Ezra T. Ernst Chief Executive Officer Swets Information Services, Inc. The Long Tail and its’ application To Scholarly Information

Content Distribution: Who We Are Swets is a leading subscription services company, connecting the supply and demand chain that exists between publishers and institutions, libraries and information centers. Offices in 21 countries servicing: nations - 65,000 publishers - 60,000 clients million subscriptions - 180,000 publications Follow the most stringent standards: – Only agent that is ISO 9001:2000 certified on a worldwide scale

Content Distribution: Who We Are

80/20 Rule First established by Vilfredo Pareto (19 th century) that postulated that 80% of the property in Italy was owned by 20% of the population Idea has been gospel in traditional businesses for over 200 years that 80% of revenue is generated by 20% of products This concept is based on the need and presence of “Best Sellers”

The Long Tail Chris Anderson - Original article in Wired Magazine (October 2005) expanding into his book The Long Tail In an electronic world where physical inventory is not a key a factor the 80/20 rule loses its meaning When inventory is limitless or near limitless the options for customers do not shrink but rather expand As a business model the Long Tail can be summed up by Venture Capitalist Keith Laws observation that “…the biggest money is in the smallest sales”

Long Tail Model – Rhapsody Music 0 20,000 40,000 60,000 80, , , , , ,000 5,00010,00015,00020,00025,000 0 Downloads Track Rank Rhapsody Music Downloads (for the number of titles equivalent to Wal-Mart inventory)

The Long Tail continued Downloads Track Rank (Thousands) But It Keeps Going… (rank 25,000 to 100,000)

The Long Tail Continued Downloads Track Rank (Thousands) …And Going (rank 100,000 to 800,000)

The Long Tail Key Messages Information Discovery is the key to producing a Long Tail. If consumers are able to discover the content then there will be interest “Filters are people or software that help you find what you want in the long tail, driving demand from hits to niches” (C. Anderson) Katherine Mossman (Library Journal, July, 2006) points out that in the Long Tail model Librarians and Libraries play a key role –Libraries act as almost limitless inventory collections –Librarians act as search filters –Collection management by Librarians is a constant work in progress

How does The Long Tail Apply to Scholarly Content Electronic content offerings allow of almost limitless content types, publishers and consumers Global information marketplace is able to quickly reach a global audience (over 65,000 publishers worldwide) Indexes, impact factors, publication types still generate “Hits” or “Best Sellers” which drive the publishing world, but this model is changing Slight shift from content is king to customer is king, customers using statistics will determine what they want to buy

Information Discovery Drives Change Bibliographic databases Review Materials Search – Federation, Google, In context Institutional Repositories Standards – new publishing models

Statistics (usage) drives the new dynamic Usage becomes the most significant variable when determining collections Understanding how to measure and what to measure is still a significant challenge Information marketplace is beginning to address the relevance of statistics

Evaluating Usage Statistics (traditional) Result: An overwhelming process: Libraries must collect, consolidate, and analyze usage statistics, and create reports from multiple content providers Result: An overwhelming process: Libraries must collect, consolidate, and analyze usage statistics, and create reports from multiple content providers Library Collects & Consolidates Data Generates reports for analysis

COUNTER + SUSHI + ScholarlyStats – Vendor can now consolidate statistics and generate reports for libraries through automated web processes – Greatly reduces time and effort – Enables efficient, accurate data evaluation for informed decision making – Vendor can now consolidate statistics and generate reports for libraries through automated web processes – Greatly reduces time and effort – Enables efficient, accurate data evaluation for informed decision making

Evaluating Usage Statistics: Driving greater efficiency Library Partnership with ScholarlyStats – Web-based portal, providing a single point of access to an organization’s usage statistics from multiple content providers – Aggregates usage data into overviews and reports on a monthly basis – Allows organizations to easily analyze usage statistics per journal, per publisher, per database, and per platform in COUNTER compliant formats Partnership with ScholarlyStats – Web-based portal, providing a single point of access to an organization’s usage statistics from multiple content providers – Aggregates usage data into overviews and reports on a monthly basis – Allows organizations to easily analyze usage statistics per journal, per publisher, per database, and per platform in COUNTER compliant formats Example

Discovery and Statistics are the Key In order to reap the benefits of a Long Tail and the intellectual returns that this phenomena generates researchers must discover all relevant content In order to manage the Long Tail phenomena in the information marketplace statistics (usage) is a critical factor Institutions must be able to measure the ROI on content purchases and continue to make the right choices for their constituents

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