1. Alma Analytics Usage
Yoel Kortick | Senior Librarian

2. Agenda 1
Introduction 2
Sample DB useful reports in the Usage Data 3
Sample Journal useful reports in the Usage Data 4
Sample Book useful reports in the Usage Data 5
Sample useful reports on electronic resource usage trends

3. Introduction

4. Introduction
Both the “Cost Usage” and “Usage Data” subject areas take information which is loaded in COUNTER format by the institution into UStat.
Therefore these subject areas will have data only if the institution uses UStat to load relevant, institution-specific vendor usage statistics data.
For more information regarding UStat (an Ex Libris usage statistics service) see

5. Introduction
While future development plans do include the option to load the COUNTER reports directly into Alma, at the time of this presentation (Jan. 2016) the data is loaded into UStat and then extracted, transferred and loaded into Alma analytics.
The extract from Ustat to Alma Analytics occurs on a weekly basis (unlike all other ETL which is daily).

6. Introduction
The “Usage Data” subject area is typically used to ascertain the following information:
Most frequently used journals, databases and electronic books
Trends in usage of these electronic resources
Number of successful requests per resource, publisher and platform
Total number of searches and sessions
As we will see each type of resource has different measures. These are dependent on the COUNTER format and not on the design of Alma or Alma analytics.

7. Introduction
The “Usage Data” subject area currently supports the following formats from Ustat:
Book Report 1 (BR1)
Book Report 2 (BR2)
Journals (JR1)
Databases (DB1)

8. Introduction
At the current time there are 23 “Out of the box” sample “Usage Data” reports in the ‘Alma” folder of Alma analytics.
These reports are also included in a default Usage Dashboard

9. In includes all four types of reports
Introduction
Here is a filter on the “Usage Data Details > Material Type Indicator”
In includes all four types of reports
The data can be filtered by any one or more of the four types

10. Introduction
Each file which is loaded into UStat contains a ID of the specific file:

11. Introduction
The unique identifier of the file which was loaded to Ustat then extracted, transferred and loaded to Alma analytics.

12. Introduction
While the usage data Subject area contains many measures, only certain ones apply to certain formats (material types)
The measures in the Usage data subject area.

13. Introduction Measure Used by Material Type Journal Usage Counter
DB Searches DB
DB Sessions
DB Federated Searches
DB Federated Sessions
Title Identifier Count
Book report 1, Book Report 2, Journal and DB
Records Views
Result Clicks
Success Section Requests
Book Report 2
Success Title Requests
Book Report 1

14. Introduction
For example here is a simple report showing each material type and the relevant measures with no filters
This report is merely for the purpose of seeing which measures apply to which material types)

15. Introduction Measure Definition Journal Usage Counter
Successful full text article requests.
DB Searches
Successful database searches
DB Sessions
DB sessions. DB session is the period of activity between a user logging in to database and logging out of a (multi-user) system.
DB Federated Searches
DB Federated searches (done as part of a federated search which simultaneously searches multiple resources)
DB Federated Sessions
DB Federated sessions
Title Identifier Count
Unique title identifiers
Records Views
Successful requests for a database record. The request could have originated from 1. a set of search results, 2. from browsing the database, or 3. from a click on another database record.
Result Clicks
A click originating from a set of search results.
Success Section Requests
Successful section requests by title for Book Report 2. See:
Success Title Requests
Successful title requests by title for the Book Report 1.

16. Introduction
We will now begin creating reports which can help us to analyze the usage of the electronic resources.
This analysis has the specific goal of maximizing our resources so as to purchase the most needed and used resources thereby
Saving money
Satisfying the needs of the library users
We will make reports for databases, journals and electronic books, analyzing which publishers, platforms and titles are the most and least used.

17. Introduction
Each report will analyze the previous calendar year via the following filter:
"Usage Date"."Year Key" = YEAR(TIMESTAMPADD(SQL_TSI_YEAR, -1, CURRENT_DATE))
When publishers are listed the data from the COUNTER reports will be cleaned via the following REPLACE function:
REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE("Publisher"."Publisher", '"', '"'), '&', '&'), '“', '"'), '”', '"'), 'É', 'É')
Thus for example
instead of Éditions Klincksieck we will have Éditions Klincksieck
Instead of "Vasile Goldis" University Press we will have "Vasile Goldis" University Press
Instead of A&V Publications we will have A&V Publications

18. Introduction
Note that all reports created here are in the community folder under shared reports > > reports > usage

19. 1 2 3 4 5 Agenda Sample DB useful reports in the Usage Data
Introduction 2
Sample DB useful reports in the Usage Data 3
Sample Journal useful reports in the Usage Data 4
Sample Book useful reports in the Usage Data 5
Sample useful reports on electronic resource usage trends

20. Sample DB useful reports in the Usage Data
These three reports list all database titles, publishers and platforms with 10 or less searches in the previous calendar year. This might be a good starting point for canceling subscriptions.
The reports are very similar and differ primarily only in that one displays the titles, another displays the publishers and the other displays the platforms

21. Sample DB useful reports in the Usage Data
Here is the criteria tab for “Usage Data - Database 10 or less searches by title in the previous calendar year”.
Usage data subject area
The similar reports have the publisher or platform here
SQL filter to always bring previous calendar year

22. Sample DB useful reports in the Usage Data
The report on the previous slide “Usage Data - Database 10 or less searches by title in the previous calendar year” uses the following measures:
DB Searches
DB Federated Searches
These measures either have a value or are empty (null).
In order to be able to sum them together the empty ones were changed to 0
This was done by doing ‘edit formula’ and using the following case conditions:
CASE "Usage Data Details"."DB Searches" WHEN NULL THEN 0 ELSE "Usage Data Details"."DB Searches" END
CASE "Usage Data Details"."DB Federated Searches" WHEN NULL THEN 0 ELSE "Usage Data Details"."DB Federated Searches" END

23. Sample DB useful reports in the Usage Data
Edit formula on the measures

24. Sample DB useful reports in the Usage Data
Another measure was then created which is the sum of DB Searches + DB Federated Searches
It adds the two measures together as follows
CASE "Usage Data Details"."DB Searches" WHEN NULL THEN 0 ELSE "Usage Data Details"."DB Searches" END + CASE "Usage Data Details"."DB Federated Searches" WHEN NULL THEN 0 ELSE "Usage Data Details"."DB Federated Searches" END

25. Sample DB useful reports in the Usage Data
The measure “DB Searches + DB Federated Searches” is then filtered to be 10 or less

26. Sample DB useful reports in the Usage Data
And here are the results
Considering that there have been 10 or less searches on these in the previous calendar year the library may considering canceling subscriptions.

27. Sample DB useful reports in the Usage Data
The next three reports list all database titles, publishers and platforms with the top 5 searches in the previous calendar year.
This is a good way for the library to determine which resources are being the “most used”
The reports are very similar to the previous reports we saw but instead of filtering “DB Searches + DB Federated Searches” the by “10 or less searches” it filters by number of searches being in the top 5

28. Sample DB useful reports in the Usage Data

29. Sample DB useful reports in the Usage Data
Here is the criteria tab for “Usage Data - Database top 5 searches by platform in the previous calendar year”.
Filters by the sum of the searches is in the top 5

30. Sample DB useful reports in the Usage Data
And here are the results
ProQuest has far more searches than all other platforms combined

31. 1 2 3 4 5 Agenda Sample Journal useful reports in the Usage Data
Introduction 2
Sample DB useful reports in the Usage Data 3
Sample Journal useful reports in the Usage Data 4
Sample Book useful reports in the Usage Data 5
Sample useful reports on electronic resource usage trends

32. Sample Journal useful reports in the Usage Data
The previous 6 reports showed:
Titles, Publishers and Platforms with 10 or less searches (least searched) for databases
Titles, Publishers and Platforms for the top 5 number of searches (most searched) for databases
The same reports can be done also for Journals
The only difference is to use the measure “Journal Usage Counter” instead of the combined measure “DB Searches + DB Federated Searches”

33. Sample Journal useful reports in the Usage Data
Here is the criteria tab for “Usage Data – Journal 10 or less searches by platform in the previous calendar year”.
Displays and filters by Journal usage counter instead of the combined DB search measure which was previously used

34. Sample Journal useful reports in the Usage Data
And here are the results

35. Sample Journal useful reports in the Usage Data
Here is the criteria tab for “Usage Data - Journal top 5 searches by publisher in the previous calendar year”.
Sorts descending so the resulting graph will look nice
Displays and filters by Journal usage counter

36. Sample Journal useful reports in the Usage Data
And here are the results

37. 1 2 3 4 5 Agenda Sample Book useful reports in the Usage Data
Introduction 2
Sample DB useful reports in the Usage Data 3
Sample Journal useful reports in the Usage Data 4
Sample Book useful reports in the Usage Data 5
Sample useful reports on electronic resource usage trends

38. Sample Book useful reports in the Usage Data
The previous 12 reports showed:
Titles, Publishers and Platforms with 10 or less searches (least searched) for databases and journals.
Titles, Publishers and Platforms for the top 5 number of searches (most searched) databases and journals.
The same types of reports can be done also for Electronic Books.

39. Sample Book useful reports in the Usage Data
As previously stated, the measures used for Books are
Success Section Requests (for "Book Report 2")
Success Title Requests (for "Book Report 1")
In some cases the same publisher or title will have data in both of these measures even for the same year

40. Sample Book useful reports in the Usage Data
Example of publishers with data in both “Success Section Requests” ("Book Report 2") and “Success Title Requests” ("Book Report 1")

41. Sample Book useful reports in the Usage Data
Example of titles with data in both “Success Section Requests” ("Book Report 2") and “Success Title Requests” ("Book Report 1")

42. Sample Book useful reports in the Usage Data
Example of platforms with data in both “Success Section Requests” ("Book Report 2") and “Success Title Requests” ("Book Report 1")

43. Sample Book useful reports in the Usage Data
Because data exists in both of the measures we will combine these measures into a new combined measure and make reports based on this combined measure.
This is similar to what was done for the DB reports.
The combined measure will be called “Success Section Requests + Success Title Requests”

44. Sample Book useful reports in the Usage Data
The combined measure will be called “Success Section Requests + Success Title Requests” and will be made from the formula on the following slide.
The CASE is used to change all values which are NULL to 0 so that the calculated SUM can be made

45. Sample Book useful reports in the Usage Data
CASE "Usage Data Details"."Success Section Requests" WHEN NULL THEN 0 ELSE "Usage Data Details"."Success Section Requests" END + CASE "Usage Data Details"."Success Title Requests" WHEN NULL THEN 0 ELSE "Usage Data Details"."Success Title Requests" END

46. Sample Book useful reports in the Usage Data
Now that we have the combined sum we can make similar reports for books to what we made for Databases and Journals.
We will make three reports for results with less than 10 searches: by publisher, title and platform. These may be used for consideration of what may be cancelled.
We will also make three reports for results with top 5 amount of searches: by publisher, title and platform. These may be used to determine what types of materials are used by patrons

47. Sample Book useful reports in the Usage Data

48. Sample Book useful reports in the Usage Data
Here is the criteria tab for “Usage Data – Books 10 or less searches by platform in the previous calendar year”.
Displays and filters by the sum of Success Section Requests + Success Title Requests

49. Sample Book useful reports in the Usage Data
And here are the results

50. Sample Book useful reports in the Usage Data
Here is the criteria tab for “Usage Data – Books top 5 searches by publisher in the previous calendar year”.
Displays and filters by the sum of Success Section Requests + Success Title Requests

51. Sample Book useful reports in the Usage Data
And here are the results

52. Agenda 1
Introduction 2
Sample DB useful reports in the Usage Data 3
Sample Journal useful reports in the Usage Data 4
Sample Book useful reports in the Usage Data 5
Sample useful reports on electronic resource usage trends

53. Sample useful reports on electronic resource usage trends
It is possible to combine the previous reports with additional data from the “Usage Date” dimension.
It is important if doing this by years to ensure that there really is data for all the years covered. If for example the library began loading COUNTER reports in 2014 for data from 2014 onwards then a report comparing years would not be accurate

54. Sample useful reports on electronic resource usage trends
We are now creating a report called “Usage Data - Trends by month for the previous two calendar years”
For this specific report we will combine all search measures used here for DB, Journals and electronic books into one measure.
We will call it “all search measures combined”
It will do a CASE on each search measure so that when it is NULL it will change to 0, then they will all be added together

55. Sample useful reports on electronic resource usage trends
Here is the formula
CASE "Usage Data Details"."Success Section Requests" WHEN NULL THEN 0 ELSE "Usage Data Details"."Success Section Requests" END +
CASE "Usage Data Details"."Success Title Requests" WHEN NULL THEN 0 ELSE "Usage Data Details"."Success Title Requests" END +
CASE "Usage Data Details"."DB Searches" WHEN NULL THEN 0 ELSE "Usage Data Details"."DB Searches" END +
CASE "Usage Data Details"."DB Federated Searches" WHEN NULL THEN 0 ELSE "Usage Data Details"."DB Federated Searches" END +
CASE "Usage Data Details"."Journal Usage Counter" WHEN NULL THEN 0 ELSE "Usage Data Details"."Journal Usage Counter" END

56. Sample useful reports on electronic resource usage trends

57. Sample useful reports on electronic resource usage trends
Here we test it and see that it is the sum of all other search measures

58. Sample useful reports on electronic resource usage trends
Now we will use this search measure and check monthly usage for the past two calendar years
We will get the last two calendar years with this filter:
"Usage Date"."Year Key" BETWEEN YEAR(TIMESTAMPADD(SQL_TSI_YEAR, -2, CURRENT_DATE)) AND YEAR(TIMESTAMPADD(SQL_TSI_YEAR, -1, CURRENT_DATE))
We will display the Year Key, Month Key, and the combined measure.

59. Sample useful reports on electronic resource usage trends
This is the combined measure
The filter for the last two years

60. Sample useful reports on electronic resource usage trends
Now we will use this search measure and check monthly usage for the past two calendar years
We will get the last two calendar years with this filter:
"Usage Date"."Year Key" BETWEEN YEAR(TIMESTAMPADD(SQL_TSI_YEAR, -2, CURRENT_DATE)) AND YEAR(TIMESTAMPADD(SQL_TSI_YEAR, -1, CURRENT_DATE))
We will display the Year Key, Month Key, and the combined measure.

61. Sample useful reports on electronic resource usage trends
In the results tab we see consistent trends of high peak usage in April, May, Sept. and Oct.
Low peak usage Jan., July and Dec. and May

62. THANK YOU