COUNTER Update

John McDonaldLibraries, Claremont

University ConsortiumFebruary 10, 2008

Original COUNTER Basics

• Librarians & publishers need online usage statistics– Librarians to assess, support and plan their collections and

infrastructure

– Publishers to assess journals, pricing models, provide editorial support

• But, standards & practical guidelines were missing

• Goal: credible, compatible, consistent publisher/vendor-generated statistics for the global information community

• Result: COUNTER Codes of Practice

• New Reports

• New Specifications for Usage Reports– What they should include

– What they should look like

– How and when they should be delivered

• Data Processing Guidelines

• Auditing & Compliance

COUNTER Release 3 Highlights (CoP3)

New Reports (CoP3)

• Journal Report 1

Full text article requests by month and journal

• Journal Report 1a* ( new with release 3)

full text article requests from an archive by month and journal

• Journal Report 2

Turnaways by month and journal

• Journal Report 5* (new with release 3)

Full text article requests by year [of publication] and journal

New Reports (CoP3)• Consortium Report 1 (new with release 3)

Full text journal article/book chapter requests by month (xml only)

• Consortium Report 2 ( new with release 3)

Searches by month and database (xml only)• 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

Specifications on Report Delivery• Reports provided in XLS, CSV, or XML

format

• Each report resides in a separate page of file

• Reports should be available on a password controlled web site

• Consortium must be able to access both consolidated and individual member reports from a single login

• Email or other alerting mechanism should be put in place

Data Processing Guidelines (CoP3)• Comparability and consistency of usage

statistics can be impacted by the handling of:

– Double clicks

– Return codes to count

– Federated Search Engines

– Internet robots

– LOCKSS and similar cache systems

Auditing (CoP3)• An annual independent audit required for compliance to be certified by

COUNTER

• Audit is online, using scripts provided in the Code of Practice

• Auditor can be:

– Any Chartered Accountant

– Another COUNTER-approved auditor

• ABCE is the first COUNTER-approved auditor

– Industry-owned

– Not-for-profit

– Independent and impartial

– Part of ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulations)

– Providing website traffic audits for over 150 companies and certifying over 1400 domains

– Have successfully completed test audits on COUNTER usage reports

Auditing (CoP3)

• Current vendors had 18 months to pass an audit.

• New vendors will have 6 months to pass an audit.

• Audit status is published on the COUNTER website.

• Current statistics on listed vendors:

– Passed audit: 70%

– Audit not yet due: 20%

– Audit overdue*: 10%

* vendors who do not have or pass an audit by the due date will be dropped from the Register of Compliant Vendors

Review of New Features (CoP3)• New reports

– Journal Report 1a (full text requests by archive)

– Journal Report 5 (breakdown by year of publication)

– Consortium reports (for full text requests by title and searches by database with breakdown by consortium member)

• Data processing

– Federated searching

– Internet robots and archives like LOCKSS

• Reports must be available in XML format

• Revised COUNTER XML Schema

• SUSHI support becomes a requirement for compliance

Associated Initiatives

• Usage Factor

• SUSHI

• CORE

• I2

• PIRUS

Future Issues to Address

• Further refine auditing/compliance procedures

• Address new media materials (eBooks, podcasts, etc.)

• New communities (i.e. Museums, Art)

• Develop more robust database standards

• Focus on user-centered statistical standards

• Develop measures/statistics or tests to help in evaluation

Questions?Visit:

http://www.projectcounter.org

Or contact: Peter Shepherd, COUNTER

pshepherd@projectcounter.org