Transcript Vendor Based Usage Statistics

Project COUNTER
-a progress report
Peter Shepherd
Project Director
COUNTER
Overview
Libraries need online usage statistics
Publishers need online usage statistics
STM Publishing is global
How can we move from usage statistics
Babel to a common core of statistics we
can trust and compare?
Publishers need usage
statistics
 To support library efforts to procure funding
 To demonstrate that reduced usage of print issues
has been compensated for by increased online usage
 To assess the relative importance of the various
routes via which information reaches its market
 To experiment with new pricing models
 To provide editorial policy support
 To obtain improved market analysis/demographics
 To inform authors where and how articles are used
 To improve site design and navigation
 To plan infrastructure, e.g. mirror sites/caches
Online usage statistics
need to be…….
Credible
Consistent
Compatible
“We conclude that it is largely impossible to
compare data across vendors, and we
recommend that comparison be limited to
data from the same vendors
We believe that the comprehensive
standardisation of usage statistics and data
delivery methods cannot be easily achieved
in the short term”
ARL E-Metrics Phase II Report, Oct 2001
So how do we get there in
the medium term?
ICOLC Guidelines for statistical measures of
usage of web-based information resources
ARL E-metrics project
National Commission on Libraries and
Information Science (NCLIS) Electronic access
and use related measures
NISO – revision of of Z39.7 (Library Statistics)
ISO – revision of 2789 (library statistics) and
11563 (library performance measures)
Cowhig proposal for auditing usage data
PALS usage statistics working group
... the answer is…...
COUNTER - endorsed by…
 AAP, Association of American Publishers
 ALPSP, The Association of Learned and Professional Society
Publishers
 ARL, Association of Research Libraries
 ASA, Association of Subscription Agents and Intermediaries
 EDItEUR
 JISC, Joint Information Systems Committee
 NCLIS, National Commission on Libraries and Information Science
 NISO, National Information Standards Organization
 PA, The Publishers Association
 STM, International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical
Publishers
 UKSG, United Kingdom Serials Group
International Steering Group
 Chair: Richard Gedye, Oxford University Press
 30 members
 Europe:
PA, ASA, ALPSP, JISC, STM, UKSG, Blackwell Publishing, British
Library, Elsevier, OUP
 USA
AAP, ACS, ARL, NCLIS, NFAIS, NISO, EBSCO Publishing,
Wiley,LWW
2002 Objectives
Gain industry support for COUNTER
Increase awareness of COUNTER
Deliver Release 1 of the Code of Practice:
Focus on journals and databases
Identify and define data elements to collect
Usage Report content, format and delivery
Guidelines for data processing and auditing
Timeline - 2002
 March 2002
Project COUNTER formally launched
 August 2002
Online librarian survey completed
 October 2002
Major elements of the Code of Practice in place
Usage Reports, Data Elements, Definitions, Processing
 December 2002
Release 1 of the COUNTER Code of Practice
Progress Report 1: Online
Librarian Survey
 650 librarians responded
 49 corporate librarians
 Responses of corporate librarians did not deviate from the whole
 Focus on journals & databases
 Need for a small number of reliable reports
 Reports should be made available on a password-controlled
website, with email alerts
 Reports must be provided at least monthly
 Data must be updated within two weeks of the end of the reporting
period
 All of last year’s data and this year’s to date must be supplied
Progress Report 2- Usage
Reports based on librarian survey
 Journal Reports
 Level 1
 Full-text article requests by month
and journal
 Turnaways by month and journal
 Level 2
 Full-text article requests by
month,journal and page type
 Not needed
 Total searches run
 Time of day report
 Day of week report
 Total daily activity report
 Database Reports
Level 1
 Total searches and sessions
by month and database
 Not needed
 Time of day report
 Day of week report
 Total daily activity report
Progress Report 3:
Journal Report 1: Fulltext article requests by month and journal
Journal
Name
Print
ISSN
Online
ISSN
Jan-01
Feb-01
Mar-01
Journal of
AAA
12123131
32253123
456
521
665
Journal of
BBB
98213361
23128751
203
251
275
Journal of
CCC
24642121
01541521
456
521
665
6645
7713
5445
TOTAL
Progress Report 4: Issues to be
resolved
 Auditing of Usage Reports & Processes
 Auditing needed
 How to implement and monitor
 Gateways
 Several options
 Need to avoid double counting with publisher
 Establish protocols for collecting and supplying data
Progress Report 5 - website
www.projectCounter.org
About COUNTER
project mission & plan, history, other initiatives
Sponsors
Steering Group
News and Activities
Articles and Presentations
Contact us
2003 and beyond
 Objectives for 2003
 Promote and gain acceptance for the COUNTER Code of Practice
 Obtain feedback on Release 1
 Complete list of approved auditors
 Define and set up permanent administrative structure
 Full implementation of Code of Practice by Vendors for 2004
 Beyond 2003
 Extend and deepen Code of Practice
Cover e-books, etc
Reporting at article level
 Monitor usage and user behaviour?
Vital factors for a successful
implementation and uptake
‘Start small, test often’….develop a modest core
Code and build out incrementally
Build continuous development capability into the
support structure
Pool our collective wisdom and work together
One Code - parallel codes will attract minimal
buy-in
COUNTER Founding Sponsors
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AAP/PSP
ALPSP
ARL
Blackwell Publishing
EBSCO
Ingenta
Institute of Physics Publishing
JISC
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Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins
Nature Publishing Group
Oxford University Press
The Publishers Association
ProQuest
Taylor & Francis
STM
UKSG
For more information……..
www.projectCounter.org