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SUSHI Struggles

Irene Warner

California State University Libraries

Systemwide Digital Library Content Analytics and Assessment Manager

Systemwide SUSHI Configuration Project

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The California State University Libraries

System of 22* public universities
ALMA/Primo 22 IZs and an NZ
3 Purchase Models

Electronic Core Collection (ECC) (centrally funded)
Opt-Ins (Campus-funded, centrally negotiated subscriptions)
Local purchases made by individual campuses

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Agenda

What is the Project
Why it matters
Who is involved and what are their rolls
Current reality + examples of findings
Challenges
Future
Questions

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The Project

Goal

Improve SUSHI setup across all CSU campuses for centrally funded and opt-in vendors so we can build consistent, systemwide usage analytics.

Scope

Started with 33 vendors associated with content that gets purchased through SDLC (Systemwide Digital Library Content).
Removed vendors with no SUSHI support → 29 vendors remain.
Each campus was asked to enable SUSHI for every SDLC vendor they purchase from.

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The project (Step By Step)

1. Identify the Need

Recognize inconsistent SUSHI setup across campuses and missing usage data.

2. Determine Which Vendors Matter

For each campus, identify which of the 29 SUSHI-capable vendors they actually subscribe to.

3. Request Campus Action

Ask each campus to enable SUSHI for all applicable SDLC-funded vendors.

4. Campus Configuration

Campuses configure SUSHI locally.

5. Follow-Up & Support

IW reaches out to campuses that haven’t responded or finished setup. Provide instructions, troubleshooting, and reminders.

6. Baseline Completion

Ensure all campuses have at least 1 working report type configured for their SDLC vendors.

7. Systemwide Best Practices Released (Mar/Apr 2026)

The Systemwide Analytics Committee publishes recommended vendors, report types, and SUSHI standards.

8. Second Round of Alignment

Follow up with campuses to make sure the recommended report types and settings are enabled.

9. Build the Systemwide Dashboard

Once harvesting is consistent, usage flows into a centralized CSU dashboard for analysis.

10. Dashboard Outreach & Teaching

Present dashboard to users and explain how to use it.

11. Ongoing Maintenance & Review

Monitor harvesting, update credentials, check for failures, and keep the dashboard accurate.

We are Here

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Why This Matters

The end result will include a centralized usage dashboard for all SDLC purchases.
Supports systemwide reports and analytics with cleaner, comparable data.
Supports better collection decisions
Levels the playing field for campuses with limited SUSHI setup
Empowers campuses that had little or no SUSHI configured to maintain it going forward.
Enables usage and cost-per use analysis across the system.

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Project coordinator
Provide guidance, documentation, and analysis.
Build & Maintain Dashboard
Campuses handle the actual Alma setup since SUSHI must be configured locally (doesn’t allow for separate Institutional data if set up in NZ).

My Roll

Find/create vendor admin accounts
Track down SUSHI credentials
Configure Alma fields + report types
Test and schedule harvesting
Maintain SUSHI

What Campuses Are Doing

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Current Reality Across Campuses

Major inconsistency across campuses

22 campuses with anywhere from 2-50+ vendors configured
Each campus has different reports enabled for the same vendor
Some campuses have R5 other have R5.1 for the same vendor and some have both set up.

The ECC vendors are not always configured because the campuses don’t have to deal with the acquisitions or access of these centrally funded products.
Campuses only needed to enable the vendors they subscribe to. After filtering for that, we still found major variation: some had everything already configured; others had to turn on most vendors.

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Vendor Setup Status

Campuses were only asked to enable the vendors they subscribe to. After filtering for that, we still found major variation: some had everything already configured; others had to turn on most vendors.

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Inconsistent Report Types

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The Challenges

No current best practices on what to turn on/use

Report types, release to use

Campus staffing capacity, turnover, expertise, time
Everyone that has sushi already turned on has different reports enabled so on a system level I am unable to do comparisons and analysis comparing apples to apples

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The Future

Complete Steps 5-11
Systemwide Analytics Committee working on creating best practices for release to use for specific vendors, what report types to turn on, what metrics to use
Systemwide usage (and maybe add cost per use) dashboard for purchases thru our systemwide office
Hopefully campuses that previously had nothing will feel empowered and configure sushi for their direct vendors