How East West University increased library patron usage

Shaharima Parvin is the assistant librarian at East West University in Bangladesh. In a recent webinar, she shared her experiences and observations of increased library usage and positive user feedback.

Overview

East West University (EWU) is one of the leading private universities in Bangladesh. This institution promotes eastern culture and values, blending eastern and western thoughts and innovations. EWU has reported more than 400 faculty members and more than 10 thousand students.

The university was recently ranked fourth out of all private universities in Bangladesh by SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR) in 2021, based on three criteria: research, innovation and societal.

Challenges

Access to electronic resources by the academic community in Bangladesh has been limited, mostly due to a lack of awareness and the huge costs associated with accessing them. However, this scenario has improved with the formation of the Bangladesh INASP-PERI consortium, which offered a great number of e-resources with affordable subscription rates for its members – EWU being one of them.

Nonetheless, the access to these subscribed online resources was IP-based, which meant that users could then only access resources if they physically visited the library. Those who wished to work remotely, or were unable to visit the library, were also left without access.

In addition, some providers would only offer librarians a single username access, unsuitable for sharing with other library staff.

Solution

Shaharima explained that the university conducted research to find solutions to overcome these barriers to access. The library contacted OpenAthens and we were able to provide the right solution, which included single sign-on, full admin access, a user-friendly experience and real-time statistics.

Benefits and results

Shaharima commented:

Single sign-on has granted users the ability to move freely between resources in a single session, and the admin control allows the library staff to provide access to those who are unable to visit the premises. Shaharima also observed that it was very straightforward to make a user account and share it with a student working remotely. As a result, EWU has seen off-campus research activity increase.

The advanced reporting has allowed the university stakeholders to make decisions based on live data, so the resources with the highest usage were easily identified. This information helped the university to allocate budgets and decide on subscription renewals, consequently, better meeting the needs of their library patrons. Shaharima also frequently uses the data reporting tool, which is aiding the library's long-term plan for the university’s research and innovation strategy. This information has helped the university to allocate budgets and decide on subscription renewals.

According to Shaharima, she can now manage all elements of the service without the need for any IT assistance.