2015 Charleston Library Conference

Traditional citation and download metrics have long been the standard by which we measure the use and value of scholarly articles. However, these methods neglect the usage and real-world impact of newer technologies to access, store and share downloaded scholarly articles. This session’s speakers will share the results of interviews, focus groups, and an international survey with more than 1000 scholars to investigate the ways in which they now access, store, share and use downloaded scholarly articles. By identifying and measuring what traditional metrics fail to examine, the Beyond Downloads project attempts to capture a more complete picture of the use and value of scholarly articles, which is critical for librarians, publishers and vendors to understand in developing scholarly tools and services. Complete usage can no longer be measured by traditional means alone. The speakers will discuss the findings of their research and the implications for metrics that take into account scholars’ changing access, reading and sharing behaviors.