While reviewing our Library metrics for 2010 and comparing these numbers with past years, I started to reflect about whether or not collecting quantitative data about our services, resources use, and our Library community can paint the full picture of our contributions to the Center. Collecting statistics is certainly a fact of effective library management and helps determine resources most used.
Our physical locations had a total of 116, 521 foot traffic which has increased from 2009 where the final yearly count was 115,760. We know that the Library’s space continues to be appreciated by our users as their place to think and reflect on research and work related activities as well as their “go-to place” to get away from distractions. It still remains a meeting place to collaborate with others. They also know that if they need on-the-spot support for any of the databases we provide that consultation is only a step away.
This past year we had over 19,000 single interactions with our user community – this came from scheduled classes, literature and research questions, document delivery calls, requests received from one of our many online forms, a Library staff member paying an office visit or from the Clinical Medical Librarian program. This number is slightly down from 2009; however, our collection usage continues to rise, especially for the electronic content we make available. Our clients continue to access from our Web site many resources such as ejournals and ebooks . In 2010, over 954,000 full text articles were downloaded by clients whereas in 2009 the final number was 715,340. Ebooks also saw a growth from close to 25,000 in 2009 to over 86,000 in 2010. Last year we spent time selecting appropriate ebooks which could be accessed by all sites within the MSKCC network. This move to add relevant ebooks resulted in over 1 million downloaded items in 2010.
For items such as journal articles and books we don’t have in our collection, Document Delivery Services helps to ensure that our clients receive their needed information. We provided MSK staff 21,837 articles in 2010 and 25,953 articles in 2009. The reduced number is a welcomed sign as it shows that overall our dynamic collection is on target with the research and medical interests of our users. Besides supporting MSK staff in retrieving material not in our collection, as an NLM Resource Library we also provide lending services to other Libraries who help to fill our requests. Grand total for all document delivery services requests was 46,689 (2009) and 48,504 (2010).
Finally traffic to our library Web site declined by 9,953 from 2009 giving a final count for 2010 of 169,584. The applications we use to track site visits do not count site visits if someone has bookmarked a page within our Web site.
So as we leverage statistical software to monitor site visits, review web server log files, tally reference and research questions, record the various literature search requests and systemic reviews completed, and track attendance to our various training and one-on-one sessions, do these numbers truly paint the full picture?
While taking the time to compile our quantified metrics, what I believe is the true measure of a Library’s value is the stories and testimonials that I hear from our users. How someone made an informed decision based on information provided, the mediated-literature search results that impact the way a user approaches his or her work, the support we provide in conducting systematic reviews, the right content we maintain reflective of the ongoing research and medical activities of the Center, the dynamic services we offer, the work we do during a grant submission process, keeping our users current with scholarly published literature and promoting our authors via Today’s science sparks and Synapse.
Being able to record users’ stories of how the Library supports them is the ultimate key to the future of any Library. While measuring outcomes is crucial to the Library’s ongoing mission: the stories we hear from our users helps us to place a value on our services. If you have a story about the MSKCC Library, please feel free to reach out and share!
Donna Gibson, Director of Library Services