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COUNTER, SUSHI

Project COUNTER

COUNTER provides the standard that enables the knowledge community to count the use of electronic resources. Known as the Code of Practice, the standard ensures vendors and publishers can provide their library customers with consistent, credible and comparable usage data.

SUSHI harvesting

SUSHI (Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative) is an ANSI / NISO Standard that defines automated request and response model for harvesting e-resource usage data. CC-PLUS harvests reports using the The COUNTER 5 SUSHI API, in which the vendor provides a SUSHI-compliant server and the user runs client software to harvest the reports from the server.

Per the COUNTER Code of Practices 5.0.2, 8.2 Authentication and Security for COUNTER_SUSHI API:

  • The COUNTER_SUSHI API MUST be implemented using TLS (HTTPS).
  • The API MUST be secured using one or more of the following methods:
    • Combination of customer ID and requestor ID
    • IP address of the SUSHI client
    • API key assigned to the organization harvesting the usage
  • Non-standard techniques for authentication (techniques not specified in the COUNTER_SUSHI API specification) MUST NOT be used.
  • If IP address authentication is implemented, it MUST allow the same SUSHI client (a single IP address) to harvest usage for multiple customer accounts (e.g. hosted ERM services).

KYVL is working to automate harvests in CC-PLUS for KYVL's SUSHI-compliant vendors -- Britannica, EBSCO, Gale and ProQuest -- for KYVL institutional members, which include school districts, public library systems, and colleges and universities. KYVL members wishing to automate harvesting of COUNTER 5 reports for other SUSHI-compliant vendors or at the school, branch or campus level may reach out to KYVL at kyvl@ky.gov.

Required vendor data includes vendor name, SUSH endpoint and reports to be harvested. Sources of vendor SUSHI data include:

Institution-specific credentials are also required. These vary by vendor and may include one or more of customer ID, requestor ID, API key and requestor IP address.

Those wishing to test their settings may register to use the COUNTER R5 Validation Tool currently under development.

CC-PLUS SUSHI providers