Usage Statistics for Web Editions Customers

["Menefee, Daviess (ELS)" <D.Menefee@elsevier.com>]

*Please excuse the cross posting.*

Recently there was posted to these lists a comment from a customer
regarding the omission of usage statistics for ScienceDirect Web Editions
Customers. The comment also suggested, erroneously, that COUNTER
compliancy was involved in the question since Web Editions was moving to
the ScienceDirect platform.

Elsevier provides COUNTER compliant statistics for all ScienceDirect
Complete and Standard customers.  The Standard contract level was reported
in the original posting as not being eligible for usage statistics but the
fact is that all Standard customers do indeed receive them.  Web Editions'
customers, however, do not.  The Web Editions product was conceived as a
service to complement the print format and to enable libraries to begin to
experiment with electronic journals at no additional cost.  Usage
statistics are quite costly to implement.  Web Editions was neither
designed nor developed to provide usage statistics no matter on what
platform it rests. Elsevier does not intend to reverse this policy.  
Elsevier will, though, continue to support COUNTER and make the growing
number of its other online products as COUNTER compliant as quickly as it
possibly and reasonably can.

Daviess Menefee
Library Relations