COUNTER ACADEMY
From novice to expert
This online course takes a deep dive into usage metrics and how to use COUNTER. It’s designed for both librarians and publishers so our whole community can benefit from the new programme. It suits participants with a range of levels of familiarity with COUNTER. All participants that provided feedback on the first course reported an increased confidence with using COUNTER.
Over 16 weeks we cover eight topics. Each module will include recorded videos, a live Q&A session, further reading and a short quiz or exercise. Participants who complete all the quizzes and exercises will receive a certificate of completion at the end of their Academy experience.
The first COUNTER Academy began in July 2025. In 2026 we have two courses, starting 2 February and 29 June.
“The Academy was exceptionally well designed and highly relevant for today’s library professionals, especially tasked with e-resources management, impact assessments and demonstrating usage/metrics value to key stakeholders. It provided both the theoretical grounding and the practical tools necessary to interpret and use COUNTER metrics effectively.” – Participant, COUNTER Academy, July 2025
“I feel much more confident with all aspects of COUNTER now having had the opportunity to work through and understand not only what the data really means but also what’s happening when we generate those reports.” – Participant, COUNTER Academy, July 2025
What we’re covering
Over the course of 16 weeks (two weeks per module), participants will explore:
- Introduction to usage metrics
- Turning clicks into metrics
- Attributes, elements and other techy stuff
- Using COUNTER metrics to answer questions
- Harvesting reports
- Combining COUNTER with other data
- Beyond institutions
- Behind the scenes
How to participate
Participation in the COUNTER Academy is restricted to full members of COUNTER, whether those are library, consortium, publisher or technology provider members. Non-members, affiliates, and institutions which are part of a member consortium are not able to join.
To ensure we can give everyone the attention and support they need, we are restricting numbers to a maximum of 25 participants per cohort. This is in-depth training, so we need to charge £250 per participant to cover the costs of developing and running the course.
Register your interest in future courses using the button below.
Sponsorship
We are seeking sponsorship from publishers who wish to support library participants on the course. Sponsors’ branding will be displayed on our website and the Academy homepage, as well as in all live Academy events and across participant messaging. Sponsors’ logos are also included in the course certificates and social media badges.
Sponsorship starts at £1000, which covers four library places. Sponsors who contribute £1500 or more will also be offered a bonus spot for a member of their staff to join the Academy.
To explore sponsorship or for any questions, please contact sian@countermetrics.org.
Thank you to Scholarly IQ, Thieme and Clarivate, who sponsored library participants on our first course, and to Cambridge University Press, who sponsored the development of the course.