Usage statistics and scholarly communications

High quality, comparable usage statistics are either available, or
just around the corner, thanks to COUNTER and SUSHI. Librarians are
very aware of the need for, and benefits of, usage statistics. This
article will touch on the benefits of usage statistics, but focus
primarily on some serious potential dangers to scholarship if these
statistics are used as a basis for economic decisions. The most
serious danger arises from usage-based pricing, which inevitably
discourages use. Basing purchasing and canceling decisions on usage
statistics can have enormous implications for scholarship; for
example, there are important areas of research, such as endangered
species and rare diseases, where the number of potential readers may
be small.