Safari Books Online, a US-based e-reference joint venture between publishers O'Reilly Media, Inc. and Pearson Technology Group, has announced enhancements to its services with the release of Safari 5.8. The latest version of Safari includes COUNTER (Counting Online Usage of Networked Electronic Resources) compliance and the support of additional video formats. Both upgrades are expected to allow Safari to more completely meet the needs of enterprise and individual subscribers.
COUNTER compliance validates that the online usage reports Safari supplies to customers comply with the most recent COUNTER Code of Practices. The Code stipulates a set of standards publishers must meet in order to record and report statistics consistently and credibly. Safari now provides data to librarians in a format they want, compare the relative usage of different delivery channels, aggregate data for customers using multiple delivery channels and learn more about genuine usage patterns. Librarians and line managers can now expect to compare aggregated and anonymous usage statistics, derive useful metrics such as cost-per-use, make better-informed purchasing decisions and plan infrastructure more effectively.
In response to the increasing demand for video content, Safari continues to upgrade its service to support additional video formats. Subscribers will now have access to online videos in Adobe Flash and Windows Media Player as well as QuickTime. Currently, Safari provides access to technical and design courses from video training portal lynda.com, as well as other instructional video offerings from Pearson Education. This collection of online videos provides more than 1,000 hours of instruction on web design, software development and graphics tools and techniques. With the additional video content formats, Safari subscribers are projected to gain access to a wide range of authenticated information that provides both quick answers to technical questions and in-depth training to develop their skills.
