Database Evaluation – Data and Description
9/28/2010
The purpose of this document is to develop criteria for evaluation of electronic resources in the following areas: cost effectiveness, overall use, relevance to the Drake curriculum, and resource quality.
A spreadsheet with the full scores of each database by subject area is available for download: 2010_DB_EvalPublished
| 2010 Rank | DATABASE | Cost Per Use | Unified Formula for Cost Per Use | Number of Uses/Searches | Formula for Usage | Average Value of “Librarian Selector Evaluations” | Avg of scope, selector categories, cost/use, total usage | FY11 Cost *FY10 | Tech Fund | |
| 1 | Academic Search Complete (EBSCO) | $0.16 | 0.9984 | 136,801 | 136.801 | 0.9455 | 34.9305 | $14,611.00 | 32% | |
| 2 | EBSCO (State Pkg) | $0.03 | 0.9997 | 107792 | 107.792 | 0.9455 | 27.4428 | $2,181.75 | ||
| 3 | JSTOR | $0.63 | 0.9937 | 52,469 | 52.469 | 0.5273 | 13.7065 | $32,370.00 | * | 100% |
| 4 | MEDLINE (EBSCO) | $0.03 | 0.9997 | 40,971 | 40.971 | 0.9091 | 10.7729 | $1,267.00 | ||
| 5 | PsycINFO (EBSCO) | $0.32 | 0.9968 | 40,540 | 40.540 | 0.9455 | 10.6673 | $8,428.00 | ||
| 6 | Scopus | $2.29 | 0.9771 | 34,206 | 34.206 | 0.8727 | 9.2132 | $30,958.72 | * | 100% |
| 7 | Business Source Complete (EBSCO) | $0.68 | 0.9932 | 23,196 | 23.196 | 0.9273 | 6.4139 | $15,031.00 | 23% | |
| 8 | PsycARTICLES (EBSCO) | $0.37 | 0.9963 | 20,581 | 20.581 | 0.9455 | 5.6774 | $7,852.00 | ||
| 9 | ARTstor | $8.80 | 0.9120 | 17,105 | 17.105 | 0.7167 | 4.6894 | 100% | ||
| 10 | Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe | $0.72 | 0.9928 | 16,236 | 16.236 | 0.7120 | 4.6362 | $9,268.00 | 100% | |
| 11 | Access Pharmacy | $4.03 | 0.9597 | 11,401 | 11.401 | 0.3909 | 3.2394 | $22,560.00 | * | 100% |
| 12 | MLA International Bibliography & Dir of Per (EBSCO) | $1.17 | 0.9883 | 10,774 | 10.774 | 0.9091 | 3.1801 | $5,965.00 | ||
| 13 | Communication & Mass Media (CMMC) (EBSCO) | $0.67 | 0.9933 | 9,948 | 9.948 | 0.9091 | 3.1188 | $3,482.00 | ||
| 14 | Biological Abstracts (EBSCO) | $1.26 | 0.9874 | 10,039 | 10.039 | 0.9273 | 3.0424 | $9,870.00 | ||
| 15 | Mental Measurements Yearbook & Tests in Print (EBSCO) | $0.35 | 0.9965 | 8,507 | 8.507 | 0.8182 | 2.6234 | $2,181.00 | 100% | |
| 16 | America: History & Life (EBSCO) | $5.38 | 0.9462 | 7,823 | 7.823 | 0.8636 | 2.4707 | $9,370.00 | * | |
| 17 | ATLA Religion Database | $3.39 | 0.9661 | 7,983 | 7.983 | 0.9273 | 2.4703 | $3,728.00 | ||
| 18 | EconLIT (CSA) | $1.22 | 0.9878 | 7,557 | 7.557 | 0.8909 | 2.4609 | $3,731.00 | ||
| 19 | Gender Studies (EBSCO) | $2.89 | 0.9711 | 7,297 | 7.297 | 0.9636 | 2.3824 | $3,638.00 | ||
| 20 | Historical Abstracts (EBSCO) | $4.20 | 0.9580 | 7,529 | 7.529 | 0.9636 | 2.3782 | $9,370.00 | * | |
| 21 | International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (EBSCO) | $0.72 | 0.9928 | 7,339 | 7.339 | 0.8318 | 2.3229 | $2,953.00 | ||
| 22 | Art Abstracts (EBSCO) | $2.06 | 0.9794 | 7,255 | 7.255 | 0.9182 | 2.2941 | $5,848.00 | ||
| 23 | PsycCRITIQUES (EBSCO) | $0.22 | 0.9978 | 7,111 | 7.111 | 0.9273 | 2.2683 | $875.00 | ||
| 24 | Ebrary | $2.46 | 0.9754 | 6,116 | 6.116 | 0.7818 | 2.1811 | $11,195.00 | ||
| 25 | Wall Street Journal | $1.00 | 0.9900 | 6,017 | 6.017 | 0.6909 | 2.0607 | $3,062.25 | ||
| 26 | LGBT Life with Full-Text (EBSCO) | $17.05 | 0.8295 | 6,151 | 6.151 | 0.9455 | 2.0125 | $4,790.00 | 100% | |
| 27 | Literary Reference Center (EBSCO) | $4.13 | 0.9587 | 5,554 | 5.554 | 0.9636 | 1.8753 | $5,615.00 | 100% | |
| 28 | Ethnic NewsWatch | $0.72 | 0.9928 | 5,365 | 5.365 | 0.9091 | 1.8752 | $3,695.00 | * | 100% |
| 29 | Des Moines Register | $0.90 | 0.9910 | 5,295 | 5.295 | 0.7575 | 1.8669 | $4,175.00 | ||
| 30 | Project Muse | $2.07 | 0.9793 | 4,648 | 4.648 | 0.7818 | 1.8025 | $12,330.00 | * | |
| 31 | GenderWatch | $0.26 | 0.9974 | 4,946 | 4.946 | 0.9273 | 1.7922 | $1,195.00 | * | 100% |
| 32 | NY Times (Historical) | $1.08 | 0.9892 | 5,074 | 5.074 | 0.7667 | 1.7680 | $4,100.00 | * | 100% |
| 33 | RISM | $0.27 | 0.9973 | 5,245 | 5.245 | 0.7077 | 1.7427 | $872.00 | * | |
| 34 | Annual Reviews | $4.03 | 0.9597 | 4,733 | 4.733 | 0.6636 | 1.6806 | $3,798.00 | 100% | |
| 35 | Chronicle of Higher Education/Chronicle of Philanthropy | $0.66 | 0.9934 | 5,085 | 5.085 | 0.4833 | 1.6764 | $3,700.00 | 100% | |
| 36 | EBSCO – EJS | $0.24 | 0.9976 | 4,436 | 4.436 | 0.8727 | 1.6631 | $999.00 | * | |
| 37 | Science Direct | $35.39 | 0.6461 | 4,089 | 4.089 | 0.8692 | 1.4926 | $75,402.63 | * | 100% |
| 38 | Bibliography of Native North Americans (EBSCO) | $0.43 | 0.9957 | 3,184 | 3.184 | 0.9091 | 1.2772 | $1,928.00 | ||
| 39 | American Chemical Society | $33.53 | 0.6647 | 3,311 | 3.311 | 0.6455 | 1.2083 | $30,989.00 | * | 100% |
| 40 | Mergent Online | $3.73 | 0.9627 | 2,916 | 2.916 | 0.4000 | 1.1464 | $21,250.00 | ||
| 41 | CREDO Reference | $3.31 | 0.9669 | 1,478 | 1.478 | 0.7500 | 1.0407 | $3,374.00 | ||
| 42 | CQ Supreme Court Collection | $3.79 | 0.9621 | 2,041 | 2.041 | 0.6727 | 1.0277 | $2,601.00 | * | |
| 43 | CQ Public Affairs Collection | $0.69 | 0.9931 | 1,821 | 1.821 | 0.6909 | 0.9850 | $1,687.00 | * | |
| 44 | MRI (Mediamark Research Inc.) | $4.32 | 0.9568 | 2,211 | 2.211 | 0.4200 | 0.9737 | $1,000.00 | ||
| 45 | Contemporary Authors | $2.53 | 0.9747 | 1,928 | 1.928 | 0.8000 | 0.9319 | $3,964.77 | ||
| 46 | African American Experience | $2.71 | 0.9729 | 1,850 | 1.850 | 0.6050 | 0.9257 | $540.00 | ||
| 47 | Oxford Reference Online | $15.36 | 0.8464 | 1,712 | 1.712 | 0.5833 | 0.9179 | $673.00 | ||
| 48 | Sage – Communication | $1.51 | 0.9849 | 1,620 | 1.620 | 0.9091 | 0.9002 | $3,336.39 | ||
| 49 | Oxford African American Studies | $1.01 | 0.9899 | 1,396 | 1.396 | 0.7333 | 0.8928 | $1,188.00 | 100% | |
| 50 | Birds of North America | $3.14 | 0.9686 | 2,144 | 2.144 | 0.4091 | 0.8877 | $525.00 | 100% | |
| 51 | Ulrich’s Online | $12.12 | 0.8788 | 1,960 | 1.960 | 0.5889 | 0.8692 | $3,185.00 | ||
| 52 | Sage – Education | $1.73 | 0.9827 | 1,396 | 1.396 | 0.9091 | 0.8649 | $3,659.27 | ||
| 53 | CQ Historical Documents | $0.06 | 0.9994 | 1,640 | 1.640 | 0.6909 | 0.8646 | $147.00 | * | |
| 54 | Country Watch | $1.19 | 0.9881 | 1,530 | 1.530 | 0.4909 | 0.8583 | $1,716.00 | * | |
| 55 | Music Index | $1.05 | 0.9895 | 1,776 | 1.776 | 0.6364 | 0.8557 | $3,925.71 | * | |
| 56 | Britannica Online – Ency. | $4.04 | 0.9596 | 1,536 | 1.536 | 0.5818 | 0.8474 | $2,099.00 | * | |
| 57 | CQ Voting & Elections | $1.53 | 0.9847 | 1,292 | 1.292 | 0.6727 | 0.8461 | $2,601.00 | * | |
| 58 | CQ Researcher | $0.53 | 0.9947 | 1,035 | 1.035 | 0.7818 | 0.8449 | $907.00 | * | 100% |
| 59 | National Journal Groups Policy Central | $44.56 | 0.5544 | 1,857 | 1.857 | 0.5000 | 0.8339 | $2,999.09 | * | |
| 60 | Oxford English Dictionary | $1.84 | 0.9816 | 1,586 | 1.586 | 0.5556 | 0.8198 | $1,426.00 | ||
| 61 | DynaMed | $0.78 | 0.9922 | 1,430 | 1.430 | 0.4769 | 0.7718 | $4,630.00 | ||
| 62 | Gale Virtual Reference | $1.14 | 0.9886 | 615 | 0.615 | 0.7333 | 0.7445 | $300.00 | * | |
| 63 | Oxford Music Online (previously Grove Music Online) | $2.36 | 0.9764 | 1,322 | 1.322 | 0.6000 | 0.7299 | $2,279.00 | ||
| 64 | Sociological Abstracts | $6.40 | 0.9360 | 739 | 0.739 | 0.9455 | 0.7049 | $3,980.00 | 100% | |
| 65 | Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO) | $10.42 | 0.8958 | 884 | 0.884 | 0.5800 | 0.6960 | $1,025.00 | * | |
| 66 | Oxford Art Online (previously Grove Art Online) | $2.14 | 0.9786 | 1,181 | 1.181 | 0.6000 | 0.6959 | $2,279.00 | 100% | |
| 67 | NAXOS Jazz | $16.32 | 0.8368 | 1,476 | 1.476 | 0.4167 | 0.6926 | $300.00 | * | |
| 68 | Wiley Online | $2.21 | 0.9779 | 605 | 0.605 | 0.7800 | 0.6872 | $2,239.18 | * | |
| 69 | Access Science | $0.80 | 0.9920 | 790 | 0.790 | 0.6727 | 0.6692 | $1,790.00 | ||
| 70 | LexisNexis (ASL, SRI, IIS, Tables Online, DataSets) | NA | NA | NA | NA | 0.7333 | 0.6117 | $6,527.19 | ||
| 71 | Global Issues in Context | NA | NA | NA | NA | 0.7692 | 0.6101 | $1,976.00 | ||
| 72 | Books In Print | $2.50 | 0.9750 | 517 | 0.517 | 0.7000 | 0.6013 | $2,303.92 | ||
| 73 | Philosopher’s Index | $5.24 | 0.9476 | 536 | 0.536 | 0.9091 | 0.5994 | $1,625.00 | ||
| 74 | CQ Weekly | $0.95 | 0.9905 | 294 | 0.294 | 0.6727 | 0.5981 | $1,397.00 | ||
| 75 | Latino American Experience | $6.22 | 0.9378 | 510 | 0.510 | 0.6833 | 0.5963 | $540.00 | ||
| 76 | Nature Online | $10.70 | 0.8930 | 484 | 0.484 | 0.6462 | 0.5663 | $17,645.06 | * | 100% |
| 77 | Chicago Tribune, Historical | $24.69 | 0.7531 | 733 | 0.733 | 0.7500 | 0.5618 | $2,505.00 | * | |
| 78 | GREENR | NA | NA | NA | NA | 0.7538 | 0.5604 | $2,356.00 | ||
| 79 | Natural Standard | $10.38 | 0.8962 | 828 | 0.828 | 0.3636 | 0.5555 | $3,038.49 | 100% | |
| 80 | Science Online | $26.56 | 0.7344 | 396 | 0.396 | 0.6750 | 0.5119 | $5,645.00 | * | |
| 81 | Institute of Physics (IOP) | $13.43 | 0.8657 | 323 | 0.323 | 0.7455 | 0.4885 | $22,407.00 | * | 100% |
| 82 | Medicines Complete | $0.10 | 0.9990 | 348 | 0.348 | 0.4909 | 0.4815 | $8,389.00 | * | |
| 83 | SciFinder Scholar | $71.16 | 0.2884 | 700 | 0.700 | 0.7556 | 0.4805 | $4,440.00 | * | |
| 84 | Emerald Intelligence Fulltext | $13.85 | 0.8615 | 150 | 0.150 | 0.7818 | 0.4603 | $4,441.00 | * | |
| 85 | American History in Video | $15.46 | 0.8454 | 353 | 0.353 | 0.5846 | 0.4560 | $986.00 | ||
| 86 | Sage Psychological Sciences Collection | $4.50 | 0.9550 | 59 | 0.059 | 0.7462 | 0.4470 | $3,188.00 | * | |
| 87 | Cambridge Histories Online | $7.38 | 0.9262 | 179 | 0.179 | 0.6385 | 0.4387 | $800.00 | * | |
| 88 | FAITS | NA | NA | NA | NA | 0.4818 | 0.4014 | $999.00 | ||
| 89 | NAXOS Music | $0.16 | 0.9984 | 84 | 0.084 | 0.4333 | 0.3864 | $700.00 | * | |
| 90 | USP-NF Online | NA | NA | NA | NA | 0.6200 | 0.3740 | $1,055.00 | ||
| 91 | Britannica Online – Original Sources | $10.90 | 0.8910 | 15 | 0.015 | 0.5333 | 0.3723 | $595.00 | * | |
| 92 | JAMA/Archives of Internal Medicine | $50.99 | 0.4901 | 53 | 0.053 | 0.6692 | 0.3571 | $3,250.00 | 100% | |
| 93 | NAXOS Spoken Word | $9.96 | 0.9004 | 48 | 0.048 | 0.4167 | 0.3560 | $200.00 | * | |
| 94 | Black Studies Center | $82.41 | 0.1759 | 297 | 0.297 | 0.6769 | 0.3532 | $4,627.00 | * | |
| 95 | ConsumerLab | $16.90 | 0.8310 | 34 | 0.034 | 0.3636 | 0.3392 | $505.05 | * | |
| 96 | Oxford Islamic Studies Online | $39.57 | 0.6043 | 163 | 0.163 | 0.3769 | 0.2923 | $814.00 | ||
| 97 | Gale Directory Library | $74.40 | 0.2560 | 198 | 0.198 | 0.6909 | 0.2912 | $2,536.50 | ||
| 98 | Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower | $41.67 | 0.5833 | 2 | 0.002 | 0.3250 | 0.2378 | $212.50 | ||
| 99 | E-Duke Scholarly Collection | $147.12 | -0.4712 | 14 | 0.014 | 0.8000 | 0.1330 | $2,944.02 | ||
| $563,658.49 |
Description of Unified Formula for Cost Per Use:
In order to normalize (get as close to numbers between “0” and “1” as possible) the data AND directly reflect the financial implications of “cost-per-use,” the Cost Per Use (CPU) column is divided by 100, and then subtracted from 1.00. For example, a database with an $18 CPU is divided by 100 (result=.18) and then subtracted from 1.0 (.82), while a database with a $2 CPU is divided by 100 (.02) and then subtracted from 1.00 (.98) The result is that data is not only normalized, but that the actual (as opposed to relative) cost per use is directly reflected in the output of this formula.
Description of Formula for Usage:
This column is arrived at simply: Take the number of searches (in this case, for the most recent year) and divide by 1000. So, a database gets 39.5 “points” for 39,500 uses, while a database would get .75 of a point for 750 uses.
Description of uses/searches:
Total number of searches performed by users between June 2009 – May 2010 (FY10). If a count of searches is not available, number of sessions (sign-ons) is used.
Description of cost per use:
Subscription price or maintenance fee divided by total number of searches/sessions.
