With the goal of building a high quality academic library collection in mind, the presenters evaluated the value of journal content accessed through journal aggregator database(s). Data from aggregator provider(s) and data from UlrichsWeb was used to evaluate content with respect for quality, format, coverage and cost. In addition the presenters shared the analysis with library liaisons to inform them of “true holdings” to assist them with collection development. Beverly Geckle Serials & Government Documents Librarian, Middle Tennessee State University Suzanne Mangrum Collection Assessment & Development Librarian, Middle Tennessee State University

1. Aggregators:
Cornerstone or
Annex?
Beverly Geckle
Suzanne Mangrum

2. Questions/Purpose:
• E-journal collection assessment and
collection development project focused on
e-journal aggregator content.
• Aggregators have become a standard in the
library’s collection, but what have we really
purchased?
• Analyze aggregator content by subject and
quality.

3. Aggregator
Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science. http://www.abc-
clio.com/ODLIS/odlis_A.aspx
A bibliographic service that provides online access to the
digital full-text of periodicals published by different publishers.
Because aggregator databases can be very large, tracking their coverage is not an
easy task for serials librarians. A task group of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging
(PCC) is working on standards for analytic catalog records for serials titles available
electronically from aggregator services. Currently, the top two journal aggregators in the
United States are EBSCO and ProQuest. Recently, EBSCO has been building market share
by offering higher up-front payments to secure exclusivity from the publishers of certain
journals. The effects of this competitive practice on libraries and the end-user are as yet
unclear.

4. Chosen Aggregator
http://www.ebscohost.com/academic/academic-search-premier

5. Data Parts
ASP
UlrichsWeb
Quality Full Text Impact factors
Subjects
Journal Citation Rpts

6. Data Parts
ASP
UlrichsWeb
Quality Full Text Impact factors
Subjects
Journal Citation Rpts

7. ASP – Basic Criteria
ASP
Quality Full Text
First, we were interested in the ASP data that
matched our basic criteria for quality:
• Full-Text
• Peer-Reviewed
• PDFs

8. Data Parts
ASP
UlrichsWeb
Quality Full Text Impact factors
Subjects
Journal Citation Rpts

9. Data Parts - UlrichsWeb
UlrichsWeb
Subjects
• Business & Economics
• Social Sciences & Humanities
• Government, Law, & Public Administration
• Education
• Sports, Leisure, & Recreation
We used UlrichsWeb to limit our data to certain subjects.
We decided to focus on the Social Sciences. We selected
the following subject groups:

10. Data Parts
ASP
UlrichsWeb
Quality Full Text Impact factors
Subjects
Journal Citation Rpts

11. Data Parts
Impact factors
We used Thomson Reuter’s ISI Journal
Citation Reports (ISI) to identify the very
best journals by impact factor.
We chose multiple subject sets that fell
within the broad subject of social
science.
Journal Citation Rpts

12. METHODOLOGY

13. METHODOLOGY
Filtering
Data downloaded
Needed massaging
Filtered each data source to create subsets
Matching
Subject Subsets matched to identify high quality (high impact) titles
The resulting subsets were then matched for coverage

14. Methodology - Filtering
ASP – Coverage Dates
UlrichsWeb – Subjects in ASP
Journal citation reports – Top 25 of chosen
subjects

15. ASP - Filtering
ASP ISI Top 25
UlrichsWeb
Quality Full Text Impact factors
Subjects

16. Further broken out by
coverage
Total ASP
Full Text
Peer
Reviewed
PDF images
end
date
embargo
to
present

17. Coverage
Used data from ASP spreadsheet to also filter by coverage.
ASP
ASP title list:
ASP Full Text Titles that are peer
reviewed and available as a PDF

18. Limited to Full Text
titles
4768 titles
Marked values
using
Conditional
Formatting in
Excel
Then sorted the columns by
marked values to filter
coverage categories

19. Full Text & no end
date
3674 titles

20. Full Text not
embargoed
1734 titles

21. Full Text to
Present, PR and
PDF 1262 titles

22. Repeated process for
additional categories:
• Titles with an end date (Full Text Stop
• Titles embargoed (Full Text Delay)

23. Ulrichs
III query against SS
MARC records in ILS
Ensure that an end date was truly a coverage limitation we
removed ceased titles.
Focus on current titles

24. ASP Filtered Subsets
Total ASP
Full Text
Peer
Reviewed
PDF images
end
date
embargo
to
present

25. UlrichsWeb - Filtering
ASP ISI Top 25
UlrichsWeb
Quality Full Text Impact factors
Subjects

26. UlrichsWeb – Filtering

29. We downloaded the
filtered subject list
from Ulrich’s and
used Conditional
Formatting to pull
out all titles available
in Academic Search
Premier.

30. Ulrich’s Business & Economics
1047
EBSCOhost
891
ASP (full text)
104

31. Journal Reports - Filtering
ASP ISI Top 25
UlrichsWeb
Quality Full Text Impact factors
Subjects

32. ISI Journal Citation Reports

33. ISI Journal Citation Reports

34. Subject Matching
• Anthropology
• Area Studies
• Business
• Business, Finance
• Communication
• Criminology &
Penology
• Cultural Studies
• Demography
• Economics
• Education &
Education Research
• Education, Special
• Environmental
Studies
• Ergonomics
• Ethics
• Ethnic Studies
• Family Studies
• Geography
• Gerontology
• Health policy &
Services
• History
• History & Philosophy
of Science
• History of Social
Sciences
• Hospitality, Leisure,
Sport & Tourism
• Industrial Relations
& Labor
• Information Science
& Library Science
• International
Relations
• Law
• Linguistics
• Management
• Planning &
Development
• Political Science
• Psychiatry
• Psychology, Applied
• Psychology,
Biological
• Psychology, Clinical
• Psychology,
Developmental
• Psychology,
Educational
• Psychology,
Experimental
• Psychology,
Mathematical
• Psychology,
Multidisciplinary
• Psychology,
Psychoanalysis
• Psychology, Social
• Public ,
Environmental &
Occupational Health
• Public
Administration
• Rehabilitation
• Social Issues
• Social Sciences,
Biomedical
• Social Sciences,
Interdisciplinary
• Social Sciences,
Mathematical
Sciences
• Social Work
• Sociology
• Substance Abuse
• Transportation
• Urban Studies
• Women's Studies
• Business & Economics
• Government, Law & Public
Administration
• Social Sciences &
Humanities
• Education
• Sports, Hobbies, &
Recreation
UlrichsWeb – 5 Subjects
ISI Journal Citation Reports – 57 Subjects

35. ISI Journal Citation Reports
ISI provides the rankings
by subject, which was not
in our Ulrich’s data

37. After combining all of the reports, we
had over 1200 titles that ranked in the
top 25 of our categories
Some titles were listed in more than
one subject area, so we deduped the
titles but retained all subjects.

38. Methodology - Matching
Each filtered Ulrich’s subject list was matched with the
ISI top 25 spreadsheet
These became our subject lists of high quality titles

39. Ulrich’s Business &
Economics
1047
EBSCOhost
891
ASP (full text)
104
UlrichsWeb – ISI
Combined ISI Top 25 List

40. Methodology - Matching
Each subject set was matched to our ASP
quality full text list broken out by coverage:
• To present
• End date
• Embargoed

41. Subject Lists - Coverage
ASP with
end date
ASP to
present
ASP Embargoed

42. RESULTS BY SUBJECT

43. Results – Social Sciences & Humanities
149 Social Science titles
match top impact factors
from ISI
219 Social Science titles
in ASP pulled from
Ulrich's
421 Social Science titles in
UlrichsWeb
157 top
Soc Sci
titles
To present -
25 of 149 top
titles
End date -
17 of 149
top titles
Embargoed -
107 of 149 top
titles
Ulrich’s and ISI data filtered by ASP
“quality” data

44. Results – Business
27 Business titles match top
impact factors from ISI
104 Business titles in ASP pulled from
UlrichsWeb
891 Business titles from
UlrichsWeb
27 top
Business
titles
To present
- 7 of 27
top titles
End date -
2 of 27 top
titles
Embargoed
- 18 of 27
top titles
Ulrich’s and ISI data filtered by ASP
“quality” data

45. Results – Gov’t & Law
71 Government & Law titles
match top impact factors
from ISI
215 Government & Law
titles in ASP pulled from
Ulrich's
862 Government & Law titles
from UlrichsWeb
Ulrich’s and ISI data filtered
by ASP “quality” data
71 top
Gov't &
Law titles
To present
- 18 of 71
top titles
End date -
5 of 71 top
titles
Embargoed
- 48 of 71
top titles

46. Results – Education
11 Education titles match
top impact factors from ISI
114 Education titles in
ASP pulled from Ulrich's
329 Education titles
in UlrichsWeb
11 top
Education
titles
To present
- 2 of 11
top titles
End date -
6 of 11 top
titles
Embargoed
- 3 of 11
top titles
Ulrich’s and ISI data filtered by ASP
“quality” data

47. Results – Sports
2 Sports & Hobbies titles
match top impact factors
from ISI
5 Sports & Hobbies titles
in ASP pulled from
Ulrich's
48 Sports &
Hobbies titles in
UlrichsWeb
2 top
Sports
titles
To present
- 0 of 2 top
titles
End date -
0 of 2 top
titles
Embargoed
- 2 of 2 top
titles
Ulrich’s and ISI data filtered
by ASP “quality” data

48. Implications for
Collection Development
Discovery vs. Access
Discovery & Cost Implications

49. Discovery vs. Access
Linked Full Text

51. Although ASP enabled discovery full text was made
available because Library subscribes to the SAGE
Premier 2013 package

52. Discovery vs. Access

53. Discovery vs. Access
A search in the
Journal A-Z List
shows that it is
embargoed

54. Discovery vs. Access

55. Discovery vs. Access
A search in the
Journal A-Z List
shows that it is
embargoed

56. Discovery & Cost
Implications

57. Results – Subject Perspective

58. Results – Subject Perspective

59. Results – Subject Perspective

60. More questions than answers?
• What is the library really purchasing?
• Indexing, discovery, content.
• Need for better understanding of both
discoverability and access.

61. Thank you!
Please send questions or comments to:
Beverly Geckle – beverly.geckle@mtsu.edu, or
Suzanne Mangrum – suzanne.mangrum@mtsu.edu