The evaluation of academic online information resources through usage assessment accompanies their integration into academic libraries. The topic associates librarians, publishers, vendors and scientists into a common discussion on resource management, evaluation, research and theoretical aspects.  

Between 1998 and 2008, the work on usage assessment advanced in several ways. The COUNTER Codes of Good Practice are to become international standards and facilitate the recording and reporting of online usage statistics in a consistent, credible and compatible way. Regularly revised and updated, they are built upon common definitions of collected usage statistics. Vendors and service providers offer tools and services for the management of usage data, compliant with the COUNTER standards. Libraries develop local software for usage assessment. Especially in the UK, results from a new type of usage research based on the weblog analysis have been published. These studies provide an accurate knowledge about who uses what, when and how.    

The symposium aims at highlighting the frontline research of library and information scientists and LIS professionals and at getting a large and precise understanding of online information usage assessment and to discuss the challenges.

The symposium is also a forum to compare and debate on different theoretical and methodological approaches. The invited communications should cover the whole range of questions related to the evaluation of online information resources in academic and research environments – e.g. economical, political, scientific, documentary aspects and so on.

Suggested topics  :

  1. Access statistics : empirical studies
  2. Usage behaviours in academic environment : plural methodologies
  3. Metrics and assessment 
  4. Tools, standards, and services : prospective analyses
  5. Access statistics and scientific research assessment
  6. Usage behaviours and business models for academic online resources
  7. Academic libraries in a digital environment : usage profiles and new services
  8. New publishing models and access statistics
  9. Usage assessment of new information resources : datasets, multimedia…
  10. Usage of online resources, competencies, and information literacy (Google generation)