Give users easy access to e-resources from any location and at any time

Students at SKEMA Business School, located on any of its worldwide campuses, at a partner university, or at home, needed simple and consistent access to library resources. Staff at the KCenter were eager to migrate to the externally hosted EZproxy^® access and authentication solution to improve remote access and to gain time savings for their IT teams.

This decision also opened up the opportunity to adopt EZproxy Analytics to help supplement COUNTER statistics and see who’s using what e-resources when. The library wanted a more data-driven approach to decision-making, demonstrating to senior management that they were investing in the most suitable learning resources. At renewal time, the school needed a clear picture of usage against costs.

Adopting both at the same time was beneficial. Implementation, for instance, was not just focused on the technical components but also on interpreting the data. “Our team appreciated how responsive the OCLC team was throughout the project to any technical questions and problems we had,” said Maria Da Silva, Librarian.

The KCenter has been able to move away from a labor-intensive process that meant data was supplied separately by each individual content provider. According to Maria, "Above all, it’s the unified analytics that justifies our investment in EZproxy Analytics."

The team reports significant improvement with the user experience since implementation of hosted EZproxy. For example, links are always up to date and users can access any resource at any time. And remote access is straightforward and consistent from any location. This was put to the test at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic when students seamlessly accessed a rich array of content.

A detailed view of e-resource usage across SKEMA's seven campuses and around the world supports more informed decision-making. Library staff can see the user location as well as the resource accessed and address any gaps in provision. They can also identify underused databases and target student promotions appropriately.

At the same time, the team can deliver high-quality, visual reports to senior management and institution stakeholders that demonstrate the educational value of collections. These insights help SKEMA Business School direct its budget to content that's proven to have the greatest impact. Déborah adds, "With EZproxy Analytics, we'll be able to produce a two-year comparison of e-resource usage. This will help us make sound decisions around our next budget."

Location

• Lille, France

Library at a glance

• An international business school with nonprofit legal status, founded in 2009
• The KCenter team in France supplies the seven campuses of SKEMA Business School around the world
• Serves 9,000 students who represent more than 120 nationalities