KIC Usage Statistics

KIC usage reports say it all! Consistent and reliable system metrics are crucial tools to determine the value of any hardware and/or software solution. KIC systems automatically generate statistical usage reports every day. The system is configurable, so library management can opt to email the reports to one or more designated KIC ‘administrators’ for review and analysis.

During a recent study conducted on KIC usage, reports from 24 busy systems in the field showed a total of over 338,000 scans in a single month. That’s an average of 14,000 scans per KIC system monthly. With KIC, color is free, but assigning a value of only 10¢ to each image results in a value of $1,400/month provided to students and faculty. That translates to a full return on investment in under 15 months, which is the primary reason academic and research libraries are purchasing enough KIC systems to substantially replace copiers.

Delivery & Storage Methods by Library Type

While USB drives (pocket-sized memory devices) are overwhelmingly popular, email is a very important method of acquiring scanned images from KIC systems. Originally thought by academic library administrators to be a much needed output option, FTP is used only about 1% of the time.

File Format by library Type

While it’s not surprising that the JPEG file format is most popular with art and architecture libraries, it’s interesting to see how the popularity of PDF versus JPEG varies among libraries. Also, it seems that medical and law students have little use for the TIFF file format.

This graph shows steady growth continuing even after four years as users spread the word to their fellow students and colleagues.

This graph shows a KIC system that after many years is showing just 12% year-over-year growth, but continues to fluctuate dramatically with the academic schedule.

The following two graphs show that KIC systems are worth walking to, whether they are side-by-side or spread out throughout the library.

The higher and faster growing usage rates of the side-by-side systems in the graph above may be the result of more active sharing of the many ways that images can be used in an academic environment.