An Analysis of the Use of Electronic Journals in a Spanish Academic Context: Developments and Profitability

Abstract

AbstractThis article studies the models of consumption of the academic communities of five Spanish universities with regard to the use of contents distributed by four major providers of electronic journals from the time at which subscriptions were first taken until 2010. Similarly, the authors undertook an initial approach to assess the value of the financial investment in such subscriptions on the basis of data from the Spanish universities of Leon and of Vigo.Keywords: Spanish academic librariesElectronic journals usageLibrary subscriptions return on investmentSuppliers of electronic journals Notes1 A research project funded by the University of Leon into the evaluation of suppliers of e-journals and an assessment of the quality of digital publications (Reference: ULE2003-06), headed by Dr. Blanca Rodríguez Bravo.2 Research projects funded by the Education Commission of the Autonomous Government of Castile and Leon. One was an investigation of the use of electronic resources in libraries, the basis for the learning model put forward for the European Higher Education Area (Reference: ULE13/05, No. 144, announced in the Regional Official Gazette [BOCYL] on 27 July 2005). The other was an analysis of the consumption of electronic information as a parameter of quality in university libraries (Reference: LE009B06, announced in BOCYL No. 143 on 26 July 2006). Both were headed by Dr. Blanca Rodríguez Bravo.3 Hernández Armenteros, J. (ed.) (2006). La universidad española en cifras 2006: Información académica, productiva y financiera de las universidades españolas. Indicadores universitarios, curso académico 2004/2005.http://www.crue.org/export/sites/Crue/Publicaciones/Documentos/UEC/UEC2006.pdf4 Statistics for the academic year 2008 to 2009 from the Spanish Ministry of Education.http://www.educacion.es/educacion/universities/estadisticas-informes/estadisticas.html5 These data were taken from the Excel files directly supplied by the libraries studied. The authors wish to express their thanks to the Head Librarians of each of them and to the librarians responsible for the Periodicals Service for their collaboration. The BUCLE consortium has acquired the tool SwetsWise Selection Support, but at the point in time when this study was carried out this did as not yet contain the information required for an analysis of the sort being presented here.6 The typical exchange rates for the euro in U.S. dollars, according to the data provided by the European Central Bank (http://www.ecb.int) were the following: 2005: US$1.2441; 2006: US$1.2556; 2007: US$1.3705; 2008: US$1.4708; 2009: US$1.3948.7 The typical exchange rates for the euro in pounds sterling, according to the data provided by the European Central Bank (http://www.ecb.int) were the following: 2005: £0.68380; 2006: £0.68183; 2007: £0.68434; 2008: £0.79628; 2009: £0.89094.8 http://bibliotecas.csic.es/documents/valoracion_uso_bibliotecas.pdf.9 http://www.rebiun.org/pruebaConfig/reglamentos/tarifas.html.