ETAS Usage Reports

The Emergency Temporary Access Service provides HathiTrust and its members a unique opportunity to monitor service usage at their institution. Because we do not typically require users to log in to access the HathiTrust Digital Library, it is not possible to provide accurate data regarding overall use of HathiTrust at member institutions. However, the log in session required to use temporary access titles via ETAS has made it possible for HathiTrust to provide this information to members.

Accessing ETAS Usage Reports

An automatic email is sent weekly on Wednesdays to ETAS contacts with a link to access the Dropbox folder specific to their institution. The folder contains two separate reports on ETAS usage at their library. The reports cover the period from the date of service activation through the current week. They are tab-limited files in Text format and should be opened in Excel. (See instructions below for details on how to do this in Windows and Mac.)

ETAS Usage Reports Overview
Use by ETAS Item = etas_usage_report_[your institution]_[date].txt

This report shows check-outs by user count and subsequent renewal information within a 24- hour period. Only logged-in users who complete a check-out of an item are counted.

UNIQUE — Number of logged-in users checking out an item
RENEWALS — Number of total renewal occurrences
ITEMS — Number of unique items (May be fewer than the number of unique users if more than one user checked-out a single item.)

All ETAS Items = etas_item_report_[your institution]_[date]

This report lists ALL ETAS titles used by your institution. It includes only those labeled Temporary Access, e.g. NOT Full-View items. It is NOT a list of ALL titles accessed by users at your institution. While there are many fields in the report, there are a few fields that may of particular interest:

unique/day = This count represents Unique Users of an item. So if it shows 4 in that column, it indicates 4 different people.

renewals/day = This column represents cumulative check-outs of an item. Because this count represents a 24-hour-period and rolls over at midnight, it is possible to show “0” in a unique/day column and a “4” in the Renewals column for that same day. This occurs when a patron “Checks-out” an ETAS title late on one day (say 11:45 pm) and the item renews on the following day (e.g. 12:15 am). The check-out does not occur on the same day the items is renewed. You can check this by looking at the item’s unique/day count from the previous date.

This list includes items checked out only by members affiliated with your institution. The titles are matched at the OCLC-number level with a corresponding date. You will see duplicates because many were checked out multiple times since the service was activated. The report includes other details to facilitate record-matching and other activities reliant on the bibliographic record. For a detailed description of the fields in the report, please see the Hathifiles webpage.

Using the Reports
Members may consider using ETAS Usage reports to assess what portion of print holdings are being used as electronic material; to break down the usage into broad subject categories; to look into buying backlist ebook packages; and to identify new cataloguing methods.

For more detailed information on the titles available to your patrons through ETAS, you can refer to the Overlap Report for your library which can be found in the same Dropbox folder: overlap_[your institution]_[date] This report shows the overlap of your print collection with the current HathiTrust collection. Find more information on the HathiTrust Overlap Reports.

FAQ
What if I want someone else to receive the reports?

The link you received in the initial email is open to anyone at your institution. You may share it with them to permit their access to the folder and the reports.

Is HathiTrust gathering personal information about users?

HathiTrust gathers limited data about user activity in order to resolve problems and maintain our systems, as described in our privacy policy. We do not share data that identifies individuals beyond HathiTrust staff. Read our Privacy Policy.

Where is HathiTrust getting the data?

We obtain the data in the ETAS usage reports through our application log tracking on Temporary Access titles.

I don’t see the kind of data I’m looking for. Can I request other reports?

You may submit a request to support@hathitrust.org. While we aim to provide as much data as possible, we are unlikely to be able to respond quickly to all requests. We will prioritize providing reports or data requested by multiple institutions.

Can I get access to the raw data?

The raw data is available only to HathiTrust staff.

How do I open the files?

Instructions for Windows

* Download files from Box and save to your desktop

* Open Excel

* Click the “Open” menu and then click “Browse” to find the files

* On a Windows computer, this brings up the directory of files on my computer. I then have to change the type of files it’s looking for. By default, it initially displays only Excel files, and I have to either change to All Files or Text Files to display .txt files

* Find and select the usage report and click Open

* You’ll then be prompted to follow a “Text import wizard” and have to indicate how the files are delimited and the column data format before you can click Finish

* The file should then open in Excel.

Instructions for Mac

* Download files from Box and save to your desktop

* Open Excel

* Click the File menu and then click Open to browse recent files.

* This brings up the directory of files on your computer. Find your desktop and select your txt files.

* The files should then open in Excel.