How do we get patrons to use the databases? We spend a lot of money on them and no one uses them.

This question from a public librarian during one of the Reference Renaissance forums intrigued me. My first reaction was to wonder why a library would continually subscribe to resources patrons aren’t using and my second was to ponder why the databases aren’t being used.

Why do libraries subscribe to databases with low utilization?

Might it be that:

• this is one of those basic, functional things we seldom question (i.e. databases are part of the collection and collection management is a core library function);
• the databases come as part of a consortium membership or bundled with other resources, thereby obscuring their costs and making it easier to take them than leave them;
• other libraries in the area have them and yours doesn’t want to be the first to go without?

The time for bold library action is upon us, so for all resources libraries know (or strongly believe) are not being used, I say: just drop ‘em. Don’t do a survey or ask broad permission, just drop ‘em. Here’s why:

• Seeking affirmation and permission generally reinforces the status quo regardless of how costly or unproductive it is. Asking forgiveness rather than permission is an effective change management tactic. I’ve used it throughout my career when faced with outmoded, costly or unproductive elements and found that 99% of the time, the change goes unnoticed.
• Hanging on to, or worse yet, promoting resources people don’t find valuable contributes to an impression of library irrelevance. Better to use the funding spent on underutilized databases to deliver programs and services that more people will value.
• Subscribing to databases in spite of poor utilization suppresses vendor dialogue about what would make the products more valuable. As long as libraries continue to subscribe to them, there’s no incentive for vendors to make more than cosmetic changes to database products.

If you drop the databases, what about the patrons who did use them? When a user inquires:

• Be prepared to advise if the information sought is available on the open internet or another dB; reasonable users will appreciate the reference along with knowing their library is spending public funds wisely.
• In cases where there isn’t an alternate source, purchase an individual article for the patron. If the databases are truly underutilized, the annual cost (material and labor) of individual purchases will probably be less than database subscriptions. Particularly in these financially challenging times, I believe reasonable users will appreciate this cost containment.

Why aren’t patrons using the library databases?

I don’t use them because doing so is terribly inefficient. The databases themselves are inefficient; their interfaces and functionality seem 8-10 years behind the times. The brief descriptions on library websites or information on the dB interfaces haven’t helped me determine which database is best suited for a particular type of inquiry and so I may have been looking in the wrong place for information. Unfortunately, the 4-5 times I’ve sought help at a public library haven’t gone well. Staff has simply logged in and rummaged around, seemingly with no more familiarity or expertise than I have. In my estimation, Google or good content websites win hands down on discoverability; once I’ve identified a resource, I go through the tedious process of retrieving information from a library database as a last resort if it isn’t freely available elsewhere.

During the forum, the topic of usability arose in response to the public librarian’s question. Panelist Jamie Larue, Director of Colorado’s Douglas Public Library, briefly gave straightforward examples of how the databases could be organized much better. And following the forum, one of the librarians I was chatting with ‘went off’ a bit about their deficits and listed a half-dozen serious usability problems. So I’m not the only one who grades these databases as “needs improvement”.

Is database usage low at your public library? Do you have users that view the library databases as a sub-par resource of last resort? If so, what can be done about it?