SUSHI Tools & Other Aids

SUSHIStarters client from JISC
The SUSHIStarters client is a 'beginners', free, open source programme with a web-based user interface to support the downloading/retrieval of COUNTER-compliant SUSHI reports. The SUSHI client consists of a series of web-forms and guidance notes that 'walk' users through the steps and parameters needed to connect successfully to the SUSHI servers and download the reports of a number of major vendors. The client is configurable to make it possible to extend the range of included vendors over time. Installation and usage procedures for the client have been kept simple and documented to ensure its widest possible use. The SUSHIStarters code is available from http://cclibweb-4.dmz.cranfield.ac.uk/projects/sushistarters/downloads/

MISO: Serials Solutions' Open-Source Code for SUSHI Client
Supporting NISO's Standard Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative Protocol (http://www.niso.org/workrooms/sushi), the Serials Solutions open source SUSHI client code will enable libraries to build consistent, stable, and standards-based tools. It is the first release of what the maintenance committee hopes will be many open source toolkits for libraries.

Content providers must implement SUSHI by the end of August 2009 in order to remain compliant with Release 3 of the COUNTER Code of Practice for Journals and Databases. Libraries or content providers interested in the Serials Solutions open source SUSHI client can access the code at http://code.google.com/p/sushicounterclient/. See the full press release here.

EBSCO's SUSHI Software Development Kit (SDK): Open-Source Code for SUSHI Server and Client
http://code.google.com/p/ebscosushisdk/
This SUSHI SDK (software development kit), from EBSCOs developer Richard Carruthers, is now available on Google Code and is available for use under the new BSD license. The project description is: "This SDK includes .Net classes that will facilitate working with COUNTER 3.0 data and SUSHI 1.6 services. Whether the intended solution is a SUSHI client or server, these classes will provide the groundwork to allow developers to focus on the logic rather than implementing the standard."
 
The package contains documentation, source code, a sample client, and a sample server.  As the documentation suggests, the sample client is "the simplest of samples" - it does basic request and viewing of a COUNTER report and does not have the validation and error handling provided by the MISO client (see below).
 
The sample server allows pre-formatted COUNTER reports to be delivered from a folder (it works with the MISO client).  While the sample server is not intended to be used as a production tool, the source code does provide a framework that should help with more rapid development of a production server.

SUSHI Harvester for Consortia
http://www.niso.org/apps/group_public/download.php/4774/SUSHI-Harvester.zip
The SUSHI Harvester for Consortia is a free Microsoft Access application from EBSCO that leverages the MISO SUSHI client (see above) to help consortia automate gathering their COUNTER compliant usage statistics. With SUSHI Harvester a consortium can: organize the usage-related details of their content providers and consortium members; and, harvest all consortium members usage reports from a content provider with a single click of a button. A zip file containing the SUSHI Harvester and documentation is available for download here.

Understanding Infrastructure: Dynamics, Tensions, and Design
http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/49353#
This NSF final report of the workshop, "History and Theory of Infrastructure: Lessons for New Scientific Cyberinfrastructures" creates a nice big context (and some handy vocabulary, too) for standards efforts such as SUSHI.

How to Start Building A SUSHI Service
http://docs.google.com/View?docid=d2dhjwd_140d923m7fh
This draft document by Tommy Barker, Software Engineer, IT & Digital Development, at the University of Pennsylvania Library, is a work in progress -- and a valuable tool for those interested in getting started with building a client. As it states in the beginning, "Before building a SUSHI client, it is a good idea to first test the service with reliable third party tools to see if it is working properly. Additionally, you will have a sample request and response to help model your client." This aims to show how

SUSHI Toolkit & Web Client from University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania recently put together a client to harvest SUSHI1.6/COUNTER 3.0 data. We have decided to release it to the SUSHI community under the Apache 2 License. Currently it is a beta release and only has been tested against Project Euclid. So as SUSHI services become available, we suspect we will have to address several bugs. It is written in Java, but since many languages target the JVM, you should be able to use other languages such as Ruby, Python or Groovy.

COUNTER-Compliant Vendors
http://www.projectcounter.org/compliantvendors.html
With Release 3 of COUNTER, compliance with COUNTER also requires the ability to send reports via SUSHI. The deadline for compliance with Release 3 was August 31, 2009. The Release 3 COUNTER-compliant vendors list hosted at COUNTER will therefore also indicate those vendors who have implemented and are compliant with SUSHI.

Stepwise Guide to COUNTER Compliance
http://www.projectcounter.org/documents/COUNTER_compliance_stepwise_guide.pdf
This guide is designed to take content providers step-by-step through the process of becoming COUNTER compliant.