e-space: current usage survey 2
Report - July 2008
Helen Standish (RE-space Project Manager), 15/07/2008
Contents
- 1. Executive Summary
- 2. Introduction
- 3. Methodology
- 4. Survey Results
- 4.1 Number of respondents
- 4.2 Breakdown of respondents by Faculty
- 4.3 Current usage of e-space
- 4.4 How often do you use e-space?
- 4.5 If you have deposited items in e-space, please tell us what influenced this decision
- 4.6 If you have not deposited items in e-space, please tell us why
- 4.7 If you were to deposit items in the future, please tell us what would influence this decision
- 4.8 Use of other Open Access resources
- 4.9 Comments on e-space and Open Access resources
- 5. Conclusions and recommendations
- Appendix A: Survey questionnaire
1. Executive Summary
1.1 e-space current usage survey
Between 16th May 2008 and 20th June 2008 Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) Library, as part of the JISC funded RE-space project, conducted a second survey of all MMU academics and researchers to investigate current usage and impact of e-space, the University's institutional repository for research output, on scholarly communication, teaching and research. The results of the survey will be used to inform future advocacy of the service and embedding of the institutional repository into University strategy and workflows and will be disseminated to the wider Higher Education (HE) community.
1.2 Key findings
Current awareness and usage of e-space
Before the survey, 96% of respondents had heard of e-space, however, 36% of respondents said they don't use it at all. Of those who do use e-space, approximately half use it to deposit research only and half use to both search/retrieve and deposit research. Of those who do use e-space, 40% use it only a few times/year and 12% had used it only once.
What influenced respondents to deposit items in e-space?
The main influences for depositing items in e-space were that respondents wanted their research to be more accessible and to be preserved and 96% of respondents support the concept of Open Access. Respondents who had not deposited items in e-space stated their reasons as lack of time, anticipation of problems and uncertainty as to the purpose of e-space.
What would influence respondents to deposit items in e-space in the future?
59% of respondents agreed that a mandatory deposit policy would influence them to deposit items in the future. Other strong influences were if colleagues in their research field were depositing and if e-space would help to manage and preserve their research output. Half of the respondents also said they would be influenced to deposit items in e-space if it helped improve their citation rates in preparation for the new Research Excellence Framework (REF).
Use of other Open Access resources
When asked if using e-space had encouraged respondents to use other Open Access resources, 60% of respondents said it had not. The majority of respondents had not used other Open Access institutional repositories, subject repositories or other repository services. Of those who had used other Open Access resources, 44% said they had found information that they felt they wouldn't have otherwise identified and 60% had recommended e-space or other Open Access resources to colleagues or students.
1.3 Conclusions
Respondents were generally positive towards the idea of Open Access and e-space is widely recognized amongst respondents. The main influences for deposit are increasing accessibility and preservation of research output. Whilst those respondents who had used other Open Access resources said they had found information they wouldn't have otherwise found, the use of other Open Access resources and services is very limited. In most instances, individual responses to address specific comments were not possible as respondents had not included contact details.
2. Introduction
Manchester Metropolitan University has had a repository project, e-space, since April 2005 which led to the launch of its repository of research publications in October 2006. The project was led by Library Services as a natural extension of its role of managing information and assisting scholarly communication.
This survey was conducted as part of the RE-space project, a JISC funded project addressing key issues and challenges relating to repository enhancement: advocacy; content acquisition; embedding of the repository into University strategy and workflows. This is the second of two surveys being undertaken, the results of which will present formative and summative evaluation reports from a post-1992, multi-site and multi-discipline university that has outsourced its hybrid e-prints repository service.
3. Methodology
The aim of the survey was to investigate current usage and impact of e-space on scholarly communication, teaching and research amongst all Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) academics and researchers.
3.1 Questionnaire
The questionnaire was compiled in collaboration with the Project Steering Group and divided into sections using the following rationale:
-
Introduction
- Why we're running the survey (context)
- What we want to know and why (purpose)
- What will happen with the results (involvement)
- What is e-space (background)
-
About you
- Who are they (faculty/dept. information needed for targeting in future advocacy; option to remain anonymous may encourage participation)
-
About e-space
- Have they heard of it, if so how (inform future promotion/advocacy)
- Do they use it and if so, what for (establish current usage and if not used, why)
- How often do they use it (establish frequency of use)
-
Use of e-space and impact on scholarly communication, teaching and research
- What influenced them to deposit items in e-space (determine the drivers for using e-space)
- Have they noticed more interest in their research (determine if e-space is increasing readability)
- If they haven't deposited items in e-space, why? (to inform future advocacy)
- What would influence them to deposit in the future? (to inform future advocacy and policy)
- Have they used other Open Access resources (determine knowledge of resources)
- Have they found information through these resources that otherwise they wouldn't have found (determine if resources are successful)
- Have they recommended e-space and other OA resources to others (is e-space being promoted)
- Further information
- Do they/how do they want further information (how we can help; inform future promotion/advocacy)
Bristol Online Surveys (BOS) software was used to formulate the survey and provide a URL link. This method was chosen as it was felt that offering an online survey would be an easy way to target the maximum number of people.
The survey was launched on 16th May 2008 and ran till 20th June 2008.
3.2 Response rate
The survey was marketed through the all staff mailing list; researchers' mailing list; News section on the Library Website. Follow up emails were sent each week to the all staff and researchers' mailing lists.
The response rate (1.7%) was very poor. The survey was launched after the examinations and before the end of the Summer term and although regular email reminders were sent, this didn't achieve the desired response.
The timing of this survey was influenced by the timing and response rate of the first survey which was run in the summer of 2007. It was felt that running the survey before the end of term would generate more response and although measures were taken to increase the response rate, they were unsuccessful.
4. Survey Results
4.1 Number of respondents
| Number of respondents: | 26 |
| Number of completed surveys: | 25 |
| Number of incomplete surveys: | 1 |
| Potential number of respondents: | 1480 |
| Response rate: | 1.8% |
4.2 Breakdown of respondents by Faculty
| Faculty of Humanities, Law & Social Science | 9 | 34.6% |
| Faculty of Science & Engineering | 5 | 19.2% |
| MMU Business School | 4 | 15.4% |
| MMU Cheshire | 4 | 15.4% |
| Faculty of Health, Psychology and Social Care | 2 | 7.7% |
| Faculty of Art & Design | 1 | 3.8% |
| Institute of Education | 1 | 3.8% |
| Hollings Faculty | 0 | 0.0% |
Of those who responded -
- 19 (73.1%) are Lecturer/Professor
- 3 (11.5%) are Research Assistant/Associate
- 4 (15.4%) are Other
Of these -
- 25 (96.2%) are members of a Research Institute
Before the survey 25 (96.2%) had heard of e-space
They
found out about e-space by -
| Library/Institutional Newsletter | 12 |
| 11 | |
| Colleague | 6 |
| Library presentation | 5 |
| Other | 3 |
| Flyer/Pamphlet/Poster | 0 |
4.3 Current usage of e-space
| Don't use at all | 10 | 38.5% |
| Only to DEPOSIT | 7 | 26.9% |
| Both to DEPOSIT & SEARCH | 6 | 23.1% |
| Only to SEARCH | 3 | 11.5% |
Those who don't use at all stated their reasons as -
- All research is already commited to contractual publishers' agreements or post-conference publications
- Because as far as I am aware it is another place/system I must enter information into. If I could place information into it and then obtain a list of my publications directly from it (for inclusion in web pages) then I would use it ....
- It doesn't meet my needs.. the system isn't integrated with useful admin data
- No output to deposit yet. I tried to search for an article but it wasn't up to date and I couldn't find what I wanted
- Not found time to learn about it
- Probably just need to get started - maybe anticipating problems!
4.4 How often do you use e-space?
| Every day | 0 | 0.0% |
| Once a week | 0 | 0.0% |
| Approx. every 2 weeks | 0 | 0.0% |
| Once a month | 5 | 19.2% |
| Only a few times/year | 10 | 38.5% |
| Only used once | 3 | 11.5% |
| Never | 8 | 30.8% |
4.5 If you have deposited items in e-space, please tell us what influenced this decision
It gives me kudos within my institution
| Strongly agree | 0 |
| Agree | 4 |
| Neither agree nor disagree | 9 |
| Disagree | 2 |
| Strongly disagree | 2 |
| Don't know | 3 |
It gives me kudos with other HEIs
| Strongly agree | 0 |
| Agree | 4 |
| Neither agree nor disagree | 8 |
| Disagree | 3 |
| Strongly disagree | 2 |
| Don't know | 3 |
My colleagues are contributing
| Strongly agree | 0 |
| Agree | 3 |
| Neither agree nor disagree | 11 |
| Disagree | 2 |
| Strongly disagree | 0 |
| Don't know | 4 |
I want my research to be more accessible
| Strongly agree | 9 |
| Agree | 10 |
| Neither agree nor disagree | 1 |
| Disagree | 0 |
| Strongly disagree | 1 |
| Don't know | 1 |
I want my research output to be preserved
| Strongly agree | 7 |
| Agree | 10 |
| Neither agree nor disagree | 2 |
| Disagree | 0 |
| Strongly disagree | 1 |
| Don't know | 1 |
I support the concept of Open Access
| Strongly agree | 10 |
| Agree | 10 |
| Neither agree nor disagree | 0 |
| Disagree | 0 |
| Strongly disagree | 1 |
| Don't know | 1 |
3 respondents said they'd had more interest in their research from outside MMU
4.6 If you have not deposited items in e-space, please tell us why
| I don't know about the repository | 1 |
| I keep my research output on my own website | 0 |
| I don't have time to deposit | 3 |
| I don't agree with the concept of Open Access | 1 |
| Other | 7 |
- access already occurs through printed publication outlets
- again- maybe anticipating problems- particularly time-related
- I just haven't got round to it!
- not sure what it is for - who will use it etc.
- nothing to deposit yet
- The CPM runs its own very successful web-based discussion paper list which is not diminished by the reputation of the MMU
- Unsure how to and unsure about the copyright issue for journal articles. Not clear on benefits
4.7 If you were to deposit items in the future, please tell us what would influence this decision
The institution makes it compulsory (mandatory deposit)
| Strongly agree | 5 |
| Agree | 8 |
| Neither agree nor disagree | 1 |
| Disagree | 2 |
| Strongly disagree | 3 |
| Don't know | 3 |
It is necessary for promotion
| Strongly agree | 2 |
| Agree | 6 |
| Neither agree nor disagree | 2 |
| Disagree | 4 |
| Strongly disagree | 6 |
| Don't know | 1 |
Colleagues in my research field are depositing
| Strongly agree | 3 |
| Agree | 9 |
| Neither agree nor disagree | 6 |
| Disagree | 2 |
| Strongly disagree | 0 |
| Don't know | 2 |
It would help to manage and preserve my research output
| Strongly agree | 5 |
| Agree | 12 |
| Neither agree nor disagree | 2 |
| Disagree | 0 |
| Strongly disagree | 2 |
| Don't know | 2 |
It would help to improve my citation rates in preparation for the REF
| Strongly agree | 3 |
| Agree | 8 |
| Neither agree nor disagree | 6 |
| Disagree | 0 |
| Strongly disagree | 2 |
| Don't know | 3 |
4.8 Use of other Open Access resources
- Only 8% of respondents said using e-space had encouraged them to look at other Open Access resources
- 12% of respondents had used other institutional repositories
- 32% of respondents had used subject repositories eg ArXiv, PubMed Central
- 20% of respondents had used repository services eg OAIster, Intute repository search
- 40% of respondents had found information through Open Access resources that they felt they wouldn't have otherwise identified
- 60% of respondents have recommended e-space or other Open Access resources to colleagues and students
4.9 Comments on e-space and Open Access resources
- Academics are liking the espace, commenting on quick turnaround and accuracy BUT it doesn't provide for the RI admin's in any way I'm aware of. We need for a central single database. Having one the Academics are keen to use is very important and integrating e-space with the RMS might be worth considering. Academics don't always have the time to respond to multiple requests for the same data. e-space+ would need to provide the outputs the RMS provide for admin needs OR ELSE provide data to the RMS directly which might be possible if MIDAS can action that. RMS hold atm Research outputs so might not have atm all the flavours the e-space might be accepting? Having designed the RMS for the RAE I don't mind suggesting more about this if you want to contact me
- author or publisher e spaces particularly useful as they are located through searchers about particular topics
- cannot imagine that i am a typical user since i have used it to show students Dublin Core and to discuss the open access movement
- How do I know if my citations have increased by using e-Space? I will have another look on the site but this would be useful information especially in view of the future RAE which I believe will be based on citations.
- I believe it is a valuable resource and encorage colleagues to deposit their research findings on e-space
- I discovered by accident that some of my papers had been depositted in e-space. I was pleased mainly as it will help students at MMU find out about my work and use it in their studies. Iwas pleased to find someone had deposited my papers as I did not have to do it myself. It should be advertised more to students as a resource. One fault is that while my papers were put on, some of my colleagues were not. It needs to cover as many staff as possible to be effective.
- I will try to send info to MERI researchers
- I would not know how to identify whether my citation ratings are increasing more than usual with the passage of time in a way that was attributable to e-space
- I'm not sure why I don't use e-space or other repositories more - it just isn't the first thing that springs to mind when I am looking for resources. Perhaps this survey will now prompt me to add e-space to my browser toolbar!
- Many funding bodies are now stipulating that any research published as a result of funding awarded is made available to as many people as possible. Especially in the case of publishing in journals with subscription charges, the repository e-space is a very good way to satisfy this requirement.
- Very difficult to search. Articles do not seem to be indexed either by named researcher or subject area. The information I was looking for (a series of very simple searches) was impossible to retrieve. A good deal of my time has been wasted by a sub-standard system, and there are no obvious benefits. The entire project is a disgrace.
- Would be useful to have a link to my deposits from my MMU Homepage
5. Conclusions and recommendations
Survey method and timing
The response rate to the survey was very poor. Following lessons learned from the previous survey, the timing of this survey was chosen to maximise response rates. However, the survey failed to attract the desired response. We can surmise that there is potentially survey overload and this survey wasn't seen as a priority by academics and researchers at this time. It was felt that the online survey method, which was made available through the all staff mailing list would attract the most number of respondents and that offering a paper alternative wouldn't be a viable option.
Increasing usage of e-space and other Open Access resources.
A high percentage of respondents had heard of e-space and over half of these have used it, either only to deposit or to both deposit and search for material. However, the majority of these had only used e-space infrequently. The majority of respondents hadn't used any other Open Access resources or services, although those that had said they'd found information through these resources that they felt they wouldn't have found elsewhere. In order to increase usage of both e-space and other Open Access resources and services, advocacy needs to focus on promoting the benefits of these services for both individual research and teaching.
Influences to help increase usage
It was widely agreed that making research more accessible and offering a means of preserving research output were the two main areas that had influenced academics/researchers to deposit material into e-space and would influence others if they were to deposit in the future. Respondents who had not deposited items into e-space said they would also be influenced if colleagues in their research field were depositing and agreed that they would be more likely to deposit if doing so would help to increase their citation rates in preparation for the REF. In future advocacy and promotion it may be beneficial to highlight and capitalise on these areas to influence others.
Appendix A: Survey questionnaire
Introduction
RE-space - Repository enhancement for e-space, the digital e-prints repository at MMU
This survey is being run as part of RE-space, a library-led JISC
(Joint Information Systems Committee) funded project to develop and enhance e-space,
the Institutional Repository (IR) at Manchester Metropolitan University.
The survey is aimed at Academic/Research staff and is the second survey of
the project, designed to investigate current usage and impact of e-space on
scholarly communication, teaching and research. It will take about 10 minutes
to complete and the results will provide a valuable resource to inform future
advocacy and embedding of the institutional repository into University strategy
and workflows.
An Open Access repository, e-space aims to capture and preserve
the intellectual output of Manchester Metropolitan University and make it
freely available over the Web.
A showcase for research at MMU, e-space can contain pre-prints
(journal articles submitted for peer-review), post-prints (final versions
of papers that have gone through the peer-review process and that have been
accepted for publication), book chapters, working papers, conference presentations,
datasets and multimedia files.
e-space is available at http://www.e-space.mmu.ac.uk/e-space/
If you have any queries or problems completing the survey please contact Helen Standish (h.standish@mmu.ac.uk, 0161 247 6109), or for further information about e-space, please contact the e-space team (e-space@mmu.ac.uk)
The survey will close on Friday 20th June 2008
All data collected in this survey will be held securely and personal data will not be disclosed.
About you
You do not have to give your name and e-mail address if you do not wish to do so, however, this would be helpful to us as we may want to follow up/discuss your responses. Please provide your contact details if you are happy for us to do so.
- Which faculty are you from? (select from list)
- Which department are you from? (select from list)
- Are you a ...?
- Lecturer/Professor
- Research Assistant/Associate
- Other (please specify)
- Are you a member of an MMU Research Institute?
- No
- Yes
- If Yes, which one? (select from list)
- What is your name, job title and contact details? (optional)
About e-space
We would like to know if you have heard of e-space and if so, how you use it.
- Before this survey, had you heard of e-space?
- No
- Yes
- If Yes, how did you find out about e-space?
(select all that apply)
- Library Services/Institutional newsletter
- Flyer/pamphlet/poster
- Library Services presentation
- Colleague
- Other (please specify)
- Do you use e-space and if so, how?
- Only to DEPOSIT research output
- Only to SEARCH/RETRIEVE research output
- Both to DEPOST and SEARCH/RETRIEVE research output
- Don't use at all
- If you don't use at all, please state why
- How often do you use e-space?
- Every day
- Once a week
- Approximately every 2 weeks
- Once a month
- Only a few times/year
- Only used once
- Never
Use of e-space and impact on scholarly communication, teaching and research
If you have deposited items in e-space we would like to know what influenced
your decision to do so and if e-space has had any impact on your teaching/research.
If you have not deposited items in e-space, we would like to know what factors
would influence you to start depositing.
-
If you have deposited items in e-space, please tell us what influenced this
decision (optional)
Strongly agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly disagree Don't know It gives me kudos within my institution It gives me kudos with other HEIs My colleagues are contributing I want my research to be more accessible I want my research output to be preserved I support the concept of Open Access - Please tell us if you have noticed any of the following (Optional) (select
all that apply)
- An increase in citation rates to your research
- More interest in your research from within MMU
- More interest in your research from outside MMU
- Better interdisciplinary collaboration either within or outside MMU
- If you have not deposited items in e-space, please tell us why (optional)
(select all that apply)
- I don't know about the repository
- I keep my research output on my own website
- I don't have time to deposit
- I don't agree with the concept of Open Access
- Other (please specify):
- If you were to deposit items in the future, please tell us what would
influence this decision
Strongly agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly disagree Don't know The institution makes it compulsory (mandatory deposit) It is necessary for promotion Colleagues in my research field are depositing It would help to manage and preserve my research output It would help to improve my citation rates in preparation for the REF - Has using e-space encouraged you to look at other Open Access resources
for your research? (Optional)
- No
- Yes
- I haven't used e-space
- Have you used any
other institutional repositories eg Dspace at Manchester University, University
of Salford institutional repository? (Optional)
- No
- Yes
- If 'Yes', which one(s)?
- Have you used any subject repositories eg arXiv.org, PubMed Central? (Optional)
- No
- Yes
-
If 'Yes', which one(s)?
- Have you used any repository services eg OAIster, Intute Repository
Search? (Optional)
- No
- Yes
- If 'Yes', which one(s)?
- How did you find out about these resources? (Optional)
- Have you found
information through Open Access resources that you feel you wouldn't have
otherwise identified? (Optional)
- No
- Yes
- I haven't used any Open Access resources
- Have you recommended
e-space or other Open Access resources to colleagues or students?
(Optional)
- No
- Yes
Further information
- Please add any further comments on e-space or Open Access resources Please add any further comments on e-space or Open Access resources (Optional)
- If you would like more information about e-space or other Open Access resources, please supply your contact details. (Optional)