Status Report

Revised May 15, 2002

Note: this report has been superceded by the Status Report of December 3, 2002.

Phase I: Planning, Consultation and Preparation

Phase I of the CMI project was devoted to planning for implementation, consulting with users and with other campuses about the selection of journals to be included in the study, publicizing the study to our users, changing bibliographic records, processing and transferring physical volumes to storage. During the first nine months, small task groups made up of members of the CMI Operations Advisory Committee were appointed to address issues related to implementation, including:

• Determining appropriate bibliographic access in an environment made up of nine separate online catalogs and a union online catalog for the entire system
  
• Developing methods and definitions for gathering use data
• Developing strategies for gathering information from users who request that print journals be returned from storage
• Developing a survey to gather information from the campuses about the consultation process
• Determining options for publicity and creating publicity tools useable on all campuses
• Developing methods for collecting information about costs at the campus level related to implementation

The recommendations of the task groups were critical to planning and implementation of the study. The task groups addressed policy and procedural issues and produced numerous documents that were utilized by the campuses and CMI staff. For example, task groups produced a consultation survey, a number of adaptable text publicity tools, and a cost taxonomy. The recommendations regarding policy and process were incorporated into the operational guidelines.

Journal Selection

Approximately 300 journal titles representing various disciplines in the arts and humanities, social sciences, life and health sciences, and engineering and physical sciences for which an electronic version is available were selected for the study.

For each journal title selected, a copy of the journal was identified on a University of California campus as experimental. Experimental journals were designated for relocation to remote storage during the yearlong study.

For each experimental journal another copy located on another campus was identified as the control title, and arrangements were made to record the use of the control titles. Our goal was to compare the use of the print journal in storage, the identical journal title on library shelves and the electronic version of the journal.

Publicity

The campuses employed varying methods of publicizing the project to their users. Some campuses sent opening day letters to faculty and administrators describing the project. Others created web sites with a list of the journal titles selected for the study at their campuses.

Signs have been put up on empty shelves to let users know about the research project and the fact that an electronic version of the journal is available. Users have been informed via handouts at public service desks and at the shelf that the library will bring back from the storage the print journal if requested. Articles are being published in campus and library newsletters.

Phase II: The Study

By October 1, 2001, all campus libraries participating as experimental libraries had moved selected volumes and unbound issues off library shelves and into a storage location. Berkeley, Santa Cruz and San Francisco stored experimental volumes in the Northern Regional Library Facility. Irvine and UCLA stored experimental volumes in the Southern Regional Library Facility. Davis, Santa Barbara and San Diego, stored their experimental volumes in local storage facilities. The proposal to the Mellon Foundation specified that print journals would remain in remote storage for at least 12 months. The study, which extends through September 30, 2002, is divided into quarters for the purpose of data gathering. At the end of each quarter, CMI gathers usage data from the campus libraries, storage facilities and electronic publishers/providers.

Usage Data

Use of control journals, those journals on library shelves, is defined as "each instance of re-shelving" of a volume or an issue during the study period. Use of experimental journals, those journals relocated to storage, is defined as "each request by a library patron at the owning campus library for a study volume or unbound issue or for an article contained in a study volume or issue from the campus storage facility or from the RLF where the experimental title was stored." Definition of use of an electronic journal is defined by the publisher/provider. CMI staff counts a single access to an abstract or an article within an ejournal as one use.

By prior agreement, two campuses, Berkeley and Riverside, reported partial data for their control titles for the first and second quarters. At the end of the third quarter in July 2002, all campuses and storage facilities will report complete use data for their print journal titles and again at the end of the study. Of the fifteen vendors represented in the study, CMI staff has been able to obtain and record data from eleven publishers representing 280 journals for the first quarter of the study. It is anticipated that by the end of July 2002, complete usage data will be available for nine months of the twelve-month study.

To provide a method to adjust for the increase in digital use due to improved access and not attributable to the experimental condition, use data of electronic journals for periods prior to the start of the study is being gathered. The Retrospective Digital Use Study is well underway.

Analysis of Journal Characteristics

Planning is currently underway for the collection of more complete information on the characteristics of study journals (e.g., frequency of publication, article length, presence of graphical elements, etc.).

System Down Time

To examine the impact on use due to system down time, an analysis of CDL Alerts has been initiated. CDL Alerts is an email service that notifies campuses when the CDL server is down or a web resource is experiencing system problems. This examination will inform the research on frequency and duration of these events.

User Behavior and Preference Data

CMI staff are in the process of developing interview and survey instruments to be used to query users about their preferences for digital vs. print journals. The first step in this process is to conduct 'formative' interviews. The results of these interviews will be used to inform the design of a more comprehensive survey tool, called a User Preference Survey. The script for the formative interviews has been submitted to Human Subjects Committees at San Diego and Santa Barbara and approval has been granted. These two campuses have been identified as the only sites for the formative interviews.

Return Requests and Surveys

Library users who requested that experimental journal volumes or issues be returned from storage were given a survey form that they were asked to fill out. Of the 68 reported requests during the first quarter, 32 surveys were completed and returned. CMI staff are presently analyzing the results of the surveys. In addition, staff will be consulting with selected campuses to follow up with the library users who did not fill out a survey form. If these campuses agree, they will send these users a second survey in electronic form.

In addition, comments extracted from Comment Cards, the Return Request Surveys and the CMI web site have been redacted to aid in further analysis. Their numbers, however, are still too few to identify trends.

Consultation Survey

A survey was developed by the Consultation task group to elicit information from CMI liaisons about the extent and character of consultation with faculty and students, with library staff on their own campuses and on other campuses, and with CMI staff. All the campuses have completed the survey, and results are being compiled.

Research Plan

In February 2002 the Research Advisory Committee met in Oakland to review and provide guidance to CMI staff on the research plan. Committee members generally had praise for the plan and offered a number of suggestions for improvement and observations for consideration. The committee discussed both design and delivery issues for interviews and surveys and contributed ideas for questions that could be explored further.

Cost Data

Data on the actual costs incurred by campuses for the study will be gathered both for research purposes (e.g., to develop analytical models of the costs and benefits of alternative collection management approaches) and to validate the preliminary cost models developed to calculate campus subgrants.

In consultation with the Operations Advisory Committee and CMI Liaisons, it has been decided that campuses will provide estimates of costs incurred for Phase I activities using a framework currently under development by CMI staff. To spare the campuses the burden of comprehensive collection of staff time and cost data for the duration of Phase II, cost data will be collected through special studies, for which participating campuses will be separately compensated. Results of these studies will be used along with other study data (e.g., number of uses of experimental and control journals) to estimate total costs of Phase II activities. The CMI Liaisons and OAC will be consulted extensively in the planning for these studies.

CDL Shared Acquisitions has completed a detailed analysis of savings from print cancellations of journals from the 15 publisher/providers included in the study. This special study will provide critical information on the terms of license agreements and subscriptions to the tiles in the study that might impact potential savings.

In February campus sub grants were distributed to reimburse campuses at least in part for their activities related to the project. Campuses are in the process of budgeting funds. Interim financial reports to alert the CMI project to any difficulties were submitted in April.