Standardizing Usage Statistics Requests with SUSHI Theodore Fons

Standardizing Usage Statistics Requests with SUSHI Theodore Fons Senior Product Manager Innovative Interfaces

Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting ü The Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative (SUSHI) ü The usage statistics gathering enterprise for libraries – The benefits of COUNTER – The task before libraries ü The solution for libraries – The Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative (SUSHI) ü Electronic Resource Management Systems ü Future directions for SUSHI ü Resources First, some thoughts on statistics…

Some thoughts on statistics Oh, people can come up with statistics to prove anything, Kent. 14% of people know that.

Some thoughts on statistics “Meaningless statistics were up one-point-five percent this month over last month. ”

Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative (SUSHI)

Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative (SUSHI) ü SUSHI is: – An automated way for a customer to harvest COUNTER-based usage statistics ü SUSHI benefits libraries: – By eliminating the labor-intensive process of downloading usage statistics from each content provider ü SUSHI benefits content providers: – By providing an efficient method of providing statistics and reducing user interface layers

Starting at the beginning: COUNTER

The Usage Statistics Gathering Enterprise for Libraries ü The Benefits of COUNTER – Uniformity in the rules of tracking usage – Uniformity of data reported • What activity is occurring with the electronic resource: – Full text downloads – Database access – Database searches – Simplifies usage statistics database design – Allows meaningful comparisons between resources

The Usage Harvesting Task for Libraries

The Usage Statistics Gathering Enterprise for Libraries ü Libraries must gather statistics from each provider using each provider’s interface ü This library maintains a 38 page manual on how to get usage stats from each vendor

The Usage Statistics Gathering Enterprise for Libraries

The Solution for Libraries

The Solution for Libraries ü Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative (SUSHI) – June, 2005 – Summer, 2005 – October, 2005 – April, 2006 – Sept. , 2006 – May, 2007 – June, 2007 Discussions begin: Cornell Univ. , Ebsco, Ex Libris, Innovative, Swets, Univ. of Washington (later expanded to include Thompson Scientific) Technical discussions NISO Initiative/Committee forms University of Nebraska Lincoln harvests data from Ebsco Draft Standard for Trial Use published Trial use period completed NISO membership balloting – September, 2007 Z 39. 93, Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative

How does it work?

The Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative : How does it work? ERM Client t eques r e data usag us da ag ta e Server Publisher or Third Party Aggregator

The Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative : Why Web Services? ü Web Services combine the best aspects of componentbased development and the Web ü Commercially accepted ü Widely Supported (W 3 C) ü Secure

The Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative : Some Definitions ü XML Schema – A language for describing the structure and constraining the contents of XML documents. (reactivity. com glossary) ü Web Services – Open, standard (XML, SOAP, etc. ) based Web applications that interact with other web applications for the purpose of exchanging data. (lucent. com) ü Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) – SOAP is a lightweight XML based protocol used for invoking web services and exchanging structured data and type information on the Web

The Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative : Some Definitions ü Web Services Description Language (WSDL) – WSDL is an XML format published for describing Web services (wikipedia. org)

The Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative : The Exchange ü Report Request ü Report Response

Electronic Resource Management Systems

Electronic Resource Management Systems Collection Analysis & Usage Tracking

The Benefits of SUSHI

The Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative : What are the benefits? ü Benefits for Libraries – Efficiency • The end of manual usage statistics harvesting • Eliminates significant time investment in manual harvesting – Integration • Harvesting can be integrated with the ERMS and/or Integrated Library System • The burden of database design and development is removed for the library ü Benefits for Content Providers – Matching Customer Expectations • Libraries see the value in usage statistics and appreciate vendor compliance, but harvesting must be efficient • Inefficient harvesting adds to overall cost of the electronic resource – Reduced overall investment • “The best user interface is no user interface. ” • SUSHI moves the user interface design to the SUSHI client

The Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative : What are the benefits? ü Benefits for Libraries – Efficiency • The end of manual usage statistics harvesting • Eliminates significant time investment in manual harvesting – Integration • Harvesting can be integrated with the ERMS and/or Integrated Library System • The burden of database design and development is removed for the library ü Benefits for Content Providers – Matching Customer Expectations • Libraries see the value in usage statistics and appreciate vendor compliance, but harvesting must be efficient • Inefficient harvesting adds to overall cost of the electronic resource – Reduced overall investment • “The best user interface is no user interface. ” • SUSHI moves the user interface design to the SUSHI client – Mitigating element • Relatively easy to implement • Known Web Services technology

The Future of SUSHI

The Future of SUSHI ü Additional Data Elements – Cost and Payment information? – License Terms? ü SUSHI could become a requirement for COUNTER compliance – Under consideration by COUNTER

Next Steps…

The Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative ü Steps for Publishers/Content Providers: – Talk to your development staff about SUSHI and web services – Talk to your customers about how important this is to them ü Steps for Libraries: – Implement an ERMS with a built-in SUSHI client – Tell your content providers about how important SUSHI is to you

Resources

The Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative : Resources ü NISO Website: http: //www. niso. org/committees/SUSHI_comm. html ü SUSHI Schemas: http: //www. niso. org/schemas/sushi/index. html ü SUSHI FAQ: http: //docs. google. com/View. aspx? docid=d 2 dhjwd_63 tkkwf – – – What is the relationship of the COUNTER payload schema to the SUSHI schema? What variable information has to be supplied in a SUSHI (client) request? What variable information has to be supplied in a SUSHI (server) response? What COUNTER reports can be delivered with SUSHI? Does SUSHI support older Releases of the COUNTER reports?

Questions?