New guide on comparing reports and standard views

We have prepared a new downloadable guide on comparing reports and standard views. This guide expands on what we shared earlier this year in our post Choosing the right COUNTER report.

Anyone who has attended one of Tasha’s presentations in the last three years knows that she always recommends using the COUNTER reports rather than the standard views. We built Release 5 from the ground up to be a powerful, flexible and comprehensive usage reporting framework. It replaced the more content-specific reports required in Release 4. To help report consumers (libraries) make the transition to Release 5, we designed a selection of standard views – pre-configured filters of the COUNTER Reports – that mimicked the old Release 4 reports. However, standard views miss much of the available data and so do not give a full picture of usage.

In response to many questions about reports and standard views, we have produced this guide. It provides comparison tables to help you spot the limitations of standard views.

Learn more

Comparing reports and standard views is one of the many aspects of COUNTER explored in the COUNTER Academy. Express interest in our 2026 courses using this form. Do also keep an eye on our Events page and news updates for details of upcoming webinars. We have have a wealth of videos and friendly guides in our Education section.