You may have read our prior updates on JSTOR, a journal archive database that includes fulltext PDFs of journals (minus the most recent 2-5 years). I recently investigated our 2007 JSTOR usage statistics and found some interesting tidbits on just how much you people work.
How much is JSTOR used here at Johns Hopkins? Currently Hopkins has access to approximately 758 archived journal titles in JSTOR, 99% of which were used at least once in 2007. In 2007 you downloaded a whopping 368,360 full text articles. This makes JSTOR the third most used electronic resource of those resources that provide us with standardized usage statistics. So what does this have to do with my iPod? As I listen to my iPod and think about how often I use it, this usage connection struck me. Currently, I have just under 2,000 songs on it and close to 96% of the songs have been listened to at least once. Considering I spend probably 70% of my time in meetings, which really cuts down on how often I’m able to listen, that’s pretty high use.
The archive also contains several highly used journals: The archives of Science had over 9,000 downloads in 2007. It is hard to believe that AAAS, the publisher of Science, had considered ending its relationship with JSTOR in 2007. Articles from the archive of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) of the USA were downloaded over 8,000 times in 2007.
Other highly used JSTOR journals in 2007 included:
- Journal of the American Statistical Association over 4,500 downloads
- Burlington Magazine (fine arts) over 3,600 downloads
- American Historical Review over 3,500 downloads
- Biometrics over 3,400 downloads
- Art Bulletin over 3,100 downloads
- American Journal of Nursing over 3,000 downloads
- Asian Survey over 2,600 downloads
- American Sociological Review over 2,600 downloads
- The Musical Times over 2,400 downloads
As you can see, the journal titles covered in JSTOR are from a wide variety of disciplines, such as African Studies, Anthropology, the Arts, Asian Studies, Classical Studies, Folklore, History, Jewish Studies, Linguistics, Paleontology, Religion, and Zoology. Back to my music collection, I too have a wide variety of artists and languages (more than 6), including: Iggy Pop, Glenn Gould, Cesaria Evora, The Stooges, Goran Sollscher, PJ Harvey, Bruce (does he need a last name?), Manuel Barrueco, Wilco, and oh so many more.
Another important aspect of JSTOR is its affordability. Because of our high volume of use, the average cost/use of JSTOR is under 12 cents a download. As the person who has to watch the overall collection fund, I think that is a very good value.
Want to learn more about JSTOR? Talk to your librarian if you need help choosing or using any of the Library’s electronic resources. Based on our e-resources statistics, I am amazed at how much you people must work, keep it up!