Nuanced and Timely: Capturing Collections Feedback at Point of Use

While libraries are using increasingly sophisticated metrics to determine electronic resource’s usefulness, impact, and cost effectiveness, much of these data reflect past usage. More nuanced information is still needed to guide collection managers’ decisions about which content to purchase, borrow, or deselect. To fill this gap, librarians at Oregon State University Libraries and Press and The Ohio State University Libraries are testing the utility of a pop-up survey to gather patron feedback at their point of use. By building an open-source application that inserts a survey between a citation and the full text, librarians are better positioned to capture users’ real-time reasons for selecting a given resource. Usage data can then be linked to qualitative information through questions such as whether a resource is being used for research or teaching; whether a user considers the journal core to their project; or even, if the resource is being used in class or with a student. Inspired by MINES for Libraries® this application was created to understand e-resource use beyond clicks. The authors discuss how the application works, whether users responded to the pop-up survey as expected, and other preliminary findings.