The 2019 white paper, “Exploring Open Access Ebook Usage” produced by the Book Industry Study Group, described how difficult it is for individuals and institutions to access complete usage data – views and downloads – for open access ebooks. The authors recommended the creation of a data trust, a community-developed shared resource that would feed all sources of usage data into a single platform. The trust would maintain the platform, ensuring that industry stakeholders who collect usage data would keep their data up to date and that individual and institutional consumers of the data adhered to ethical norms for use of metrics and any use of the data licensing. Educopia responded to this recommendation, described in Developing a Pilot Data Trust for Open Access eBook Usage. The pilot data trust is now in its first stages of formation: “Through December 2021, this pilot project will develop and test infrastructure, policy and governance models to support a diverse, global data trust for usage data on open access (OA) monographs.” You are invited to contribute comments to the discussion forums and working groups on a variety of aspects. More information about the project is available within the grant narrative and Data Management Plan.
