Usage patterns of an electronic theses and dissertations system

The Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) system is a national digital library of ETDs in South Korea. Provides a comprehensive picture of how this system has been used during its first two years in service since June 1999. The system transaction logs were collected and analysed to reveal the usage patterns of the system. Results of the study indicate that the KISTI ETD system usage has seen a significant increase since its second year. While most users appear to be domestic users, the system also attracts users from many other countries, suggesting that the KISTI ETD system has become a part of the international networked digital library of theses and dissertations. It was also found that there are a very large number of one‐time visitors to the KISTI ETD system. Nevertheless, the system began to maintain a frequent user group in its second year in service. The usage statistics regarding system features and the characteristics of users’ visits indicated that the search function was by far the most frequently used system function. Finally, discusses the implications of the findings.