A study measuring the performance of electronic resources in academic libraries

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an input‐output analysis of electronic resources in academic libraries by verifying evaluation indicators and applying them to the digital library environment.Design/methodology/approach – This study measures the performance of electronic resources in academic libraries in Korea. To measure the efficiency of the input‐output ratio, evaluation indicators were divided into inputs and outputs. Inputs refer to the e‐resource use environment as well as the acquisition of e‐resources such as web DB, e‐books, e‐journals, and so on. Outputs quantify the use of each resource.Findings – First, the results of this study show that a large share of academic library budgets is spent on e‐resource purchases and e‐resource environment improvement for better use. Second, the measurement shows that web DB subscription, annual e‐resource development, and education for e‐resource exhibit higher efficiency, while e‐resource use, web DB and e‐journal download exhibited relative...