Web Based Methodologies and Techniques to Monitor Electronic Resources Use in University Libraries

Electronic resources, as defined by the International Standard Bibliographic Description for Electronic Resources (ISBD(ER)) are all those materials codified for computer elaboration, including material which requires the use of a peripheral. (IFLA, 1999; Saur, 1997). They constitute a constantly growing patrimony within the bibliographic resources of the university library system (Snowhill, 2001; Rowland, 1995; Woodward, 1997). Searches (or consultation) within electronic resources can be carried out by the user on small or large portions of text taken from the consulted document. The information can then be classified as primary, or full text, often the case with e-magazines, secondary, when they are made up of bibliographical references or summaries (abstracts), (ex. Bibliographical databases), or factual (ex. numerical databases) (Lyman and Varian, 2000; Woodward, 1998). At present, both the importance that these resources are assuming in library budgets, and the transition process from paper formats to digital formats, make it particularly interesting to analyze and monitor the process of offering and using this type of service, not only in quantitative terms but also regarding qualitative aspects and user satisfaction (Frazier, 2001; Chen , 2001; Montgomery, 2000). The aim of this paper is to measure user satisfaction and the quality of the electronic resource consultation services offered by the Milano-Bicocca library.