Maximizing Academic Library Collections: Measuring Changes in Use Patterns Owing to EBSCO Discovery Service

Abstract

Despite the prevalence of academic libraries adopting web-scale discovery tools, few studies have quantified their effect on the use of library collections. This study measures the impact that EBSCO Discovery Service has had on use of library resources through circulation statistics, use of electronic resources, and interlibrary loan requests. Additionally, the data were compared against data from similar academic libraries without discovery systems. Findings include a strong growth in e-journal use but a sharp decline in circulation statistics. Implications of discovery on use of the print collection are discussed along with suggestions for improving integration of book and article data.