Project COUNTER
Trends in Statistical Standards for E-Resource Management
March 2005
Oliver PeschChief Strategist, E-ResourcesEBSCO Information Services
Overview COUNTER now and future
The COUNTER basics Release 2 Auditing vendor reports E-Reference
Beyond COUNTER Where A&I usage fits Other important metrics
Things to ponder Activity captured – is it meaningful? Effect of metasearch on usage Capturing the data
COUNTER
Member supported Members include:
Libraries Publishers Aggregators
Goal: Allow credible and consistent usage
measurement between vendors
http://www.projectcounter.orghttp://www.projectcounter.org
Code of PracticeCode of Practice
Compliant VendorsCompliant Vendors
Rules for complianceRules for compliance
Upcoming releasesUpcoming releases
COUNTER Code of Practice
Addresses: Terminology Layout and format of reports Processing of usage data Categories Delivery of reports
Terminology
Ensure consistent use of terminology Rely on existing standards for definitions NISO Z39.7 (Usage Statistics)
COUNTER Usage Reports
Journal Report 1: Full Text Article Requests by Month and Journal
Journal Report 2: Turnaways by Month and Journal
Database Report 1: Total Searches and Sessions by Month and Database
Database Report 2: Turnaways by Month and Database
Database Report 3: Searches and Sessions by Month and Service
Journal Report 1: Full Text Article Requests by Journal
Journal Report 2: Turnaways by Journal
Database report 1: Searches and Sessions by Database
Database report 2: Turnaways by Database
Database report 3: Searches and Sessions by Service
COUNTER: Data Processing
Only count valid requests For progressive PDF retrieval, only count the
first request Filter out multiple successive clicks (“double
clicks”) of same link by same user 10 seconds for HTML 30 seconds for PDF
COUNTER basics
Q: Who gets to count full text requests? Publisher? Aggregator? E-Journal gateway? Link Resolver?
A: The party that delivers the actual text to the user
Linking
A&I Database
A&I Database
Link Resolver
Link Resolver
E-Journal GatewayE-Journal Gateway
Publisher site
Publisher site
User finds citation of interest in an A&I
database. An OpenURL link
providedCitation
Link menu
Abstractor TOC
Full Text
Link-Out Link-Out Link-Out Full text
Linking
A&I Database
A&I Database
Link Resolver
Link Resolver
E-Journal GatewayE-Journal Gateway
Publisher site
Publisher site
User finds citation of interest in an A&I
database. An OpenURL link
providedCitation
Link menu
Abstractor TOC
Full Text
Link-Out Link-Out Full text
Delivery
CSV, Excel or file that can be imported into Excel
XML version being tested On password controlled web site Scheduled alert or delivery of report Provide monthly Available within 2 weeks of end of month Current and previous year’s data
Compliant vendors/products
Compliant vendors/products
COUNTER basics
Any questions on current COUNTER
Code Of Practice?
COUNTER Release 2
Minor fixes and improvements New report (Journal report 1a) Level 2 report eliminated in favor of “optional”
reports
Release 2: minor fixes Added header rows to identify, report, criteria and
run date
Release 2: minor fixesInclude Publisher field
Release 2: minor fixes More forgiving date representation for Excel.
Jan-2004 instead of Jan-04
Release 2: minor fixes
“Calendar YTD” now “Total”
Release 2: Journal Report 1a
“Page Type” column added
to breakout activity by full text format.
Release 2: Journal Report 1a
Two rows per title
COUNTER: Audit
Passing audit will be required in 2005 Conducted by auditor certified by COUNTER At vendor expense
COUNTER: Audit Audit will check each product and report for:
Layout Right rows and columns Header rows Column headings
Formats CSV or Excel
Delivery of report Email notification of availability Access from password controlled web site
Accuracy of data Conduct series of tests for each report Current tolerance is -8% to +2%
COUNTER: E-Reference
The next initiative? Focus to-date have been on journals E-Reference includes:
e-books Dictionaries Encyclopedias almanacs, etc.
E-Reference materials becoming increasingly more important.
COUNTER: E-Reference
Unit of access may include: Entire book Chapter Entry (dictionary or encyclopedia) Page Paragraph
Challenge is what constitutes a countable “access”
COUNTER: E-Reference
Access depends on interface and organization of content. Entire reference work may be in one PDF (1
access and user reads all of the book) Each chapter may have own PDF (1 access per
chapter read) Reference may organized by topic or section with
user linking from topic to topic within a chapter (many access within one chapter)
Discussions continue…
Looking ahead(future releases?)
Where A&I Statistics fit
Metrics for product purchase and usage patterns
Journal-level use metrics help with collection development
COUNTER represents only in optional report
COUNTER optional report
Other important metrics
Link activity Where the users came from Where the users go By target By type of target
Example of link activity
Linking
A&I Database
A&I Database
Link Resolver
Link Resolver
E-Journal GatewayE-Journal Gateway
Publisher site
Publisher site
User finds citation of interest in an A&I
database. An OpenURL link
providedCitation
Link menu
Abstractor TOC
Full Text
Link-Out Link-Out Link-Out Full text
Link-out activity
Record each time user links from an item to full text or other service
For each, track: Source information
Database Journal/Book Year published
Target information Category (full text, ILL, etc.) Target service (domain)
Year of publication
Record with each full text retrieval Summarize retrieval activity by journal by
year of publication Analyze importance of back files Analyze who using back files Make archival decisions
Type of material
Journal article, book, book chapter, video, sound track, encyclopedia, dictionary…
COUNTER moving towards E-Resource code of practice
Record with each TOC, citation, abstract or full text request
Summarize retrieval activity by type of material
Make decisions on value of non-journal information in hybrid collections
Article level data?
Volume versus value Minimum data to store? Is roll-up possible to achieve goals?
Section Subject (journal level?) Author
What transactions need this level of detail? Full text requests Abstract views? TOC views?
Other things to ponder
Metasearch
Also known as: Federated search Broadcast search
User presented with a single search interface Searches multiple information sources at
same time Eliminates (or assists with) resource selection Retrieve, consolidates and ranks results A new challenge for statistics
Metasearch: a new challenge
What can be affected Session counts Search counts
Why? “Search all” option or automatic selection/search
of many resources Perform simultaneous activities Optimization techniques
Searching without Metasearch
EBSCO OCLC ProQuest OVID
user
Resources
-Product 1-Product 2-Product 3…
Visits = 1Sessions = 2Searches = 2
Visits = 1Sessions = 2Searches = 2
With Metasearch engine
EBSCO OCLC ProQuest OVID
user
Metasearch
-Search All -Business-Medicine…
Visits = 1Sessions = 20Searches = 20
Visits = 1Sessions = 20Searches = 20
Visits = 1Sessions = 20Searches = 20
Visits = 1Sessions = 20Searches = 20
With Metasearch engine
EBSCO OCLC ProQuest OVID
user
Metasearch
-Search All -Business-Medicine…
Visits = 1Sessions = 28Searches = 28
Visits = 1Sessions = 28Searches = 28
Metasearch lessons
Libraries should want to isolate metasearch sessions and searches Capture source of activity Isolate metasearch IP address Have metasearch access through separate
account Support metasearch standardization activities
through NISO We need to be able to recognize a metasearch
session
Summary of COUNTER
Collaboration of vendors and libraries More than just a standards document A code of practice Enforcement and registration compliance Setting reasonable expectations Benefits extend to all parties COUNTER is very active and forward-looking
Thank you
Oliver [email protected]