How much time do the academics spend reading the literature?
JISC Collections funded a study to examine the values of libraries to UK academics. The result “UK Scholarly Reading and the Value of Library Resources: Summary Results of the Study Conducted Spring 2011” has been published. Here is a link to the PDF.
From p. 8, “Of the 448 hours per year spent on scholarly reading, the average academic staff member spends 187 hours reading library-provided material, confirming the value of the library’s collections.”
(Image from http://www.mymcpl.org)
The link to the PDF didn’t work, so I am wondering if the study divided the scholarly reading into hardcopy versus electronic? This is of interest considering the trend away from hardcopy in favor of all-electronic publications.
Link fixed. Thanks, Matt!
To answer your question, the survey included electronic resources, recognizing that the library’s purchase of online journal subscriptions was adding value for the library user, even if the user never set foot in the library.