NFAIS Forum oN Online USAGE STATISTICS: Current Status and Future Directions

When:
October 22, 2006

Location:
PALINET Headquarters
3000 Market Street - Suite 200
Philadelphia, PA 19104-2801 
 

  Final Agenda

 Usage statistics are a key metric in determining the value of electronic products and services. And their importance has driven publishers, librarians and technology providers to collaborate in the development of tools, standards and protocols that will improve their collection and analysis. Project COUNTER was launched in March of 2002 and since then much has been accomplished. Almost 200 industry organizations, vendors, libraries and library consortia now actively support that initiative. And more recently the SUSHI protocol has emerged to automate the retrieval and importing of COUNTER usage reports into local systems.

This program offers an overview of the current status of usage statistics and the major initiatives that are driving improvement. It will provide some insights on how libraries and publishers collect, analyze and use the data. And it will highlight where improvements are needed and what changes can be expected in the not too distant future.

Final Agenda

8:30am - 9:00am: Registration and Continental Breakfast
 

9:00am - 9:05am: Welcome

 

Bonnie Lawlor, NFAIS Executive Director
Judy Luther, President, Informed Strategies, Moderator

 

9:05am - 9:30am: An Overview of Online Usage Statistics
 

Judy Luther, President, Informed Strategies [ Slides ]

The importance of online usage statistics will be discussed along with the standards that are used in their collection, the major projects that have emerged in their development, and the current status of usage statistic gathering and analysis: where we are, the pros, the cons, and where we need to go.

 

9:30am - 10:15am: Project COUNTER and SUSHI: An Overview
 

Oliver Pesch, Chief Strategist, E-Resources,
EBSCO Information Services [ Slides ]
 

This session will provide an overview of the purpose of Project COUNTER (Counting Online Usage of NeTworked Electronic Resources) and SUSHI (the Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative) and the relationship between the two initiatives. It will cover the COUNTER Guidelines that have been developed, the current status of each initiative, and what changes can be expected in the future.
 

10:15am - 10:30am: Break and Networking Opportunity

10:30am - 12:00pm Project COUNTER and SUSHI: Implementation & Usage.

This session will provide insights on the advantages of adopting both COUNTER and SUSHI, as well as the requirements that must be fulfilled and the challenges that must be overcome in order to reach that goal.

Becoming COUNTER Compliant: A Publisher Perspective
Tom Butkevich, Manager, Online Statistics, American Institute of Physics [ Slides ]

Implementing SUSHI: A Publisher's Perspective
Patricia Brennan, Manager, Product Development, Thomson Scientific

Using COUNTER & SUSHI Data: A Library Perspective
Noelle Egan, Electronic Resources Librarian, Drexel University Libraries [ Slides ]

 

12:00pm - 1:00pm Lunch and Networking Opportunity (lunch provided)
 

1:00pm - 2:00pm: Technology Vendor Panel

This session will highlight vendors who offer usage statistics software solutions. Each will provide a brief overview of their product and the unique features that they offer.
 

Bob Schufreider, U.S. Sales Manager, MPS Technologies
[ Slides ]
Audrey Melkin, Director of Business Development, Atypon Systems [ Slides ]
Gary Van Overborg, Director of Product Development, Optimal IQ [ Slides ]
 

2:00pm - 3:00pm: Collecting Usage Statistics
 

This session will focus upon how usage statistics are collected by librarians and publishers. What methods give the best results - COUNTER, Web Analytics, user surveys, market research, e-commerce data? Or is a combination of processes required in order to drill down to the desired information?

Publisher Case Study
Dean Smith, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, American Chemical Society [ Slides ]

Library Case Study
Michelle Newberry, Assistant Director for Library Services, Florida Center for Library Automation [ Slides ]

3:00pm - 3:15pm: Break and Networking Opportunity

 

3:15pm - 4:15pm: Leveraging Usage Statistics in the Decision-Making Process
 

This session will highlight how publishers and librarians use usage statistics in their decision-making processes. Whether the issue is product development or marketing for an information provider or collection development and marketing of services by a library, a careful analysis of usage statistics can result in informed-decision-making.
 

Publisher Case Study
Hanneke Steuten, General Manager, Usage Research, Science Direct & Scopus [ Slides ]

Library Case Study:
Joseph Lucia, University Librarian & Library Director, Villanova University [ Slides ]
 

4:15pm - 4:30pm Future Developments in Usage Statistics

This interactive session will begin with insights from industry experts on the developments that they believe are required in order to improve and fine-tune the creation, collection and analysis of usage statistics and what changes they think are likely occur in the next few years. They will then address questions that were submitted in advance from the meeting attendees and the broader information community.
 

Judy Luther, President, Informed Strategies
Patricia Brennan, Manager, Product Development, Thomson Scientific

4:30pm: Adjournment

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