30 – 10 pm

Note:  During QAL tutoring hours, students working with tutors will be given preference, but other students may use the lab if space is available.

Statistics from Media Lab and Reference

  • Media Lab:  Has no stats that would be of use to us
  • Reference:  Has no stats that would be of use to us, but when I asked Bryan about ref stats he suggested EZProxy stats, so…
  • EZProxy:  Has no stats that would be of use to us YET.  Later, we should consult these.  They can tell us about subscription database use, including what databases are most commonly used and how many of our database users log in from on-campus vs off-campus.  They can tell us more than that too, but to get more we might need help from someone like Ian!  Barbara can explain better than I can.  Mike Lynch will be a good resource too.  If you want a look, go to: \orgs\LIS\LISstaff\ILS III Millennium User Materials\EZProxy statistics\+START HERE 2009.html

HEAT – gathering statisitics that can enlighten us

I have begun an attempt to query HEAT for any useful statistics that could aid us in our mission.  Since HEAT has a unique way of structuring its data in its semi-relational model it has been challenging to pull helpful information.  One primary reason for this is that the important information we would want to know about (e.g. sites, problem/request details, etc…) are in free-text fields which cannot be queried easily.  Another obstacle is that there seem to be a variety of methods currently (historically) used to categorize Web Site specific events.  I spent a few hours this week getting to know the database structure and I should be able to provide some statistics (qualified) by early next week.  If anyone has suggestions on the type of information/stats we could pull please send them my way.  For now I will look for the obvious stats and we can drill into HEAT further as we discover more about HEAT’s dB and where the data is stored.

 

Update from Database Applications & Systems

This will be my last post as the workgroup leader for the DAS workgroup, as we move into the new organizational structure announced by Mike Roy at the last all-LIS staff meeting.  Here are some of the projects and tasks that DAS staff members have been working on during the past month…

Mike Schuster
– Several Revisions to Room Draw SSB forms and lots of testing
– Added new student search dropdown box and removed boxes used by students to enter group member IDs.
– Modified procedures so as each student is selected, several eligibility checks are made.
– Modified message text displayed when students are ineligible.
– Modified WebTailor Infotext for links.
– Added logic to allow the group representative to remove group members when they’ve accidentally selected one.
– Created a database view of instructors to be used by new online catalog web page.
– Modified web directory script to correctly select on leave graduate students during winter term.
– Created database tables that will be used by custom Monterey web admissions applications forms.
– Assisted the registrar’s office with running the Term Student Type Update program(SHRTYPE) and the Learner Curriculum Conversion Program(SOPLCCV).
– After the registrar’s office runs SHRTYPE for a particular term, I create a population selection in Banner and run SOPLCCV with that popsel.
– Reviewed Clearinghouse Self-Service Authentication documentation and sample code.

Liz Whitaker-Freitas
– Supporting Hyperion BI+ for functional & technical users

Ian McBride (Full list at: https://www.yammer.com/users/imcbride)
– Completed MiddMedia plugin for WordPress
– Assisted with completion of RFP for Web Makeover
– Created conference registration form for VCC
– Developed payment form for Print Management
– Modified Athletics Recruiting application to remove Primary Sport
– Designed database sync script for the Course Catalog
– Launched CSO and Judicial Boards sites
– Upgraded Key Survey to version 7.1

Travis Stafford
– Troubleshooting cForms issue
– Testing cForms 10.3
– Two cforms trainings (Chemistry Department, Institutional Planning and Diversity)
– Finished first wave of BLM implementation (is now live) as well as fixed various bugs
– List Manager Configuration for newsletters / MiddCMS Newsletter support
– General support and Heat tickets

Rob Pekor
– Re-aligned parent Donor codes for “Feb” students.
– Removed obsolete region codes related to “CA Mailing”.
– Enhanced existing “pledge installment” view.
– Investigate poor query execution between databases (production and non-production).
– Created table to hold local data for the Harris Online Community project.
– Sent sample dataset to Harris thus enabling them to begin on data mapping on their side of the implementation project.
– Continued to fine tune the web pages for Phonathon segment creation
– Created new indicator for “young Alumni” (alumni for only 1-10 years) for the Banner List Manager project.
– Create stewardship project codes for Athletics (ATHSTW) and the Axinn Center (AXNSTW)
– Rewrote of slow performing fiscal data view for CA

Chris Norris
Staffing
– Transition planning for organizational re-structuring with DAS staff, Area Directors, and workgroup leaders
Project Work
– Reviewed Phoenix BIA summary presentation
– Drafted spec for remote DR web presence
– Revised Banner-ListManager project requirements with DAS staff
– Revised Broadcast Email Newsletter request document
– Configured four new Broadcast Email Newsletter editions with DAS staff
– Completed work on 2008 Summary Web Statistics for Web Makeover project
– Completed work on Stakeholder Reports for Web Makeover project
– Completed work on GSA (Google Search) for MIIS sites
– Began configuration and setup of Google Apps for Education (alpha instance)
Meetings
– Participated in Web Makeover project team meetings
– Met with HR staff regarding OpenHire “internal job site” project
– Met with Brett Wilhelm regarding departure considerations
– Met with members of the web subcommittee of the Sexual Assault Oversight Committee regarding a new web presence
– Participated in College Advancement Operations team meetings
– Participated in Harris online community project team meetings
– Participated in Pay for Print project team meetings
– Participated in MIIS technology team meeting
– Participated in College Data Workshop with IR, Faculty, and other LIS staff
– Conducted final DAS staff check-in meetings
Systems Administration
– Ongoing monitoring and problem resolution of online services
– Configured new GO rewrite rules
– Ongoing tuning of GSA to improve search results
– Renewals of College-owned domain names
– Transferred UWAC domains to College-managed account
Help, Support, Training, Workshops
– Updated Middlebury’s United Way web presence (campaign stats)
– Provided support for Broadcast Email Newsletters, CMS editing, BLWC Submission Manager, HEAT tix, and various ad-hoc help calls
– Conducted a Broadcast Email Newsletter training with Young Alumni staff
– Conducted a Broadcast Email (advanced) workshop for CA staff
Vendor Related Activities
– Participated in Sun-Guard/SCT Banner DBA weekly status calls
– Participated in Velaris Hyperion SysAdmin weekly status calls
– Participated in Google Apps for Education project team call with Google
– Transitioned Hyperion SysAdmin vendor (Velaris) relationship managment to Jeff Rehbach
– Provided IMA (eCommerce) details for Harris online community project

Statistics from Library Systems

Submitted by Mike Lynch

  • How many times per hour does Midcat get searched, on average?  340
  • What’s the busiest hour of the day for the catalog? 3:00 p.m.
  • How many times did an EBSCO search refer our users to Academic OneFile for the full-text of the article last fiscal year? 378
  • How many times did users go through WebBridge to get to Project Muse last year? 284
  • Where did Mike get all these numbers from anyway? From statistics that Barbara has been compiling from various sources.
  • Can I see them for myself? Sure. Just go to O:\ORGS\LIS\LISstaff\ILS III Millennium User Materials\OPAC statistics