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Drake University - visit www.drake.edu Cowles Library

Teaching Support

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Suggest an Online Resource

The Library invites current Drake faculty to request new electronic resources. We evaluate requests based on the procedures and guidelines defined in the Cowles Library Collection Development Policy.

Request Process

  1. Submit the New Online Resource Request form, below.
  2. The Library will arrange for a free trial of the resource in October or March, depending on when the request is received, or at another time as needed.
  3. The Library will provide you with a link to an online feedback form for the new resource during the trial period. Please use it to provide feedback and encourage colleagues to try the new resource and do the same.
  4. The Library will decide whether or not to acquire the new resource based on several criteria, including curriculum support, feedback received during the trial period, one-time purchase vs. ongoing subscription costs, and budget availability (full table of criteria below).

Evaluation Criteria for Online Resources

  Excellent Satisfactory Poor
Accessibility VPAT1 is filed and available; if video resource, is there closed-captioning?; if print resources, is there a read-aloud function? VPAT1 available upon request; other functionality somewhat available/under development VPAT1 not available; other functionality not available
Community Zone2 Record Availability Available. Available, but problems with records/incomplete. Not available.
Cost/Acquisition Method Affordable one time purchase (with no or low hosting fee) One time purchase with higher hosting fee OR subscription with relatively low ongoing cost High cost subscription
Cost Per Use (CPU)3 Consistently low CPU Low CPU relative to cost of the subscription and discipline High CPU over multiple years
Curricular Support Supports curriculum in multiple departments continuously; highly interdisciplinary OR crucial to one subject area; library has not recently added resources in this area Supports curriculum in at least one department for specific class(es) that are taught regularly; slightly interdisciplinary OR helpful to one subject area; library has not added resources recently or does not have many resources in this area Supports curriculum for only one highly specific irregular course or none at all; library has added plentiful resources recently
License/Contract Allows all forms of interlibrary loan; allows for perpetual access for free/low cost; perpetual access format is reliable and easy to implement; COUNTER4-compliant usage reports are available; access is available to unlimited number of users; contract term aligns with fiscal year; authorized users include walk ins and off-campus users Allows certain forms of interlibrary loan; allows for perpetual access at a relatively high cost; perpetual access format is less reliable and somewhat difficult to implement; non-COUNTER4-compliant usage reports are available; access is available to a limited number of users; contract term aligns with calendar; authorized users include off-campus users but not walk ins Does not allow interlibrary loan; does not allow for perpetual access; no usage reports available; access is available to one simultaneous user; contract term aligns with start date and can't be moved; authorized users are only for patrons on campus
Media (where applicable) Text is heavily supported by image, video and/or audio content. Journals include all originally published images, graphs, etc. Text is supplemented with limited image, video or audio content. Journal articles are published with some of the original images but not all of them. No non-textual content is included online.
Robustness of Discipline Student population served is large AND/OR discipline is growing and is a strategic focus at the university level (diversity resources, new programs, etc.) Student population served is medium AND/OR discipline is stable and may or may not be a strategic focus at the university level Student population served is small AND/OR the discipline is declining and is not a strategic focus at the university level
Searching Search methods are easy to locate/intuitive (simple, advanced, browsing, subject term selection, narrowing topics from within results, etc.); search techniques available include boolean operators, truncation, keyword searching, proximity searching, wildcards, thesaurus, spellcheck Student population served is medium AND/OR discipline is stable and may or may not be a strategic focus at the university level Student population served is small AND/OR the discipline is declining and is not a  strategic focus at the university level
Subject Area Liaison's Review Positive feedback from liaison; multiple requests to purchase received Mixed feedback from liaison OR few or no requests to purchase received. Negative feedback from liaison and no request to purchase.
Subject Coverage Context of Holdings and Other Available Products Overlap analysis shows that subject coverage is not duplicated by currently owned resources and fills a gap in the collection. Overlap analysis shows that subject coverage is partly duplicated and complements another owned resource. Overlap analysis shows large amount of duplication and few collection needs that would be fulfilled by this resource.
SuperSearch Discoverability Available to turn on in PCI Activations back office (if needed)   Not Available
Trials Results Positive and plentiful feedback from faculty and students; library liaison positively reviewed; high use of trial Mixed but plentiful feedback from faculty and students; library liaison reviewed as okay; medium use of trial Negative and/or little feedback from faculty and students; library liaison negatively reviewed; low use of trial
Usability All articles are available full text;  subject terms come from controlled vocabulary; citations can be exported to Refworks; output options include print, download, e-mail, save to user account AND steps involved are not more than 3; works well on mobile devices Some articles are available full text; subject terms come from a limited controlled vocabulary; citations can be exported to a different citation manager; output options include limited printing, downloading, e-mailing, saving to user account AND steps involved are more than 3; mobile version is an app No articles are available full text;  subject terms do not exist/ do not come from a controlled vocabulary; citations cannot be exported; output options are not available; no mobile version available
Vendor Support Vendor responds quickly to requests and provides promotional materials and training Vendor is less responsive; may not provide adequate promotional materials and training. May also rate lower for pushy sales tactics. Vendor does not respond in a timely manner and does not provide promotional materials or training.

 

1A VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) is a template to standardize the documentation of accessibility conformance of a website, web application, mobile application, etc. Many companies require vendors to provide Accessibility Conformance Reports using the VPAT templates during the procurement process.

2The Community Zone (CZ) is a catalog of resource records shared by all customers of the library's Library Management Platform. High-quality CZ records save librarians the time and effort of importing records from other sources and modifying them according to local cataloging standards. Also, CZ records are often centrally managed, so record additions, deletions, and changes are automatically reflected in our holdings.

3The calculation of Cost Per Use (CPU) varies depending on the type of resource:

  • For databases that provide full-text articles, 1 use equates to viewing an article online or downloading a PDF article.
  • For databases that offer abstracts and indexing only (i.e., no full text), 1 use equates to viewing an article record online.
  • Whenever possible, the library considers average CPU over a 3-year period.

4COUNTER (Counting Online User NeTworked Electronic Resources) statistics are a standardized system utilized by libraries to measure and report the usage of electronic resources, offering a consistent framework for gathering data on downloads, views, and other interactions with online content.

This table lists factors library faculty must consider when deciding whether to acquire a new electronic resource. Resources that receive more "Excellent" ratings are more likely to be acquired, while resources receiving more "Poor" ratings are less likely to be acquired. This document is not a traditional rubric, as it does not allocate points.

Not all listed factors will apply to all electronic resources, and not all factors are easily quantifiable. Any electronic resource acquisition depends upon annual budget availability; given that, the most important factors library faculty consider are "Cost/Acquisition Method" and "Curricular Support." 

(Adapted from: Crawford, L. S., Miller, E. & Henley, M. (2015, November). The Unknown Path—Evaluating Electronic Resources for Access-Based Collection Development. Presentation at the Charleston Conference. Charleston, South Carolina.)