Open Access: Knowledge Unlatched Releases Geolocational Data Pilot for OA Books

From Knowledge Unlatched:

Knowledge Unlatched (KU) is excited to announce the launch of geolocational data for its Open Access e-books.
There are always concerns whether a university library is investing in the right content. Yet how can credible usage data be captured in an Open Access environment where patrons can read from anywhere? We have addressed this issue by combining the usage from researchers within the IP range of each library with COUNTER-compliant geolocational data. Downloads of books that have been unlatched can now be assessed in an easier way.
[Clip]
The geolocational data allows for more specific observation of the usage of KU’s content. For instance, data shows that institutional downloads we retrieve only represent approx. 15% of the total downloads for both the Pilot and Round 2 titles, or 19,979 of 131,064 downloads; therefore libraries considerably contribute to the dissemination of knowledge in a broader sense.
[Clip]
In addition, KU can now reveal the further download figures for Pilot and Round 2 titles that have been unlatched. Overall, there have been 131,064 downloads of the Pilot and Round 2 titles in at least 180 countries. These COUNTER-compliant statistics are from the OAPEN platform. This averages to 1,205 downloads per book. In addition, HathiTrust, KU’s other official host, has reported a further 9,312 individual page views for books in the Pilot and Round 2 collections.
An interactive map showing downloads and geolocational data from OAPEN’s platform, as well as statistics for OAPEN and HathiTrust downloads can be found on our usage stastatistics page here.
Data Access
An interactive map showing downloads and geolocational data from OAPEN’s platform, as well as statistics for OAPEN and HathiTrust downloads can be found on our usage statistics page here.
Libraries who supported the unlatching of the Pilot and Round 2 titles receive their own institutional usage statistics report based on their IP addresses at app.knowledgeunlatched.org

Filed under: Academic Libraries, Data Files, Libraries, News, Open Access, Patrons and Users