Re: COUNTER: current status and advice to users]

[Celeste Feather <feather.4@osu.edu>]

Sandy,

We've encountered a number of instances in which e-book usage 
statistics would be useful to librarians. Purchase decisions 
about subsequent editions of titles could be informed by usage 
stats of the prior edition.  Also, some publishers are offering 
the option of one-time only purchase of a base volume, or the 
purchase of the base volume with a continuing subscription to 
annual updates (think looseleaf volumes, or "integrating 
resources" in cataloging terminology).  One may want to consider 
the usage of a base volume before agreeing to an annual 
subscription fee for updates. Usage stats based on disciplines 
could inform collection building efforts for the future. We think 
that e-books are now more likely to be used in the science 
disciplines. Data that shows whether or not this is true would be 
useful for format decisions over the long term.

Celeste