SUSHI to satisfy usage demands

Initiative offers co-ordinated usage statistics, which aim to improve usage management and create efficiencies in journal subscriptions

Librarians will be able to track their usage of online content much more easily as the SUSHI initiative becomes more widespread this year.

SUSHI, the Standardised Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative, was created by the US standards body NISO to make it easier for libraries to track usage. At the moment the job of tracking which journals have been accessed online and how frequently, means collating statistics from each individual publisher in a variety of ways. This is time consuming and costly.

The SUSHI protocol for harvesting the statistics was developed in a matter of weeks by a small group – including Ex Libris, Innovative Interfaces, subscription agents Swets and Ebsco and two university librarians. Integration tests were completed successfully in November and the group is to hold a workshop early this year to introduce the initiative to a wider group.

John Martin, chief commercial director at Swets, says that the main impact of SUSHI on Swets will be to allow it improve its service to customers. “For the first time in our history we are getting 50% of our business from electronic subscriptions. It is really important to our customers that we continue to add value in that marketplace,” he said.

Martin added: “We are seeing a move to title by title publishing and this may help to clarify that. It will affect customer purchasing decisions as they will be able to get more value. It is also really useful to publishers as it helps publishers to tailor to what their customers want.

“At the moment, publishers base their usage on the number of users, which is an estimate. If they could actually demonstrate what the usage is they could come up with the perfect model for pricing.”

Jenny Walker, VP marketing at Ex Libris, commented that she hoped that the SUSHI initiative for usage tracking and forthcoming licensing terms standards would allow Ex Libris to expand its Verde ERM system to provide better information.

Further Information: Cornell University SUSHI Page