The ERUS Project

The ERUS Project is an endeavor focused on building a single, integrated, user-friendly, web-accessible database for accessing and analyzing usage statistics for the varied electronic resources maintained by libraries (abstracting and indexing databases, reference, statistics, e-books, etc.). The project began with a Literature and Resources review in the spring of 2004, followed by an informal survey of e-resource librarians in the summer of 2004. A prototype system (including preliminary testing) was planned for December 2004 but complications have forced a revision to the schedule. It is anticipated that the prototype will be available in the Spring of 2005.

Phases of the ERUS Project are outlined on the Project Status page and progress will be updated on that page on an ongoing basis (see the December 2004 Report). This site also provides access to the Survey conducted in July 2004, summaries of the Survey Results, and a version of the Survey Results with Raw Data.

Introduction and Purpose of the ERUS Project
Purpose of the Survey
Project Coordinator Information

Introduction and Purpose of the ERUS Project

My name is Caryn Anderson, and I have just completed the Masters program at the Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science. I am working with Megan Fox, the Simmons Web and Electronic Resources Librarian and GSLIS adjunct faculty, on a project to build a user-friendly, web-accessible database for centralizing access to the diversity of e-resource usage statistics each library struggles to collect, analyze, and utilize in the current partially-standardized environment. The interface will ultimately enable analysis functions like cost per search, searches by subject area (general and linked to each institution’s degree programs) and statistical comparisons with peer libraries (anonymously).

As you probably know, managing electronic resources is complex and the challenges of successfully tracking, comparing and analyzing usage are multi-faceted. It is encouraging to investigate the various initiatives currently in development (COUNTER, ARL’s E-metrics project, Digital Library Federation (DLF)’s Electronic Resource Management Initiative), but each of these initiatives address different components of the e-resource arena and it is still up to the individual institutions to integrate the end products of each of these initiatives.

Our project, currently titled ERUS (Electronic Resources Usage Statistics), will be a single, web-accessible interface that can be easily used by libraries to integrate and analyze their own diverse e-resource usage statistics and compare their results anonymously with those of peer institutions. We will begin by tailoring the project to small/mid-sized academic libraries, but plan to develop a system that could be utilized by any kind of library or information center.

ERUS will be based on the standards for definitions and reporting developed by COUNTER, and will build on the comparative analysis models crafted by the ARL E-Metrics project. Ultimately, the project will incorporate the XML standards for managing e-resource administrative metadata that the DLF released in the summer of 2004. We will therefore also be able to cooperate seamlessly with the products currently available or in development by commercial vendors for managing e-resource contracts, licensing and technology issues (see "Vendor Product Scan" at the Web Hub for Electronic Resource Management: http://www.library.cornell.edu/cts/elicensestudy/home.html).

Dr. Gary Geisler, Assistant Professor, has served as my faculty advisor during the Independent Study phase of this project and has been invaluable in assisting with my learning curve on the technology end (PHP, MySQL and Apache) to make the database available via the web. For more information, please see the Contact Us page.

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Purpose of the Survey

A number of studies (see Annotated Bibliography) have been conducted in recent years regarding electronic resources. These studies have addressed the scope of e-resource management challenges and concerns, comparisons between vendor statistics and those tracked in-house, or the types of statistics that are most valuable to e-resource librarians. The results of these studies are being used to support the development of standards for statistics provision, comparative analysis, and administrative metadata. These endeavors are important and will be useful, but are still in various stages of development and compliance. In addition, many of these studies focus exclusively on electronic journals, and do not consider the usage data for reference and statistical resources.

The purpose of the ERUS project is to design a practical database that will help meet needs of librarians NOW. The survey seeks three things:

1. to assess the current practices for data collection, analysis and utilization of e-resources usage statistics;
2. to identify specific challenges and ideal conditions for managing usage statistics; and,
3. to gather feedback on a model for providing access to all the diverse e-resource statistics via a single, integrated database-backed Web interface.

Preliminary Survey Results were compiled in August 2004, but additional response are always welcome and new results will be summarized at appropriate intervals. The survey consists of 20 questions and can be completed within approximately 20 minutes. If you have the opportunity to provide more thoughtful responses, however, it would be greatly appreciated.

If you are available for a brief, person-to-person conversation about these issues it would be even more valuable for this project. At the end of the survey there is the opportunity to schedule a conversation by phone or in person, or you may reach me directly via the contact details below.

Survey Results are summarized on this site on two different pages (with and without the raw data):

ERUS Survey Results Summaries
ERUS Survey Results Summaries with Raw Data

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Project Coordinator

I welcome your direct inquiries at any time via e-mail or post:

Caryn L. Anderson
P.O. Box 788
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 USA
caryn.anderson@simmons.edu

If you are available for a brief, person-to-person conversation about these issues it would be extremely helpful to this project. Please let me know what would be a convenient time for a telephone call or visit to your office.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Caryn

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More about Me

As mentioned above, I have just received my MLS degree from Simmons. I am a mid-career professional with experience in data analysis for public policy and non-profit management. If you are a member of ASIS&T you may have seen my article in the February/March 2004 issue of the Bulletin: http://www.asis.org/Bulletin/Feb-04/anderson.html.

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