Renew Training, operated by Simon Inger and Tracy Gardner, has published the results of a study into how readers discover content in scholarly journals. The survey, supported by SAGE, is the culmination of a 6-month research project comparing the changing reader behaviour between 2005 and 2012 and as a result looks at the impact on publisher and library web site design and function.
The report is said to be the output of a large-scale survey focusing on journal content discovery conducted during May, June and July of 2012. Over 19,000 responses were received from all over the world from readers in many different sectors, job roles and subject areas. The research repeats two earlier studies performed in 2005 by Scholarly Information Strategies and in 2008 by the authors.
The shifts in reader preferences over time provide a valuable insight into reader navigation, the features that readers find useful in publisher web sites, and the role and effectiveness of library technologies. The 2012 survey was also updated to include questions about search engine preference and app use.
Given such a large number of responses were received, this report is seen to go much further than the previous two. It is said to provide an insight into how readers in different sectors, regions, subject areas and job roles behave.
A summary report is available for free and the full report is available for £250 for organisations, £100 for academic libraries, and approximately £7 (or equivalent in other currencies) for individual use on Kindle (or Kindle viewers for PC, Mac, iPad).
