We
still have a per-search account with FirstSearch and last time we bought a “block”
of searches we paid $500 for 500 searches.
Judith
Stokes
Judith E.
Stokes
Associate
Professor
Electronic
Resources/Serials Librarian
Rhode
Island College
600 Mount
Pleasant Avenue
Providence,
RI 02908-1991
401.456.8165
From: SERIALST: Serials
in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Judith
Nagata
Sent: Friday, May 07, 2010 1:09 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Database return on investment
In the late 1990s some
databases did have a pay per search (e.g. FirstSearch). I cannot remember
how much it cost per search. This model was used by institutions to have access
to a little used database until the deposit account ran out of money. If the
deposit account ran out too early consistently, then the
library could consider switching to a full subscription. I hope someone
else might remember the cost per search and then you could adjust for
inflation.
Judith
Judith M. Nagata
Serials/Electronic Resources
Librarian
Harrisburg Area Community
College
Library Central Services
One HACC Dr.
Harrisburg, PA 17110
Ph: 717-780-2535
Fax: 717-780-2462
>>> "Stokes, Judith" <JStokes@RIC.EDU> 5/7/2010 11:58
AM >>>
Hi
Marilyn,
I
cannot give you a magic number, but I can tell you what our numbers are like.
With journals, cost per download is actually a pretty good measure, so I get
good numbers from our journal packages. I use annual usage against subscription
price and find that my JSTOR and Project Muse packages are around $1 per
download. Other similar packages run as high as $5. My social science journals
run up to $10, and only my STM journals exceed $10. I know a colleague who sets
$20 as the maximum for her renewals.
With
databases, the only consistent measure I can get for all of them is searches,
so I compute cost per search, but the figures come out all crazy amounts, so I
don't report them out, but I do look at them, and the ones I believe to be
well-used and economically priced do tend to come out under 30 cents per
search.
Your
figures may be totally different, of course.
Good
luck,
Judith
Judith
E. Stokes
Associate
Professor
Electronic
Resources/Serials Librarian
Rhode
Island College
600
Mount Pleasant Avenue
Providence,
RI 02908-1991
401.456.8165
-----Original
Message-----
From:
SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu]
On Behalf Of Geller, Marilyn
Sent:
Friday, May 07, 2010 7:41 AM
To:
SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject:
[SERIALST] Database return on investment
I'm
hoping other continuing resources people can help me answer this
question:
What is a good return on investment? Or what's a "good" cost
per
use?
I'm
not asking how to get these numbers; rather I'm wondering what these
numbers
mean once you have them. I recognize that there are a dozen
reasons
for paying for some databases no matter what the cost per use
is.
And I recognize that cost per use doesn't necessarily mean that a
database
was used "well". I also recognize that "use" can have
a
variety
of meanings.
But
right now, I need to be able to say simply how much certain
databases
cost per each use and whether that's a good indicator or a bad
one.
Does anyone have that magic (possibly meaningless!) number?
Thanks,
Marilyn
Geller
Collection
Management Librarian
Lesley
University Library
29
Everett Street
Cambridge,
MA 02138
Email:
mgeller@lesley.edu
Phone:
617-349-8859