Resources

Overview

The reports contain two main categories: statistics about searches and statistics about downloads. Reports will contain the monthly statistics for each category as well as cumulative statistics for the calendar year and since VertNet started tracking each metric.

There are 6 distinct metrics in the search category including: # of searches that retrieved data, the # of records retrieved, and a list of queries terms that retrieved data from your resources. The download category contains 7 distinct metrics including the # of download events and the total # of records downloaded.

The search category statistics include those records that were viewed on-screen by a user via the VertNet portal. Thus, if a user queries Sus scrofa and looks only at the first page of 100 records, ONLY those 100 records will be tallied in their respective institutional usage reports. If a user loads more results, those additional records will be tallied. In the Download domain, ALL of the records included in the downloaded dataset, regardless of whether or not they were seen on screen, will be tallied. In essence, the Search stats tell you what users actually see, while the Download stats tell you what they take with them.

Usage reports will be posted to GitHub on the first of every month detailing the previous month’s activity. Publishers will get a unique report for each dataset that they've published and shared with VertNet.

Example Report

Values are fictitious

Report for Institution Code XXXX, Resource xxxx
Usage stats for Month, Year, generated on YYYY/MM/DD

SEARCHES (will start to appear on the report for April’s usage):

(1) Number of searches that retrieved data from the resource: 17
(2) Number of records retrieved in searches: 102
(3) Number of different countries where searches have been originated: 3

(4) Origin of the queries that retrieved data from the resource:
Country: Brazil ; Times: 2
Country: Canada ; Times: 1
Country: United States ; Times: 14

(5) Dates of the queries that retrieved data from the resource:
Date: 2014-03-29 ; Times: 3
Date: 2014-03-30 ; Times: 2
Date: 2014-03-31 ; Times: 12

(6) List of queries that retrieved data from the resource:
Query: ""puffinus carneipes"" ; Times: 1
Query: "stateprovince:"colima" country:"mexico" year >= 1994 year <= 2000" ; Times: 1

DOWNLOADS:

(1) Number of download events that retrieved data from the resource: 28 (out of 81 download events in this period)
(2) Total number of records downloaded: 2461 (out of 835908 records downloaded for all resources in this period)
(3) Total number of unique records downloaded: 2078
(4) Number of different countries: 4

(5) Origin of the queries that retrieved data from the resource:
Country: Canada ; Times: 1
Country: Germany ; Times: 1
Country: United Kingdom ; Times: 1
Country: United States ; Times: 25

(6) Dates of the queries that retrieved data from the resource:
Date: 2014-03-02 ; Times: 1
Date: 2014-03-06 ; Times: 1
Date: 2014-03-07 ; Times: 2

(7) List of queries that retrieved data from the resource:
Query: "Aquila chrysaetos" ; Times: 2
Query: "sus scrofa" ; Times: 2
Query: "length class:Mammalia" ; Times: 1
Query: "sus scrofa institutioncode:utep OR CRCM OR hsu OR lacm OR msb OR mvz OR uam OR ummz OR nysm OR psm OR amnh OR cas OR uczm OR ucmp OR fmnh OR ku OR sbmnh OR cuml OR lsumz OR ubcbbm OR mcz OR rom OR tcwc OR nmnh OR dmns OR ccber OR isu OR flmnh" ; Times: 1
Query: "weight class:Mammalia" ; Times: 1
Query: "Anura country:Gabon" ; Times: 1

CUMULATIVE VALUES FOR THIS YEAR:

(1) Number of search events that retrieved data from the resource: 10
(2) Total number of records retrieved from searches: 1365
(3) Number of download events that retrieved data from the resource: 101
(4) Total number of records downloaded: 24162

CUMULATIVE VALUES SINCE THE BEGINNING:

(1) Number of search events that retrieved data from the resource: 23
(2) Total number of records retrieved from searches: 24135
(3) Number of download events that retrieved data from the resource: 215
(4) Total number of records downloaded: 52624

End of report.

Searches Explanation

1. Number of searches that retrieved data from the resource. The amount of times a search event pulled any record from the specified resource to the results shown on screen.
2. Number of records retrieved in searches. The amount of times any record from the specified institution has appeared on the screen during a search.
   
   

   It is important to notice that these two values reflect only those resources and records that have effectively appeared on the screen, whether directly or by hitting the “Load more” button, and will not count those that might have been retrieved by the search but have not appeared on the screen. We have done this distinction because we believe those records that do not appear on the screen are not being actually used.

3. Number of different countries. The amount of individual countries that have retrieved data from the specified resource in the given period.
4. Breakdown of the individual countries, counting how many times they have searched for records from the specified resource.
5. Breakdown of dates when queries where made, with the number of searches each day.
6. Breakdown of query terms. These are the actual queries that were performed and which retrieved data from the specified resource. It also shows the number of times that query has been performed.

Downloads Explanation

1. Number of download events that retrieved data from the resource. The amount of times any record from the specified resource has appeared in a download. The number in parenthesis is how many result sets have been downloaded in total in the network, in the given period. We believe this is helpful to see the proportion of all the download events that have records from a particular resource.
2. Total number of records downloaded. The amount of times any record from the specified resource has been downloaded. The number in parenthesis is the total amount of records that have been downloaded from the VertNet network in the given period.
3. Total number of unique records downloaded. The number of individual records from the specified resource that have been downloaded. We believe this is helpful to calculate the proportion of the total volume of the specified resource that has been downloaded.
   
   

   The main difference between (3) and (2) can be better explained with an example: If your resource has 3 records, 'a', 'b' and 'c', and 'a' is downloaded 3 times and 'b' is downloaded once, (2) would be 4, because there have been 4 downloaded records, but (3) would be 2, because only records 'a' and 'b' have been downloaded.

4. Number of different countries. The amount of individual countries that have downloaded data from the specified resource in the given period.
5. Breakdown of the individual countries, counting how many times they have downloaded records from the specified resource.
6. Breakdown of dates when queries where made, with the number of downloads each day.
7. Breakdown of query terms. These are the actual queries that were performed and which retrieved data from the specified resource. It also shows the number of times that query has been performed.

Cumulative Values Explanation (for the year and the whole history of the portal)

1. Number of search events that retrieved data from the resource. How many times the resource has appeared in any search event in the specified period.
2. Total number of records retrieved from searches. How many records from the specified resource have been pulled to the screen in any search event in the specified period.
3. Number of download events that retrieved data from the resource. How many times any record from the specified resource has appeared in a download event in the specified period.
4. Total number of records downloaded. How many records from the specified resource have appeared in all download events in the specified period.