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FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR COUNTER

AND USE STATISTICS

David Goodman dgoodman@princeton.edu

Palmer School of Library & Information ScienceLong Island UniversityandPrinceton University Library

InfoToday New York May 6, 2003

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PURPOSES OF STATISTICS

1. Intelligent purchasing

• What to subscribe to

• What to buy per-item

• What to get on demand

• What not to get at all

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PURPOSES OF STATISTICS

2. Knowledge of user needs

• Planning the collection

• Planning services

• Planning instruction

• Planning access

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PURPOSES OF STATISTICS

3. Knowledge of use patterns

• Planning services

• Rapport with users

• Improving the literature

• Cooperation with publishers

• Developing alternatives

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PURPOSES OF STATISTICS

4. Inter-institutional

• Understanding ones' own library

• Mutual professional growth

• Data for local advocacy

• Joint advocacy

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pre-COUNTER use by publisher/distributor

(use by title)(use by time period)

(use by IP)all

not standardizednot comparablenot analyzable? trustworthy

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COUNTER LEVEL Iuse by publisheruse by titleuse by time period

(use by IP)all

standardizedcomparabletrustworthy(analyzable)

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Suggested contract provision"The licensor confirms to the licensee that usage statistics covering the online usage of the journals and databases included in this licence will be provided. The licensor further confirms that such usage statistics will adhere to the specifications of the COUNTER Code of Practice, including data elements collected and their definitions; data processing guidelines; usage report content, format, frequency and delivery method."

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COUNTER LEVEL II

the following slides are my

PERSONAL guess

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COUNTER LEVEL II(probably)

use by page type (html, pdf)

use by time period published

changed and archival titles

use by access routeextensions for e-books, reference

works, other media, servers, ...

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COUNTER LEVEL II(possibly)

use by journal section

use by individual article

use by previous link followed

use by subsequent link followed

what special features are used(use by manner of use --

printed, saved, emailed)

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COUNTER LEVEL II(unknown possibilities)

Custom reporting

Interfaces with

Serial Solutions

LinkFinder

SFX

proxy servers

...

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COUNTER LEVEL II(additional functions)

xml driven analysiscorrelation between

journal & database use

use & publication

use & citationcapability for unintrusive individual analysis (with permission)

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COUNTER LEVEL II(what else?)

1.

2.

3.

4....

please tell us what you'd like to have

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COUNTER LEVEL II(when)

Maybe--just guessing:

development: 2003/4

code of practice: 2004 ?

implemented standard: 2005 ??

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The Goal of a Library

not to buy as little as possible

and save all its money

butto buy as much as possible and spend all its money

(and thus satisfy all its users)

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Library Demand & Cost for Electronic Materials

2002/3 2003/4 2004/5 2005/6

Budget

Cost/item

Items tobuy

Cost for itall

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What Can the Library Do?Not likely:

Get more moneyGet lower prices

Already accomplished:State or nation-wide pricing

Suicidal:Not meet needs

Finally possible:Meet needs intelligently

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Convenient Numerical Ratio80/20

Eighty percent of the demand is met by

Twenty percent of the material

all libraries have to do is to know

which twenty percent

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Once we know...

We'll subscribe to the 20 percent,buy the low use material by the item,

and then libraries will get everything

the users will need,

and publishers will sell everything worthwhile they produce

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There will, of course,

be some technical complications

along the way

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See Peter Shepherd about that part