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Library Quarterly Report FY20 Q2: October-December 2019


Database Usage

Use of library subscription databases as measured in full-text downloads was surprisingly high this quarter, continuing to demonstrate the value employees place on "self-service" access to high quality information at the desktop. As is typically the case, ASTM Compass led all downloads, followed by the clickthroughs from the Library Catalog and then ASCE Library and Knovel. For unknown reasons, database downloads surged 14% above average in October before returning to slightly above "normal" levels again in November and December. Average monthly downloads for the past five years have been just over 1,000 items/month.  However, this quarter we saw the highest database use we have recorded since 2015, a total of 3,709 downloads over the 3-month period.



The Library continues to expand access to resources through "self-service" online subscription databases. We provide 16 subscription databases to VDOT employees (14 of those are "full text" resources). Tables here show the number of downloads per month (below) from each database, and the trend over the past year (right), which spiked for unknown reasons in October.

Subscription database usage FY20 Q2: January-Decemer 2019
 
 
 
Subscription Downloads By VDOT: FY20 Q2
  October  November  December  Total 
ASTM Compass  681  227  326  1,234 
Non-subscription Downloads (EOS Catalog)   165  139  183  487 
ASCE Library  145  136  171  452 
Knovel  123  93  93  309 
Skillsoft Books  180  43  30  253 
Transportation Research Record  112  63  49  224 
*Other (miscellaneous journals)  78  43  46  167 
ScienceDirect  17  10  15  42 
ICE Virtual Library  18  17  41 
EBSCO Business Book Summaries  19  33 
EBSCO eBooks  12 
EBSCO Business Source Corporate Plus 
Monthly Totals  1,692  905  1,112  3,709 

Note: Miscellaneous resources includes International Journal of Pavement Engineering, Corrosion and Road Materials and Pavement Design.

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