Impact of full text on print journal use at a Liberal Arts College

Abstract

The availability of full-text journal articles online affects patrons use of the library's print journal collection. This case study of a liberal arts college library collection quantifies the change in print journal use from 1996 to 2003. Variables that affect print journal use are discussed, highlighting college student needs and behaviors. Validity and reliability of journal use studies is investigated, and the use of coefficient of variance is described as a tool to measure the reliability of journal use counts. Results show that overall use of the print collection decreased by 52 percent. Use of print journals also available in full text showed a greater decrease in use than journals not available online. Changes in use for each of the academic disciplines represented at the college are reported. ********** Interactions with at the reference desk and conversations with faculty suggest that the increased availability of journal articles online in full text causes a decrease in the use of print journals. However, that is not necessarily the case. Some libraries have experienced simultaneous increases in the use of both print and online journals. (1) Journal use may have an analogy to movie viewing. Many feared that videocassette recorders in homes would inevitably force movie theaters out of business, yet people still go to movie theaters. (2) The convenience of watching movies on videocassette and now DVDs presumably increased overall interest in movies, allowing mutually reinforcing, parallel markets for videos and movie tickets. Online full text might increase overall demand for journals, leaving room in the market for both the print and online formats. Literature Review Most evidence in the published literature supports the hypothesis that availability of online, full-text journals reduces demand for print journals. De Groote and Dorsch found a significant decrease in print journal use, regardless of whether journals were available only in print, or both online and in print. (3) Morse and Clintworth compared the use of a matched set of biomedical journals available both in print and online and found that users overwhelmingly chose journals in the online format. (4) Vaughan measured a 47.5 percent drop in chemistry print journal use from 1999 to 2002, finding that use of print editions of journals that had electronic equivalents declined more swiftly than journals available only in print. (5) Sennyey, Ellern, and Newsome tracked an accelerating decrease in the use of print journals, reporting an overall decrease of 40.6 percent from 1998 to 2000. (6) While the above-mentioned studies measured use of either specialized science journals or journal use in a large university setting, this case study measured the change in use of print journals in the disciplines represented at one liberal arts college. The literature reviewed for this study addressed journal use in academic libraries, based on studies focusing on variables in journal collections and their use by faculty and students. These variables may be considered in five broad, interrelated categories: student demographics, student motivations, faculty expectations, user preferences, and changes in journal content and format. Student population demographic variables include changes in number of enrolled, student age, and whether they live on campus. Demographic variables have been found to correlate with library use. Whitmire found that gender and race significantly correlated with students amount of library use, but the correlation of academic activities with library use was stronger. (7) The data from Grimes and Charters' study of economics indicated that female, black, and on-campus spent more time in the library than their male, white, and off-campus classmates. (8) These two studies did not relate demographics specifically with journal use or with user preferences for online or print format. …