Wulff, JL; Nixon, ND "Quality markers and use of electronic journals in an academic health sciences library " JOURNAL OF THE MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION 92 (3). JUL 2004. p.315-322 MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSOC, CHICAGO

[Eugene Garfield]

Judith L. Wulff: wulff at louisville.edu;
Neal D. Nixon: nixon at louisville.edu

FULL TEXT AVAILABLE AT :
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=442173

TITLE:          Quality markers and use of electronic journals in an
                academic health sciences library (Article, English)
AUTHOR:         Wulff, JL; Nixon, ND
SOURCE:         JOURNAL OF THE MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION 92 (3). JUL
                2004. p.315-322 MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSOC, CHICAGO

SEARCH TERM(S):  JOURNALS  item_title; J MED LIBR ASSOC  source_abbrev_20

KEYWORDS+:       BRANDON/HILL SELECTED LIST; ONLINE JOURNALS; PRINT;
                DESELECTION; UNIVERSITY; IMPACT; BOOKS; USAGE

ABSTRACT:       Objectives: Patterns of use of electronic versions of
journals supplied by an academic health sciences library were examined to
determine whether they differed from patterns of use among corresponding
print titles and to relate the applicability of print collection
development practices to an electronic environment.

Methods: Use data supplied by three major vendors of electronic journals
were compared to reshelving data for corresponding print titles, impact
factors, and presence on Brandon/Hill Lists.

Results: In collections where one-click access from a database record to
the full text of articles was possible, electronic use correlated with
print use across journal pairs. In both versions, Brandon/Hill titles
were used more frequently than non-Brandon/Hill titles, use had modest
correlations with journals' impact factors, and clinical use appeared to
be higher than research use. Titles that had not been selected for the
library's print collections, but which were bundled into publishers'
packages, received little use compared to electronic titles also selected
in print.

Conclusions: Collection development practices based on quality and user
needs can be applied with confidence to the electronic environment.
Facilitating direct connections between citation databases and the
corresponding journal articles regardless of platform or publisher will
support scholarship and quality health care.